These 16 people were the most gifted ones in the universe. Many turned down the offer of visiting the Parambikulam Wildlife Sanctuary and many as usual wanted safety,security ( just the same old lame excuse to escape from decision making and to avoid risk). Well let’s forget about the unlucky fellows.
The camp at Parambikulam was organized by EXNORA led by Mr. Jayakumar. And it was headed by the student coordinator and founder of ecowarriors group Dinesh. This group was given this chance of participation by Dr. V SriVidya of the PSG Institute of Management. It was a life time experience for the people who participated. Out of the 16 we had 6 girls and 10 boys. And we also had another family with 3 men 1 girl and 2 children. They were business men from Tripur.
The cost of the trip for 2 nights and 3 days was only Rs 1400. We were guided by Mr. Meiyappan from Chennai, an EXNORA member. We also had two strong and caring guides, the tribal people from parambikulam itself. They were Basker and Ragu.
We were given royal treatment at every place that we landed in Parambikulam. Except for Dinesh and Suresh this was the first time for the rest of team staying away from parents with little known people in the middle of the forest with only one point of Bsnl tower in Jothi’s mobile.
Day 1:
we were supposed to assemble by 7a.m at the PSG IM Campus where we had a beautiful vehicle waiting to carry the 16 of us to the forest. We were given a heartily send off by the institution. Mr. Jayakumar accompanied us.
We did not start at exact 7a.m; we had people coming in slowly and steadily at their own pace . And most of the people followed the instructions properly and came with all the required. But Vasanth came in his chappals. Till the last moment he was not bothered about it, but when people started to talk about the forest and leeches and stuffs, he got a little disturbed. Then he stepped on his friends vehicle ,went back to ganapathy and changed into his shoes and came back.
We were late to start say about 8.30 am or 9 a.m. we did not have our breakfast but till the last moment Dinesh kept on telling that we will have breakfast soon. At Pollachi junction we met with the family from Tripur and we continued our journey towards Parambikulam.
We reached the foot hills where there was a forest check post. We waited there for some time had some fruits which were sold on the roadside. After getting the entry tickets our vehicle started zooming towards the most awaited destination. We stopped at top slip for taking some snaps, but we had to leave the place immediately as we were way behind our trip schedule. Then we reached the Parambikulam check post .Our vehicle was waiting for the forest officer to check and give us the permission.
There was a small stream running in that location, mostly in this type of hill areas the borders of the states are fixed by the streams and the water path that flows regularly. We all jumped down to the stream with the kids and had a small play. It was nice and refreshing. We took a photo of Desi with the two kids. It was the photo of the century. All were of the same height.
Then the forest officer gave us clearance and we boarded the vehicle and started. We had two more ladies who were the principal of some reputed school in their own vehicle. We saw Mr. Jayakumar telling lots of stuffs about nature.
As usual boys were very much reluctant in joining the camp. A group of 60 girls from Anna University Chennai were also at Parambikulam at the same time. So this small piece of information was passed on to the boys and that’s it…they were all ready.
We reached the entry point where from we were accompanied by the two tribal guides. Then we went off to the settlement location which is the end of the road. We all were tired and hungry. It was around 12.30 pm. After some time we had a delicious lunch with the tribal people serving us with the best hospitality possible.
After lunch we had our luggages unloaded and the boys had to stay in the dormitory named the TIGER VALLEY and the girls stayed in a nearby place called BISON VALLEY . Boys room was filled with cots made up of bamboo and superb bed sheet with pillows were provided. And the girls had nice rooms with proper beds.
Ah…… we had to wild away the time and the only means was CARDS!!!!!! We started playing cards. It was a nice enjoyable time. Then there it was…. The first time trek for many in our group it started. To my surprise the girls were all perfumed up - that is really bad because all the animals will recognize us and run away or attacks us.
What to do….. We had to continue. We went to trek through the trail of the Parambikulam tunnel (the 4 km parambikulam aliyar project). We started with the wild butterflies (all were laughing) and then we saw the mark that was made by a Tiger on a tree. It was thrilling. Then we moved on.
Silence is the most important aspect of the forest but after repeated advice by the guides none of the participants were ready to heed and the family which accompanied us were really disturbed.
It’s all part of the game. We continued with the trek. We saw the skeleton of a BISON (head). After the road trail ,we started walking into the forest. We encountered a group of BISONS. After seeing us they moved away. It was thrilling. And we saw lot of insects which we were not familiar with, and then came the stream as we had requested the guides.
Officially we are not supposed to get wet but it was nice to play in the stream in spite of their warning. All of us enjoyed the play in the stream, Jothi was not ready to get wet .Vikram, Narmada and Desi were completely drenched. And Dinesh was the one who started it, always playing in the water. Then we continued with our trek… We saw a lot of the Elephant waste all along the path.
Now came the most difficult and dangerous part crossing a stream which had a steep falls. We had to cross it at the tip. All had to take their shoes in their hand and it was a nice and thrilling crossing. After crossing the stream we came to the tunnel entry point. The lake was a beauty. We all took snaps at the tunnel gate and the lake. We were so much excited that all of us were making a lot of noise. Well after some advice again we settled down and continued to trek.
Here comes the most terrifying incident .On our way back it was already late and darkening, Vikram was shouting like anything and just as we thought that some animal might be around .All of a sudden the guide asked us to keep quiet and I ran to the front and asked everybody to keep quiet. To our left at a short distance we saw a baby elephant with its mother. As we were a big group of 20 people it would be difficult for the guide to save us incase if the elephant charges.
