A Hike in the Forest

Up before the sun, we had breakfast in the dark and then walked a short distance from our hotel to the terminal where our tour leader obtained our tickets to enter the Periyar Tiger Preserve.

Only park buses are allowed in, so tickets in hand we lined up for the first bus of the day. We got seats, but the bus was quickly SRO, and some of those standing had clearly come before their morning shower. It was an olfactory adventure.

Once in the park we had to sign a waiver form that basically absolved the government from any liability should we suffer death or injury. Apparently, they don’t want to get sued if someone is eaten by a tiger. However, in a park of some 350 square miles with only a few more than 40 tigers in it, the odds were in our favor.

To get to the area for the nature hike, we had to cross a river about 100 feet across on a bamboo raft. Six of us plus the park ranger got on board, and the raft sank down enough that one had to be careful not to get shoes wet. The ranger pulled the raft across with a rope.

The ranger led us on narrow foot paths for a couple of hours, pointing out a number of birds and showing us various types of trees and other plants. We saw myna birds, kingfishers, wild parakeets, a kite hunting for rodents, cranes fishing, and other birds. We also got to see a half dozen or so river otters playing in and near the water, which the ranger got rather excited about. He said it was rare to see them.

Those black clumps in the tree are monkeys

After going back across the river on the same bamboo raft, we saw a group of black monkeys in a tree, as well as a wild boar. There were lots of elephant droppings that we had to walk around on our walk, but we saw no actual elephants.

We returned for a short break at the hotel, then our tour leader took those interested on a walk to a spice shop. There are spice shops everywhere in this town, but the tour leader knew this shop to have genuine, fresh, high quality spices. We left many Rupees behind here, our only real serious shopping of the trip.

I had seen what I thought were bike jerseys in the window of a sportswear shop, so we went to check them out. They turned out to be soccer jerseys for the Kerala Blasters professional club, with the logo of the team sponsor, Muthoot Financial Group (a large Indian banking conglomerate). For $2.75 I decided I could wear a football jersey on a bike. They only had one big enough for me.

We walked around several more shops, but there wasn’t anything else worth buying. An afternoon of leisure was welcome after so much walking in the morning. At tea time we chatted with an interesting couple from near London who have now retired to a village in Spain, and talked politics with another couple from our group.

On the way to dinner, a woman in our group tripped on the rough pavement and went down on her face with a bloody nose. The tour leader sent us on to the restaurant while he took her back to the hotel. After a trip to the hospital to get checked out, she’s OK except for some bruises. But it certainly put a damper on dinner — and besides, it wasn’t that good a meal.