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Published: December 27th 2008
About 2 months ago, I read about the Periyar Tiger Trail, a 3-day hiking & camping excursion in Periyar Tiger Reserve, a sustainable eco-tourism venture run by the state forest department. They have employed former poachers to guide treks, which provides income for the park, decent employment for the poachers and a few other locals, a way for tourists to get deep out into the Indian wilderness (a real challenge to do here, even more so for a western woman traveling alone), and a way to monitor the park for other poachers.
As soon as I read about the trip, I tried to email and make a reservation, but the email bounced back and I didn’t follow up, thinking I’d just figure it out when I got here. So as soon as I arrived, backpack still on, before I even found my hotel, I stopped at the forest service office to ask about the excursion, and learned it was book through the month of December. It’s limited to 5 people, and this is high tourist season, so no go for me. Bummed, annoyed at myself for not following up, I went on with Plan B, some day hikes. Hazel and
I decided to do a hike together on Christmas Day, but when I went to book it on Christmas Eve, I asked again about the Tiger Trail, and the woman said, “You want to spend Christmas with us?” For whatever reason, there was space for a trip leaving Christmas Day. Sure, absolutely; they took my $100, and it was official.
I asked a few questions: what to bring? (just your stuff); must I carry it? (no, they carry it); do I need food? (no, provided); water? (same). So I brought my entire travel pack. I arrived at the designed spot on Christmas Day, thanks to a rickshaw ride from Saneesh (my cobra guide, who got a commission for ‘helping me book my trip’). Turns out I had to carry all my stuff in who knows how many miles, so I clearly didn’t need or want my computer, yoga mat, ipod, etc. I put them in a plastic bag and left them with Saneesh, who promised to keep them safe until my return.
There were only 2 of us scheduled for the Christmas day trip. My travel partner was John, a lovely Brit gentleman in his early 50s. So
Raft on a Rope
The raft is pulled across the narrow part of the lake by a rope connected on both sides.off we went, with our former-poacher-guide in front and an armed security guard carrying a .351 rifle at the rear. The rifle is not to kill the animals, but to shoot into the air or ground in case of a charge. The rifle was not loaded, and both John and I wondered just how quickly Madhu (the laid-back guard) could get the bullet out of his back and load that rifle, in the case of a charge. He spoke next to no English, so we didn’t ask. Language was a bit of a barrier between us and our guides, but our main guide did a fabulous job, probably the result of having led these trips for about 13 years.
Periyar is a key tourist destination for Indian tourists, there are bus loads and car loads of people pouring into the park all day (like Grand Canyon). The Reserve is huge, 770-km2. There is a large lake system through the park, created when the Brits built a dam 125 years ago (so we understood from our guides). The main activities for most tourists are the boat trips on the main lake, which depart from the main entrance, and seeing the
monkeys and wildlife that sticks to the main entrance area. That area was a real zoo, especially at this prime tourist season, with people lost, people missing things, the starting point for all the excursions, rickshaws waiting to take you somewhere, and so on. But once we got on the trail, we were very isolated.
We started by donning the leech socks sprinkled with tobacco powder to keep the leeches away. Leeches are gross, the thought of getting a leech on me absolutely disgusted me, and I’d read they’re a big problem here, so I gladly put the socks on.
We had an interpretive hike on the way in and got to our base camp around 1pm. We stayed at one base camp for both nights. There may be another base camp on the Reserve, but there are not many places for camping because the camp areas must be safe from wildlife, including elephants. So surrounding our entire campsite was an elephant trench about 8 feet deep and 5 feet wide. It somewhat undermined the aesthetic of the site, but we welcomed the trench: there were big elephant tracks all around the trench from some nights before, when
an upset elephant was cruising the periphery of the camp.
The campsite is alongside a lake, not the main lake where the tourist boats cruise. There is no vehicle access to the campsite. It is semi-permanent, with a tarped covered area with a few mats, and a locked cage holding the pots and tents. Otherwise, all food, drinking water, and everything else is portered into by the guides. Our crew consisted of 3 guides, a cook, and the gunman (all males).
