Trip to Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary ?

chilli

Just wondering if Periyar Sanctuary is worth a visit. Also have you stayed in the sanctuary overnight at the tourist lodges ? We're only going southern India,(Kerala, Goa) so if theres any others - please recommend.

citybell

It is worth a visit..If you have time please go.

But before you go check if it is open because some sanctuaries close during summer season.

There are 2-3 hotel/slodges inside and you can stay in that but they are not of budget type andexpensive.

Natmandu

Worth a trip, especially the early morning hike through the sanctuary - just don't expect to see any tigers!

Krishnika

If you have plenty of time to do everything else you've thought of, go. Otherwise I'm not sure it's worth it. The scenery is nothing compared to the areas around Munnar, and chances are high you won't see any wildlife other than birds and wild elephants, and from quite a distance. Rangers won't let you get anywhere near them for safety reasons, and there's nowhere you can wander around by yourself other than the entrance road. On weekends the place is so crowded with day tourists that it feels like a theme park. Our nature walk which is supposedly limited to 5 people had 11, for the same price. The boat trip was a caravan of about 8 different boats following each other, so it seemed like a trip to observe other tourists in the landscape. Other options for activities are limited and and in my opinion way overpriced and there are no where near as many rangers for the demand. We stayed at the Periyar House for 1 night, which was comfortable, not too expensive, but the breakfast and dinner which are included in the price were pretty lousy.

john.sw

Lake Periyar at Thekkedy, is well worth a visit at this time of year (March). There is a morning boat trip, and an evening boat trip that lasts about 1½ hours and costs only a few rupees.

The scenery is amazing, and although you won't see a tiger, you may well see Samba Deer, Wild Elephant and Otters. There are also a lot of beautiful birds including the most vivid-coloured Kingfishers.

Accommodation is available in Thekkedy and ranges from about US $200 at the Taj or CGH Earth hotels to a few rupees if you are happy to go budget.

The border between Kerala and Tamil Nadu runs through the small town of Thekkedy, and there are plenty of spice shops for the tourists as well as a wide range of shops for the locals.

If you're travelling up to the Nilgiries, I suggest you stop off for one night at Thekkedy.

dani

chilli, if you can spare some days, you should go there. The atmosphere is very relaxed there , it was one of the most pleasant places we visited on our trip. (We planed to stay there for 3 days, but it was so nice that we stayed longer and wanted to pay for 4 day at the end. we didn't realize that we've already stayed for 5 days... )

For accomodation I could strongly recommend "Mickey's Guesthouse" in Kumily. It's very nice, and if I remember right, we only paid 150Rs/night.
(it was the best room we had on our whole trip, and also the cheapest. The only other room we took for 150 was in Hampi, and that one was a dirty hole of a room..)

The reserve is not the only attraction in the area. We enjoied very much our visit to one of the spice gardens. You can see how all those spices you eat every day grow. Also I've never before eaten a papaya directly from the tree
You can also visit one of the tea plantations and a tea factory..

SitaParityaga

I liked Periyar, and the "spice farm" Dani mentioned was also interesting. The boat ride around the lake in the park is best done late in the day, around 4pm: you'll see more animals. Spend the extra couple of rps to get seats on the top deck of the boat.

Just a different view from Krishnika....There are tourists there, but it didn't detract from the experience. Munnar......

Dav

Like Dani, I also recommend Mickey's Cottage. The people are super friendly and the rooms are great value. I stayed there last week for 350 rupees per night. It was a big room with a TV and balcony. I would also recommend going on a illegal trek into the Santuary organised by Mickey's cottage. The illegal guide took us within twenty metres of 10 wild elephants.

__________________
Davinski

dani

@chilli: if you want to do the boat trip, don't do it at weekends because the boats will be crowded with indian tourists

@Dav: you lucky one! we also did the early morning trek organised by Mickey's cottage (actually I belief it's not into the sanctuary, but into the forests beside it), but we only saw the excrements of the elephants
At least we've seen some gaur, deer, a family of wild boar and of course hordes of different monkeys and birds. And the outlooks from the hills were well worth the money and sweet, just phantastic! The downslope of the westghatts is quite spectacular and one could see far far into Tamil Nadu
What the heck do I do here in Switzerland? I wanna be there again!!

pkalra

and what's wrong with Indian tourists ???

dani

it's not about the tourists being indian, but about being crowded..
The difference between indian tourists and foreign tourists is, the level of foreigners is constant over the whole week. The level of indians is low during the working days and goes skywards during the weekends

mikewill

We were in Periyar in December. Spent two nights at Bison Camp in the middle of the forest - just us and our cook/guide. Little wildlife but great forest atmosphere - and no people! You need to book in advance. One night would be OK but two gives you a whole day to soak up the atmosphere and really chill out. Oh yes, you have to take all your own food,etc. If you go, give our best wishes to Vijayan.

Mike

footix

I have just come back from my 2nd trip to Periyar in the last 3 months. I was only intending staying for 3 days but ended up staying for 6. This was partly due to the great people I met there - there's a pretty good social scene at some of the guesthouses. There are many homestays/guesthouses on the Thekkady Bypass Road which is only a short walk from the main bus station in Kumily & the park gate at Thekkady. I stayed at Green View in a huge room with balcony & cable TV for 500Rs but they also have rooms for as little as 150Rs. Sunesh who runs the place is a mine of information on trips in the area.

The park is pretty well organised - there are a range of trips that can be organised through the Forest Dept including all day treks & bamboo rafting. None of the trekking is particularly arduous. Not a huge variety of large animals although I saw elephants most days but the park is very attractive & great for bird spotting.

I also really liked Munnar - great area for walking.

Cheers

Chris B