After an early wake up and a quick breakfast, we hop on a tuk-tuk for our last ride in Munnar. Direction bus station ! Just as the tuk tuk gets to the bus stop so does our bus and in matter of seconds we’re hopping on the bus to get the best places (where i can stretch my legs) in the back. Engine on, food in the bags, water in the thermos, best seat found: Thekkady, we’re ready to go !
Us on the bus to Thekkady
WHAT A RIDE !!! After a short 5hrs journey zig-zagging through the station hills and down the narrowest roads (for a bus) you’ll ever see, the tea plantations slowly disappear to leave place to the wild indian forest. I’ve gotta say, if you suffer from car sickness I highly suggest to avoid doing this route with the bus; I usually write and read easily in cars/buses/planes and so on but this time I had to keep looking out of the window to not feel sick ! As always, for indian people it was as easy as drinking a glass of water. Well, we arrive in Thekkady in the early afternoon anddddddd its raining… not the prettiest welcome but we’re positive, a warm and lovely room is waiting for us. After asking to a few people, we manage to get a tuk tuk to the Pepper County Homestay (p.s. ask for a room with the views, its really worth) where the owner meets and shows us probably the best room we’ve ever seen so far in our trip ! WOW ! The view from the balcony of the Pepper House Country is just stunning; the sun setting over the acres of forest in front of us seems too good to be true !
After a shower inside the room we realize that showers are going even outside our room. The soft rain of when we arrived has become a heavy monsoon rain drizzling all over the forest and the two towns of Kumily and Thekkady. Well, we decide that for today we can take some time off and relax; now, its time for a warm tea on our huge room balcony. With views all over the forest and sunset fading away in the background we couldn’t ask for better: Magical. Finishing off with an awesome homemade dinner by the Pepper Homestay, we go straight to bed: tomorrow early wake up ! We have a bamboo rafting to do !
Bamboo rafting inside the Peryiar
This is the thought we wake up to at 6am, ready for our first adventure walk inside the National Park of Peryiar in Thekkady/Kumily. Earlier yesterday, while we were still in the town, we managed to reach the Ecotourism Point (be aware of the many “unofficial ones”) and book two more walks for the same day on top of our Bamboo Rafting Walk.
Yeah, you heard me right ! With the sun just popping up at the horizon and summer warmth starting to make its way through the jungle, we set off to reach the entrance of the park. There, we’re welcomed by 4 rangers who tell us they’re going to be our guides; hungry tigers, angry elephants, pissed cobras ? They will take care of it in a matter of seconds ! (P.s. forgot to mention leeches, oops). Anyway, the Bamboo Rafting Walk is the only one we decided to book from back home as, similarly to the Ferry Boat on the lake, gets booked incredibly quickly and we did not want to miss some boating experience there. Initially both the Ferry and Rafting seemed equally amazing but since the rafting also included some walking we ended up going for that.
The main lake behind the ferry station
And this my friends, is a choice we would never regret; the whole experience was a bonus after a bonus after a gift, in other words unforgettable ! WHAT AN AMAZING WALK ! The two hours of walking through the jungle on a 5km path to reach a smaller less touristic lake are great; giant squirrels, monkeys, snakeskins and a variety of birds are just a few highlights of what we witness. Jaw-drop… the split second we arrive at the lake the view is simply unbelievable. The lake seems like a copy-n-paste from one of those wonderland movies ! No signs of man, dead trees coming out of the surface and forest surrounding all of it, dream or reality ?
The lake where we did rafting
After a quick lunch overlooking this beauty from a ranger hut, we begin the actual boating with the hope of seeing some bigger indian wildlife. Needless to say that our amazement is yet to finish; just after a 5 minutes of paddling we spot them “Elephants in sight !”. We cannot believe our eyes, at the horizon we see a big herd of elephants bathing, drinking and playing in a small strip where the jungle meets the lake. Simply incredible !
An indian elephant herd
The guides tell us that if we want we can get closer to them and even land nearby where they are but we need to keep at a safe distance not to scare them; photos, photos and back on the raft we are. During the rest of the boating we also get to see kingfishers, cormorants, herons and much more beautiful wildlife (no tigers though); what a great morning !
A cormorant chilling in the sun
We also see some locals fishing in those waters and the guide tells us that they are the only one allowed to do so as their families used to live in the area of the park long before the park was actually a thing !
A local fishing on the bank of the main lake
At 12.30pm we’re back at base camp; usually other tourists would just call it a day but we don’t give up: the Nature Walk is awaiting for us ! Yesterday back in the office we were given the choice to choose the walk at different times,10.30am, 12.30pm or 2.30pm (I believe), but for each timing the walk takes a different path. Kindly, the woman at the office tell us to forget the early walks and go straight for the last one as it brings you in the less frequented area of the park where nature is more “natural”.
A monkey family we met during the nature walk
Once again… bullseye ! After 2hrs of relaxed walking, our guide Sunjith has shared with us all his knowledge about the place; whether its a plant, spider, small insect or strange-sounding monkey, he knows. His english might not be the best but the way he conveys us his stories is probably one of the most engaging; what a man, I can firmly say he made our walk more enjoyable than we could have ever thought of !
A part of the Nature Walk trail
Well, both the nature walk and the rafting were definitely worth every single step we walked that day (20km in the forest) ! The nature walk was definitely the highlight of the two though; 3hrs completely surrounded by an amazing landscape, any kind of wildlife (no tigers though) and a very skilled guide which was fluent in english ! Could you ask for better ! Would choose it again at thousands times !
With the muggy afternoon leaving place to the evening breeze, we are back to the entrance gates. After a quick goodbye with a tip, a photo and a promise of advertising him in our countries a royal deserved snack is waiting for us in one of the many restaurants/huts in the main road. Not tired enough to be ready for bed (just been walking for 20km today) our evening has one last walk: Jungle Scouting. At 9.30pm we start our walk with torches to explore the nightlife of the park; well this time the outcome was way less exciting that the previous two. The whole walk consists of arriving nearby certain waterholes with guides waiting for the photographers of the group (me included) to get close and then start shining the big torches on sleeping/relaxing animals to have “cool photos”. Sorry but thats not for me; I would lie to say we didn’t see interesting animals but I don’t think they deserve annoying tourists to bother them even in the middle of the night.
One of the many sights of the Jungle Patrol
Finally at midnight (after a big dinner in town) we go back to our lovely comfy beds and our beautiful warm showers. What-a-day ! Full, tough, amazing, long, beautiful and full of surprises ! Today, we really made the most of it ! I wish we could stay more, it would have been nice to have one or two more days to spend here but the Backwaters of Kerala are waiting for us. Goodnight Peryiar, we shall see you again !