Parks in Kerala

Graham T

Hi All,

I am hoping someone can give me some info on the Wildlife parks in Kerela. I will be travelling down the coast from Cohin to Kollam and would like to visit one of the many parks for a couple of days. Could anybody recomend which park I should visit and the rough travelling time.

Thanks for your help

GT

wat

Periyar wildlife sanctuary and Silent Valley National Park are good choices

snonymous

Parambikulam is also good. If you are visiting Periyar, check whether all the activities are still on offer, in view of the recent boat incident. None of these are on the Cochin Kollam route.

Thattekad sanctuary is very close to Cochin airport, more chances of bird and butterfly sightings there than any larger mammals though, apart from the giant squirrels. You may see an elephant if lucky.

http://www.keralatourism.org/destina...life/index.php for more info.

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tittooraju

Some of these national parks are not on the way from cochin to kollam..
Silent valley is north of cochin and is around 6 hours drive away..
Parambikulam is also similarly north of cochin..
What is comparatively near is the other two..
What is possible for you is have a round trip via
cochin- thattekad- periyar - kottayam kollam..
The interesting thing is that both thattekad and periyar wild life sanctuary are along the periyar river..
From thattekad you can travel to periyar sanctuary in thekkady in maximum 4-5 hours.. Via kothamangalam, idukki, kumily..

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Graham T

Hi Thanks for the feedback. I have already planned my route down to Kollam so would be heading to a park hopefully from there. It looks as though there are 4 options.

travelling back up to the Perivar wildlife sanctury,
across to Thattekkad wildlife Sanctury
Neyyar Wildlife sanctury
or Mudganthurai Tiger Sanctury

I would ideally love to see Tigers elephants etc rather than birds and butterflies (all beautiful as well I am sure).

Has anybody been to any of these and how long would it take to travel to them?

Thanks for your help

GT

tittooraju

Dont think you get to spot tigers.. But you will see elephants in thekkady if you are a little bit lucky..but still the ban on boating activities in the lake is a problem..

bethey

We just got back from Chinnar - about 40kms from Munnar. We saw [some at a distance only] bison, sambars, spotted deer, the huge squirrels, wild peacocks, snakes, langurs, owls...

Fresh track marks of leopards, wild boar, and tons of elephant evidence [but sadly none on the move!].

We were there only about 24 hours - our guide was very knowledgable and patient - we could tell he was looking hard for some elephants. The forestry department has some overnight options - we did the treehouse and it was fun but very basic - tea, dinner, and tea/biscuit breakfast were included.

I would say you'd need to be in ok to decent shape to really see what's available at this sanctuary - there are no buses or anything like that; just where your feet and guide take you.

rathee

I would certainly agree with bethey on Chinnar, beautiful place and a must visit if you are staying in Munnar.

However, I read a very good review on Mudganthurai Tiger Sanctury in Outlook Traveller recently (Oct addition, I guess) and was very impressed with it. All the information about getting there and staying is available in this article.

Have a nice stay!

Manish

Graham T

Hi Bethey, Rathee, thanks for your help.

;-)

danield

I just returned from a wildlife trip. Went to Wyanad Santuary which is part of the Niligiri Biosphere. I spent more time in Nagerhole, same biosphere) but across the state line, in the state of Karnataka. Viewing was good though I did not see the elusive tiger of the shy leopard. Saw most animals and plenty of birds.

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