28 June 2015
In our quest to visit waterfalls in Munnar we never thought
about seeing nearby Eravikulam National Park. While driving back to Bengaluru
via Udumalpet road, we saw the entrance to Eravikulam National Park. The place
looked very organized with lot of parking place and safari vehicles waiting. It
looked inviting and we decided to have a visit in spite of the delay it may
cause to our return to Bengaluru.
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| Shola forests of Eravikulam |
We were the first group of people that day. Hence we quickly
got our tickets and boarded into safari bus. From the entry point, safari bus
starts the climb towards the National park. Initial stretch is though tea
gardens. Anaimudi, the highest peak in South India at 8411 feet was visible. It
would have been great if trekking was not banned to this peak.
A huge waterfall was seen while climbing up. Though a
monsoon waterfalls it looked beautiful.
The waterfall is just next to the road. The vehicle stopped
for a while to view the falls.
There were other falls in the vicinity.
The vehicle stops at a point from where we are left to
ourselves. We can hop on to any Safari vehicles that come throughout the day to
return back. But there is not much that we could do there other than walking up
for a km. Forest guards were posted at
many places to keep a watch on wandering visitors.
The National Park is home to the largest population of
endangered Nilgiri Tahr. While one needs to be lucky to find them, the
probability of seeing them is quite high. We did see them at couple of places.
This is definitely the highlight of the safari.
Labels: Forest, Kerala, Munnar, Safari, tahr, travel, Wildlife
