At the Periyar Tiger Reserve

I’ve been in Kerala 10 days now and in Thekkady about a week of that time. After all the orientation, yesterday was my first opportunity to explore the Periyar Tiger Reserve, the Kerala national park located right across the street from Cardamom County where I’m spending the next 2 months. As a management  trainee with Raxa Collective my responsibilities are to develop the tools that I’ll implement in what will be the best lodging within Ghana’s Mole National Park. (In fact, my day off actually began the evening before by experiencing Earth Hour at the hotel as well as with a candlelight procession with other hoteliers and townspeople.)

Earth Hour at Cardamom County

After a nice breakfast by Ghanaian standards I set off with the assistant manager of Cardamom County to experience boating on the Periyar Lake. To my amazement, even though the mixed group of domestic and foreign tourists was large, they all seemed to understand the importance of keeping quiet whenever we saw wildlife. In the 2 hour trip we saw elephants with a baby, Indian Gaur, herds of wild boar, (which we call bush pigs in Ghana), water otter, sambar deer and different species of birds including Indian hornbills, grey heron, kingfisher, darters, egrets and many more…..

Asian Elephants at Periyar

So far my experience in the Periyar Tiger Reserve is that it is very well organized, from the welcome to the ticketing process to boat logistics and the guides’ manner of pointing out wildlife quietly but informatively. I feel I can implement much of what I learned in Periyar in the Mole National Park. For my next outing I plan to do some treks so I can really get a sense of the national park and what it has to offer.

Tamilnadu vineyards

After the morning excursion I had a delicious lunch of well-spiced grilled chicken in ginger sauce with plain rice and mixed stir-fried vegetables for lunch. Then l continued my day tour to the neighboring state Tamilnadu. Salim brought me to Gudalor Village to see vineyards and other agricultural plantations. Then we toured around Kumily on the way to a mountain overlook for views of the city, the landscape of Tamilnadu and the setting sun over the mountainous area. I’m happy to report that Kerala is beautiful, and as they say in the advertisements, India is truly Incredible!

I love Kerala!