Thekkady Travel guide

South India’s most popular tiger reserve is set around Periyar Lake near Thekkady 3,300 ft above sea level.

The mist clings to the lake like tendrils of cloud, linking water and air, wetness and emptiness. It’s cold the coldness of purity, not harsh enough to penetrate deep. The silence of the hour before dawn is mildly disturbed by the prow of the boat slicing through the water, leaving a wake that undulates gently to the far bank, interrupted every few metres by bare tree stumps that reach for the sky, seeking to be free, ethereal pointers to another time, another eon, another yearning. What lies beneath the lake Fishes, crocodiles, water snakes, monsters. What goes through the mind of the tiger deep in the forest.

As day breaks over the Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary, a herd of elephants sets out to the edge of the lake, now no longer alarmed by the distant whirr of the motor boat laden with humans. The elephants romp in the water, spouting spray onto their leathery backs, the females forming a protective ring around the young tusker.

This must be how the earth looked like once wild, free, uncaged, raw, pregnant with memories, like elephants. Elephants have memories, yes and so will you when you leave periyar, Thekkady, Kumily.

The periyar wildlife sanctuary is one of the few places where the chances are pretty high that you will spot an elephant in the wild at close quarters and from the safe confines of a boat. Not just elephants, but if its your lucky day, tigers gaur mahseer otter and other wildlife.

Route

NH7 to Dindigul via hosur, salem and namakkal state highway to kumily via sembatti, Theni and Kilgudalur, state road to Thekkady.