Wildlife

Funny Macaques (Bonnet Macaque)

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Bonnet macaques are found only in South India, occupying wet lowland to dry deciduous forest, up to a height of 2100 m. They are usually quite sociable and are seen mostly in groups.

This photograph was taken near Kumily close to the lower Camp road side by Mr. Shaji. Bonnet macaques of this area mostly seem to be waiting for travelers passing by in hopes of getting some food or fruits from them. Visitors usually feed them to watch the macaques eat and their funny facial expressions, but actually this is a mistake for both animals and people, and should be discouraged.

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Periyar Sightings: April 29, 2012

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Mr. Manu from Cochin was a recent guest at Cardamom County from 28 April 2012 to 29 April 2012. He has shared some of his excellent photography with us from his visit to the Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary.

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Baby Red-Tailed Hawks Hatching at Cornell University

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Today, baby red-tailed hawks hatched out of their eggs. According to my friend who works at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the mom hawk “Big Red” was covered in snow and couldn’t move around because she had to protect her baby from the cold weather (it snows in Ithaca in late April).

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Here is a link to the Livestream video of the hawk nest. Enjoy!

Forests Need People

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The premise underlying entrepreneurial conservation is that there are good economic reasons to preserve natural and cultural heritage.  And when such good reasons present themselves, opportunity dances with need. With natural heritage in particular, in the interest of introducing the dance partners with neither too much fanfare nor scowling, we have taken a light approach to the concept of biophilia, making reference from time to time.

Click the photograph above, by Raul Touzon, to go to National Geographic‘s online coverage of forests under threat, which we link to with entrepreneurial intent.  A bit of fanfare (just look at that creature!) and a hint of scowl are inevitable when you read the sampling in this series: Continue reading →

Periyar Sightings: April 12, 2012

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Mr. David and Anbella from Luxemburg shared their experience of Periyar with us:

We stayed at Cardamom County and took a visit to the Periyar Tiger Reserve. We were happy to spot many birds and wild boars. Our main goal was to spot elephants, which was unfortunate for us because the forest guide told us they hadn’t been sighted for the past two days. Anyhow we enjoyed the wildlife we did see, even though we didn’t find the elephants. – Mr. David

It Happened In Africa

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Click the photo above to go to the original article announcing the creation of the largest wildlife park in the world, which is now a reality:

Five nations that form the central heart of the continent, Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Angola and Botswana recently signed the final documents to create an enormous conservation zone that encompasses 170,000 sq. miles (44,000 sq. kilometers) or 109 million acres. Altogether, the Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA) or KAZA Peace Park, will include 36 game reserves, numerous national parks, forest reserves, conservancies, game and wildlife management areas and communal lands. Continue reading →

Periyar Sightings: March 31, 2012

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We interacted with Mr. Orillard Pascal and Nathalia from France, who visited Gavi on March 29, 2012. They shared some of their photos.

We visited Gavi on Thursday.  As it was quite hot, we thought we wouldn’t spot animals. But we were very  lucky to see elephants grazing on the mountains. We also saw some birds and a Malabar giant squirrel. We enjoyed the spice tour and tea plantation visit too. We really enjoyed our stay at Cardamom County and activities around Thekkady.

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Periyar Sightings: March 24 & 25, 2012

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Some of our guests at Cardamom County recently enjoyed the Nature Trail at Periyar. They were happy to share their photos with us.

Photo by Manoj Vasudevan

Mr. Manoj Vasudevan, who is a senior Tour Escort, took a good collection of pictures while on the trek with his group.

Cormorants

Group of Indian Gaur

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The Boar March with Piglets

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Photo: Salim E.I

Early this morning my friends and I had a walk in the Periyar Tiger Reserve. My friend Mr. Senthil was looking toward the banks of the Periyar Lake when he found a herd of piglets marching with their mother.

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Periyar Sightings: March 14, 2012

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Today we happened to meet Mr. & Mrs. Daya who stayed at Cardamom County from the US. They were happy to share their experience of safari at Periyar Tiger Reserve.

We were very pleased & happy to see the animals at Periyar Tiger Reserve. We had very good sighting of the gentle giant (Elephant), but were a little disappointed due to the distance. We could not spot them very nearly. We’ll go back again and hopefully we’ll see more before we leave tomorrow. We really enjoyed our experience in the Periyar Tiger Reserve.- Mr. Daya

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Gavi Sightings: March 13, 2012

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Mr. & Mrs. Kash, our guests at Cardamom County, have shared photos from their jeep safari excursion to Gavi- a widlife sanctuary at the Periyar Tiger Reserve.

We stayed at Cardamom County, Thekkady in Kerala planning to spend our day inside the forest. The staff suggested we go to Gavi. The three hours of open jeep safari along the path situated between the mountains was so exciting. During the  jeep safari we had some good mountain views & the driver showed & explained the depth and height of the mountains. Then we trekked inside the forest along with a forest guide. We didn’t have much luck spotting animals but saw some black monkeys (Niligiri Langur), Malabar giant squirrel & some birds. It was a wonderful & unique experience to be in Gavi, one of the beautiful settings of the Western Ghats. – Mr. Kash

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Monkey Dads

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Who knew that evolutionary biology might surprise us with more examples of fathers playing an important role in the rearing of offspring? Most of the time, for most species, we think of the mother being invested with all the reasons to be the “responsible” parent.

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Periyar Sightings: March 12, 2012

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Mr. Remack & his family (from France but originally from the US) were guests at Cardamom County and shared their moments in the Periyar Tiger Reserve with us.

During our stay at Cardamom County my family and I visited the Periyar Tiger Reserve. Because the sun seemed quite hot we didn’t expect that we would spot many animals. But we were very lucky to spot the wild dogs ready to hunt sambar deer, an elephant and some of the wild boars. We spotted some birds too. We were really pleased to have such wonderful sighting. – Mr. Remack

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Sightings at Periyar Tiger Reserve

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Ms. Rita & her colleagues (our current guests at Cardamom County) from Malaysia have shared some of their photos taken during the Nature Walk at Periyar Tiger Reserve.

I have visited Kerala every year for the past few years with my colleagues. This time we stayed at Cardamom County, where we scheduled a Nature Walk in the Periyar Tiger Reserve. We had some good sightings of  birds and animals. It was an excellent journey being in the forest with just the four of us and our forest guide. The guide seemed to be very experienced, giving information all along the path which we followed in Periyar Tiger Reserve. We also spotted little tadpoles. The guide informed us that it is the current breeding season for them. We enjoyed it a lot and hope for the same in future. – Ms. Rita

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Nature Walk: March 09, 2012

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Mr. Roshan & family from the U.S.A were staying with us at Cardamom County and shared their Sightings at Periyar yesterday from their Nature Walk.

As they avid hikers, today they trekked on another route in our Periyar Tiger Reserve.

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Periyar Sightings: March 8, 2012

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Mr. Roshan & family from the U.S.A were staying with us and shared their experiences of the Periyar Tiger Reserve.

Coming from the Rocky Mountains our family loved the 3 hour Nature walk in the Periyar Tiger Reserve. We were so impressed by the large Indian Wildlife such as the Sambar deer & Indian gaur (Bison). We also saw the world’s smallest deer (the mouse deer) and many birds and monkeys. The forest felt very safe with our knowledgeable forest guide. – Mr. Roshan Continue reading →