Though we were on the Tiger Trail, tigers are rarely seen here. I understand there are a total of 50 tigers within the Reserve boundaries. That said, others spotted a tiger within the preceding week of our excursion, we hear a tiger both nights we were out there, and we saw fresh (within 12 hours) paw prints, and fresh (also within 12 hours) tiger scat. But no, we didn’t see a tiger.
We went for long hikes each morning and afternoon into the evening, like safari treasure hikes — looking for wildlife, stopping to listen, bushwhacking through the jungle, inspecting branches broken by elephants, back-tracking, traipsing through muddy wetlands that sucked your shoes in, quickly moving
one way, silently listening for a while, and so on.
Our guides — who traded off on the hikes, though several times 2 would come along, and they all seemed to thoroughly enjoy the hikes — did an incredible job. There are all kinds of stories of people being stupid around wild animals in their native habitat: Hazel shared a boatride with a guy who had been charged by an elephant the day before, when an untrained jeep driver let his tourist pack dismount too close to an elephant, and a woman had her ear torn off in the run-for-your-life-chase back to the vehicle. Our guides were very clear for us to follow their lead, when to crouch, when to remain silent, and keeping a safe distance from the dangerous wildlife (bison and elephants).
What we saw: flora (that I remember): cinnamon trees, jackfruit trees, wild tea and coffee,(frank)incense tree, wild turmeric (a root, like ginger), tapioca tree, orchids, and so many others I don’t remember. Wildlife (names as I understood them): common monkey, black monkey, malabar squirrel, elephants, small squirrel, red mongoose (rare), sambar deer (resembles a large sika deer), buffalo, wild boar, monitor lizard, golden kingfisher,
white-necked stalk, rakatail tongo (looks like a scissortail, but all black), woodpecker, tripie, red lapwing, medium egret. We were within a few feet of a sloth bear, in over-the-head elephant grass, so we didn’t see it.
About lunchtime on the 2nd day, a crew of 4 guys joined us, they were doing the one-night camping trip. They were with us from then through the end. So John and my extreme isolation and quietude was somewhat cut short. I went from being the lone woman camping in the wild with 6 men, to being the lone woman camping with 10 men. Had I known before I signed up, it may have been a deterrent. But it being what it was, it was not an issue at all.
The 4 were Indians (named John, John, Thomas, and Thomas) from Kerala, about my age, college buds on their annual bachelor weekend get-away. John and Thomas live in Bangalore, Thomas in Dubai, and John in Kochi. They had all lived in Dubai at some point, all extremely well educated, interesting, open, kind, and spoke excellent English. I took advantage of the opportunity sitting around the campfire and along the hikes to understand
a bit about my peers lives — arranged marriages, growing up in Kerala, living in Dubai (they had all lived there for some amount of time), alcohol consumption (government controls sales of all liquor in Kerala, at extreme profit to the state), Indian politics, Bangalore’s urban planning (or lack thereof), travel recommendations for February, and so on.
On the afternoon of the 2nd day, with the new additions to the pack, we hiked the highest mountain in the area, providing an outstanding view of the surrounding area. Along the way, during a break, one of the guys found a leech on his ankle. We all discussed the various things we’d heard about leeches and how to go about removing it - burning it, tobacco powder, sale, and so on, then one of the guides just reached over and plucked it off, no big deal. From then on, no more leech socks.
While camp conditions were extremely rustic, camping was outstanding, almost luxurious in some ways. We slept on hard floor, traversed a balancing log across the elephant ditch to reach wilderness bathroom in the scary dead of night, and so on. But we woke up to sweet hot
coffee by the campfire, and returned from each hike to a cup of hot lemon tea. Meals were scrumptious hot abundant local Keralan food (vegetarian, with lots of coconut). The campfire was kept going all evening and night, and until after we left for our morning hike. In other words, all the chores of camping were taken care of, so when we weren’t hiking, we were relaxing. The setting was pristine, with the lake, no lights, no noise except the jungle and animals, and a few distant firecrackers on Christmas night. The lake was perfectly clean, so it made for excellent dipping. On the backwaters, the woman bathed in their saris; following their cue, I swam in my sarong & sports bra; the boys just in their tidy-whitey skivvies.
I returned absolutely filthy dirty, and pretty tired from lots of hiking and close to worthless sleep (hard floor). But what a glorious Indian wildlife experience!
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