- Water Colored Landscape of Munnar – God’s own art
- Tea and Other Exotics – discovering hidden Munnar
- Nilgiri Tahr on the wild ramp of Eravikulam (Rajamalai) National Park, Munnar
- Boat Safari in Periyar Lake @ Thekkady
- Nature-walk in Thekkady
- A visit to the kingdom of spices in Kumily
- Backwater cruise from Kottayam to Alleppey
- Enticing Munroe Island – best backwaters in Kerala
- Flavors of Local Ferry Ride in Kollam
This article logs our experience of boat safari in Thekkady and we would talk a lot many things about Thekkady – its location, history, and the impressions during the ride.
“There is pleasure in the pathless woods, there is rapture in the lonely shore, there is society where none intrudes, by the deep sea, and music in its roar; I love not Man the less, but Nature more.” – George Byron
Call of Jungles
Jungles keep calling us. When its long that Jaishree and I have visited a wildlife sanctuary, this silent call gets loud and clear, the impressions and images of wild-terrain start floating in our eyes and we start missing the wilderness and its rich flora and fauna.
This affair with jungles started couple of days after we exchanged marital vows. During our honeymoon trip when we were trying to understand and accommodate each other, and a never ending affair was about to begin, someone else also silently creeped up in our lives.
It happened during the visit to the Veerappan land of Bandipur. Jungle of Bandipur left us mesmerized. We sighted a playful elephant family, witnessed a deer falling prey to a group of wild dogs; becoming non-existent within blink of eyes.
With over a decade of living together, as our admiration and dependence on each other kept growing, this third angle, the jungles, also managed to retain its never ending charm and magnetism and both of us long for any visit to wildlife.
Where is Thekkady
So when we were planning a trip to Kerela, Thekkady was first in the itinerary. The name Thekkady is derived from the word “thekku” which means teak.
Thekkady is situated about 257 km from Trivandrum, 145 km from Cochin International Airport and 114 km from Kottayam railway station. Thekkady is located 4 km away from Kumily, a plantation town in Kerala-Tamil Nadu border.
Thekkady sits in the lap of scented cardamom hills. It is India’s largest and most visited wildlife sanctuary spread over an area of around 777 sq Km.
History of Thekkady
Till 19th century Thekkady Jungle area was mostly forestland and the hunting ground of the King of Travancore.
However, during that period British started to make further inroads everywhere and realized that Thekkady’s weather is optimal for tea and coffee plantation. This realization resulted in forest land quickly getting converted into tea, coffee, ginger, cinnamon and other spice farms.
This sudden and rapid increase in plantation farms alarmed Maharaja of Travancore and to prevent his favorite hunting ground from further encroachments, he declared 600 square km of this area as reserve forest and christened it Nellikkampetty sanctuary.
Legend of killing of an elephant resulting in getting this region converted into a sanctuary
According to another legend in 1934 killing of an elephant by a British soldier made Maharaja of Travancore remorseful. In that “Ashokan Moment” he realized the significance of conservation and turned the forests around the lake into a sanctuary.
Though, I find this legend hard to believe, it is possible that Maharaja used that incident as pretext to make his decision acceptable. In 1978 this sanctuary was declared part of Project tiger and now it is also known as Periyar Tiger Reserve.
Jungles are not only for wild cats
As we are talking about tiger reserve, I would like to share an observation.
Our numerous visits to jungle slowly and silently introduced us to all the living things in jungle; bugs, wild flowers, medicinal plants, big trees, birds, reptiles and many more. Together they all constitute the jungle.
When one visits Jungles dreaming only about spotting ferocious cats, no doubt he returns disappointed. Once one opens to all the possibilities, jungles reveal their beauty. Then if one gets to see the cats, whose sightings are rare, it becomes icing on the cake.
Bus Ride from Munnar to Kumily
Resuming the trip, from Munnar we took a bus to Kumily – a small town at the periphery of Thekkady. This town is also known as the spice garden of Kerala.
It was a beautiful journey with breathtaking views. It was one of those journeys when you lose the desire to reach destination and want that journey never ends.
We unsuccessfully tried to capture the beauty of surroundings in our camera and ended up making grudging complaint that the bus is moving too fast, followed with a promise that next time on this route we would hire a taxi, enjoying the journey with halts at our will. After all,
जहनो-नज़र में हर वक़्त, मंज़िल ही क्यों रहे,
जब तक रहे सफ़र, सफ़र का मज़ा क्यों ना लें
Kumily is about four km from the Sanctuary. This erstwhile kingdom of Thekkumkoor kings is today a strip of tourist centers, hotels, ayurvedic massage centers and spice shops.
Boat Safari in Thekkady
Next day, when we reached the sanctuary, like all first time tourists in Thekkady, we too rushed to buy tickets for KTDC conducted boat-trip that lasts for around two and half hours. While the boat returned from the previous trip, there gathered big crowd to embark and we rushed to occupy a good viewing position.
