Thekkady/Periyar Wildlife Reserve Feb08

This is the photo journal I recently posted on SmugMug. It features day 7 of our tour & continues my series on south India. I am repeating it here in the hopes that the web site will continue to operate.

The town of Thekkady, situated close to the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border town of Kumily, is located in the beautiful high-range district of Idukki in Kerala state, a district known for its famous wildlife sanctuary, spice plantations, mountainous hills, & dense forests. In fact, about 50% of the area is forest reserve. ... (more)

Our route so far
south through Tamil Nadu & then west from Madurai to our...

Small brick plant along the way
one of over 100,000 in the country. The rich, clayey soil on the banks...

Note the temple & the kiln,
& the makeshift shelters that were either permanent or temporary...

Large dobi-wallah area
Dobi-wallahs are laundry people. They often do laundry along streams...

This area was adjacent
to the brick plant in the previous photos. Note the red clay which is...

They often dry the flat items like saris
& lungis on the grass.

Very colorful

Nearby typical farm house

Lots of metalware
in the cooking area.

These kids were really sweet
& well behaved. They didn't swarm us or ask for rupees like often...

Hotel Ambadi - our Periyar hotel
had an Alpine resort ambiance. Hotel Ambadi web site + great Periyar info:...

My room was on the upper floor
2nd from the left.

View from my room

My room

The bathroom
had the choice of dipper or wall shower. I had a dipper shower as...

The dining room

Carved door

Man-made Periyar Lake,
the centerpiece of the sanctuary at an altitude of 2000 feet, covers...

A two hour cruise on the lake
was part of our itinerary. The most convenient way to view the...

They were also waiting for boats

Our boat was the 2nd from the left
We had to walk 'through' the boat on the left which was a tad...

The tree stumps in the water
are apparently are used for navigation to determine the water depth? I...

Cormorants, I think
So far 320 different kinds of birds have been counted in Periyar.

A train trestle?

A herd of wild elephants on the far bank
The are about 1,000 elephants in the park. Although the best time to visit...

The cruise is over,
more people waiting for boats. We didn't see much wildlife other than the...

This little piggie went to market.......
Four species of primates are found at Periyar

Wonderful carving
in the park entrance area.

A testy turtle? ;o)

At a "spice plantation" we visited
These are cocoa bean pods. India, the land of spices, plays a...

An open one.
At present, India produces around 2.5 million tonnes of different...

Cardamon
Although India is the largest producer of cardamom (it grows wild in the...

Peppercorns
Peppercorns are the berries of the pepper plant. Did you know that...

Coffee
India is the second biggest producer in Asia ( next to Indonesia) & is...

Rose apples
The rose apple may be a shrub but generally it's a tree reaching 25 to 40...

Rose apple flowers, I think

Thekkady/Periyar Wildlife Reserve Feb08

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