Suresh was wearing a white t-shirt and I was wearing a red jacket and a white t-shirt. We were asked to remove them. So did we and we all bent and moved ahead quietly. Suddenly our hero Vikram stood up and took a photo, thank God that the elephants did not notice us. Then we made our way through .It was getting dark and still the group was moving slowly which was dangerous. And so Dinesh started leading the group instead of being the last man. Then we reached the camp site safely.
We all were at the tea shop having tea. There was no current .We were enjoying the dark forest chit chatting. And Vishnu became very close to an old lady who gave us tea. Then came the lights and we also had a very relishing dinner. Later the boys went to check whether the girl’s rooms were safe. The girls wanted some boys to stay in the bison valley for their safety. The guides also accepted. But our boys started playing and making a lot of noise in the girl’s room. And so all the boys were asked to leave and denied the stay in the girl’s room.
Boys had a very peaceful sleep in the tiger valley; many said that there were bears and wild boars roaming around the room in the night.
Day 2:
We all were supposed to get up and be ready before 7 am. People were lazy and it was late again. All those who were ready to start the bird watching trek along the parambikulam dam were asked to start. Shalini and one more girl was missing. Dinesh went searching for them. After sometime they came with the guide stating that they went to get some medical attention.
Before starting the trek all had a hot cup of milk and tea. It was late so the guides said that we won’t be able to spot birds as expected. Narmadha and Desi somehow got hold of the boys over coat. We reached the Parambikulam Dam. It was a nice spot where in we took a lot of photos and we crossed the dam and played for some time. We had many of us dancing and the most important one was the dance by Desi.
Then we went back to the camp and we had our breakfast . It was served hot and it was really nice. After the breakfast we had a small bath and packed our belongings. To move to another location for the night stay. We had Mr. Meiyappan from Chennai, an EXNORA member to guide us through the program. On our way we went to the Kannimara Teak tree which is one of the largest living teak tree in the world. It has an amazing girth of 6.48m and a crown height of 48.75m It is believed to be around 400 years old. Mr. Meiyappan gave us a small briefing about the history of the tree. All of us tried hugging and kissing this tree.
And beside this tree there is a stream running and. Narmadha ,Desi and Dinesh decided to have a small dip in the stream and got down to business. After the dip we started back to the new stay. We reached the Horn Bill Dormitory .we started making our bed and then we went down to have a nice lunch.
After the lunch we started to trek again. This time we had the two principal accompanying us. We were taken into different types of forest such as the West coast tropical evergreen , West coast tropical semi-evergreen forests, Southern moist mixed deciduous forest, Southern dry mixed deciduous forests and the Southern montane wet temperate(Sholas).
We found a lot of small insects in these thick forests. When we went in to marshy land it was the most fun part. We had all the trekkers shouting and screaming and especially the girls (Shalini). Leeches were all around and all over. Everybody was shouting and running. And after the terrifying experience we came down to the stream where everybody was checking themselves for the presence of leeches.
At that moment we saw our friend Vishnu crying because she fell down and went on yelling at the photographers who tried to photograph her.
Narmadha and Dinesh were playing with the leeches that they found. Narmada had a small bite in her leg. But she was happy and energetic. Vishnu was still in pain :-) .Then we started walking again, we crossed the Tamilnadu Kerala border. And Dinesh was standing on the stone which marked the location.
We then reached our vehicle and started to move towards the Thunakadavu Dam. We took nice snaps and enjoyed the location. We saw lot of deers on our way back. They we came back to the Dormitory and again started back for a night ride in the vehicle. We were able to spot a bison, rabbit and many deers during the ride.
After the ride we came back and had a small refreshment and after that we went to the Modern Nature Interpretation Centre were we were told about nature and how EXNORA is trying to refine the nature in the metropolis cities and many facts about nature and our role in it. After having our dinner Dinesh , Jothi, Aswath and some more people were returning to the room ;they heard some sound and had to move fast to reach the room. We all played cards and then we had a nice cozy sleep at the horn bill Dormitory.
Day 3:
It was a fresh morning we all were up early and this time we were not late. We had a morning eco-meditation session. Vikram and Saravanan were laughing all the time. After that we went to have some refreshments. Later we moved on for a trek and bird watching. We found lot of birds and were very anxious to know more about them and their style of living.
Everybody was enjoying the trip. We had a separate group of 9 people who were enjoying the trek in their own manner. Aswath found a dead lizard and all started playing with it. We reached a Check Dam, we climbed up and took lots of snaps. And then we came back for our breakfast.
You could see how hungry we were from C.M Saravanan‘s face. After our breakfast we moved on the trail to the kingfisher tree house which was situated near the lake. We found more than 3 sets of pug marks on our way.
After reaching the tree house we came to know that crocodiles existed in these lakes and were terrified. And all of us enacted as if we saw a crocodile also. And then we came back to the dormitory and had a delicious lunch. Later we were distributed with the certificates from the EXNORA by the forest department officer. And then we were on our way back to the same old college life.
As for EXNORA these guys were really awesome. Everything was arranged perfectly and the food and hospitality was the highlight. The two guides and Mr. Meiyappan were very patient. We really appreciate them.
Written by : Dinesh, Aswath
Edited by : Desi
Organiser : Dinesh , Exnora
Participants : Dinesh, C.M Saravanan, M.Saravanan, Vasanth, P.Senthil, Shiva Priya, Jothi, Narmada, Shalini, Vikram, Aravinth, Aswath, Suresh, Ranjith, Vishnu Priya, Desi - (16)
Photos By : Dinesh, Vasanth,P.Senthil, Vikram, Aswath, Suresh
No of Photos : 1411(approx)
No of Videos : 127(approx)
Database : Central Warrior Base