This boat-trip of Thekkady is on the Periyar Lake.
Between 1887 and 1895, British constructed Mullaperiyar dam at the confluence of Mullayar River and Periyar River to supply water to the dry parts of Tamilnadu. Construction of the dam resulted in creation of twenty six square km of artificial Periyar Lake, the dam’s reservoir, that enhanced the beauty of wild area around. The maximum depth of Periyar Lake is about 140 feet deep.
The Story of Pennycuick – The man who constructed dam on the Periyar River
Pennycuick is revered in Tamilnadu. Tamil Farmers offer “Pennycuick Pongal” at harvest time (which generally coincides with Pennycuick’s birthday) as thanks for the dam that changed their lives.
According to those benefited from the construction of this dam, Periyar River used to flow 300 Km in Kerala before emptying wastefully in Arabian Sea. And there was small Vaigai river, which flowed east into Madurai and beyond. During summer, the Vaigai often dried up, many a time not even reaching Madurai.
Pennycuick felt that if part of the Periyar, which emptied into the Arabian Sea, could be diverted eastwards it could save the wastage of water and would be a big boon for farmers of the region. He realized the advantage of building a dam in the province across its largest river (the Periyar, which literally means “big river”) that flowed in the forest areas (mullai). Pennycuick settled down to work at his modest cottage in Idukki. Locals say he spoke fluent Tamil and relished biryani. It was this dream of Pennycuick that resulted in the construction of Mullaiperiyar dam.
He dammed the Periyar river at its confluence with the smaller Muallaiyar river and then diverted the water from the reservoir through a 1.6 Km long tunnel to feed the Suruliyar river and the Vaigai dam. This water passes through a grid of canals and irrigate vast tract of water-scarce land in the Southern region of Tamil Nadu. This water thus become the life-line for farmers of Theni, Dindigul, Madurai, Sivaganga, and Ramanathapuram district.
The construction of the dam impacted today’s over 2.17 Lakh acre of paddy, cultivated by 32,000 small farmers.
His first construction was washed away by torrent of rain in 1890. He is said to have wept and struggled to collect funds to construct another dam. British government was skeptical to his plans, however, the Chettiars of the region were convinced and donated liberally for his cause and helped him re-build the dam.
Current Controversy and Fear about the Dam
Kerala and Tamilnadu Governments are sparring for long about the operation of Mullaperiyar dam. There are concerns from Kerala Government about the safety of this gravity dam built using lime-surkhi (burnt brick powder) mortar, while the importance of this water for Tamilnadu government is understandable. The capacity of the dam is 152 Feet and discussions are ongoing between two governments to reduce this amount to avoid any accidents.
Impressions during the boat safari in Thekkady
As this lake is result of construction of a dam on Periyar River many trees could be seen submerged in the water. The boat sliced through the placid water of the lake, perturbing the silence of the Jungle, generating undulating waves gently kissing the banks, interrupted occasionally by the stumps of the trees trying to break free from the water.
Even when these trees are reduced to nothing but stumps they provide nesting and resting place to water birds – a generosity suiting to these magnanimous living beings.
Why Boat Safari in Thekkady?
One of the charm and in my opinion the only reason this boat ride may pass as wildlife safari is the possibility to spot wild elephants at the shore, frolicking in water.
Few years after our visit to Thekaddy, the elephant sighting led to a major mishappening when after sighting the elephant herd on the shore, tourists rushed to one side of the boat resulting in the capsize and death of several of them.
Best time to do boat safari in Thekkady
When we visited Thekkady there were ample rains, not the best time for wildlife safari. The best time for animal sightings in Thekaddy is March and April, when water reservoirs inside Jungle start to dry and more and more of wild animals are driven to the Lake to quench their thirst.
The Lake Palace of Thekkady
Our first halt was at Edapalayam Lake Palace, a palace in the midst of lake, to let the guest of this Palace disembark.
Maharaja of Travancore constructed this building to entertain his guests. It is now being converted into a heritage hotel, a global trend. I belong to Udaipur, a place that boast of a more popular Lake Palace. I was unaware of another lake palace in distant south and hence was pleasantly surprised to it.
Boat safari or a Lake Cruise?
The boat was crowded and the noise of its engine and the people on board was enough to put off any serious wild life enthusiast. I lowered my expectation and started to treat it more as a lake cruise than a wildlife safari.
It helped me notice the beauty of surroundings. It was a cloudy day. The clouds were casting a spell on mighty Sun and turned the burning sun-rays into soothing blessings; perfect weather to cruise in dazzling green surroundings.
It was a nice and relaxing cruise but still the desire and the feel of real Jungle was missing. In the next article I will write about the walking tour of the jungle that quashed this unsatisfactory feeling and gave us the feel of this beautiful jungle.
References
What is the Controversy over Mullaperiyar – Article by S. Anandan in the Hindu
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