Magical Thattekad

One of the most beautiful tour I have ever had in recent years. "It's very easy to acknowledge how beautiful Kerala is, once you stay else where", everybody accepted to Haison's point without starting a debate (It was in fact more convincing than his lectures on Gravity!!).
As soon as we received the date for Arun's (kotta) wedding, the plan for combining it with a short trip came automatically. Sivan, me, Balan, and Rajkrishnan from Bangalore, Reghu( with his own strange plans) from Chennai, Haison from Kollam and Sethu from Kottayam would form the team in Eranakuklam.
Which place? I suggested Thattekad for two reasons.
Reason one, by that time I have already bought a book on Indian birds and wanted to try it.
Reason two was more practical one. Vinod's (kambli) home is in Kothamangalam town, which is pretty close to Thattekad. Stay, food and local travel free. His brother was abroad and wife will be in her home. There would be no better time to occupy his big house. Thattekad is accepted.
How do we make most out of this trip? The original plan was to get the famous birder, Eldose as our local guide, however he proved to be unavailable for our plan. Then Kambli's collegue helped us to find Jose, another professional guide, for the trek. Thus the entire planning is done in Bangalore.
Wedding day arrived and everything (feasting) is over by 3 in the afternoon. Newly wed couple asked for our blessings and we promptly obliged. Now who all are coming? Reghu's plan is out, he wanted to go his ancestral home. Sethu decided not to join because of even stranger reason(s), that he was never asked to reveal. It's a five member team now and Kambli would be leading us, once we reach Kothamangalam. Arun's father arranged a cab for us to Kothamangalam and we started. On the way, the discussion on relativity, gravity and theory of everything, instantly sent Rrajappan to another world of dreams. We stopped for a tea break as we noticed that the driver could no longer decide whether he's experiencing gravity all around or just lateral acceleration.

P1030355, originally uploaded by retheeshkr.

Reached Kambli's home by late evening, relaxed for sometime and then decided to go out for dinner. Kambli led the way to a popular bar in that area. We slept early with full stomach.

We wake up early in the morning and packed all our stuff for the trek. We came out of the room and all got surprised to see the signs of last night’s heavy rain. The atmosphere was clear, fresh and damp. Kambli was very enthusiastic in showing off his beautiful garden. After taking few pictures of the flowers, and a failed attempt to shot a Roufous Treepie, we started to the famous Salim Ali bird sanctuary at Thattekad.

We picked up our guide en-route and he gave an interesting introduction to the geography of the place. We made a stop to have our breakfast in a small hotel near the forest department check point. Our guide checked the photos stored in my camera, which I have taken in Ranganathituu bird sanctuary a few months back. He then made a point that unlike in Ranganathittu, it’s difficult to approach the birds in this thick forest and even with your longest lens you will find it difficult to fill your frame.

He added that these forests are thick and the trees are tall and will not be easy even to locate the birds. Near the park, on the bridge over the river Periyar, we could resist stopping again and breath in fresh air. I wished I could cough out all the dirt I accumulated in my lungs, while commuting in Bangalore. I actually did and spew out all my worries, everyday chorus, greed and lust.

A magnificent view unfolded before our eyes, rather it was always there, we are now opening up. White clouded sky, rolling fog behind dark green rain forest and small green patches of open grass land. Previous night's rain painted the river brown and the wooden bridge over the small tributary completed the experience.

We entered the park after crossing the river. There was a deer refuge which we did not pay much attention.

We went further below thick bamboo canopy, then we saw a few houses inside the park. Seeing our confused face, our guide explained, it's how our government manages our parks. Government created this park long ago but "forgot" to relocate the people inside. Allmost everyone went silent, as if all wondering whether it's right to occupy the land which truly belong to birds. After all we keralites have a "decent" history of encroaching the forest land in the name of creating plantation. The sad part is that they appear themselves as hard working peasants and use their collective bargaining power to influence the politicians to get these lands in their name.
I saw this Oriental Magpie Robin on the wall of a small building opposite to the deer refuge.

We walked past a small lake on the left . We were able to spot few egrets, cormorants and a white breasted kingfisher. All of them were beyond the reach of my lens. As we proceeded further, forest became thicker and the sunlight dim.

Every where we heard the birds. Our guide then pointed to the tip of a tall tree. We all looked up but nothing was visible, then I asked for his binocular and tried. I could see only silhouette. I was unable to identify the bird.

We continued the trekking inside the park. Soon we realized Thattekad can in fact boast for it’s amphibians as well. I took only a few snaps, of a frog blending perfectly with the background and some butterflies; conserving my battery in anticipating the birds which never came across.

It started drizzling slowly forcing us to open our umbrellas. We packed our cameras and binoculars in our bag. We reached near a brick walled room made like a watch tower. However, it was already occupied by some one else. We then decided to hike to a hill top through a narrow trail; while our guide was showing us tell tale signs of elephants using the same route. He pointed to elephant dung on one side, paused for a moment and then eased off our tension by saying; it is at least two weeks old. We spotted a Malabar giant squirrel lying on a distant branch. I tried a few times with my point and shoot camera to get a proper focus, but failed miserably. In fact getting a good picture of that distant, well camouflaged subject in such low light situation was next to impossible.


We continued our hike to reach the hill top. A black eagle with its characteristic wing position was riding the currents above the valley nearby. The bird disappeared behind white clouds for few minutes and then reappeared briefly before I lost contact. We spent around one hour on top of the hill shooting dragon flies and spiders. Around 1 pm we decided to climb down to have our lunch. Our guide showed us the shortest route to exit the park. We directly went to a toddy shop around 2~3 km away from the park. We entered the shop, and placed the order for lunch. It started raining heavily while we were dusting off our good old memory in college. It was really nice listening to the continuous flow of jokes and watching the animated conversations of Kambli and Haison. We had a good lunch having tapioca (made of Cassava root), beef fry, pork and toddy made from coconut as well as palm.

We spent nearly 3 hours inside the shop before decided to go home. Rain stopped by then. We all had to negotiate a small bridge made of placing two coconut tree trunks together. I thought of getting a photo opportunity then, but my friends proved that they are veterans when it comes to drinking. We paid our guide Rs 500 and dropped him on the way. We all reached Kambli’s home, tired of long travel that actually started from Bangalore the previous day. It was time to say good bye to Kambli and to Thattekad. It was Onam next day, obviously one of the most memorable holidays I have ever had.

Basic information on Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary, Thattekad

Latitude: 76 deg. 40' - 76 deg. 45' N
Longitude: 10 deg. 7' - 11 deg. E
Altitude: 35- 523 m (Njayapilli peak)
Area: 25.16 sq. km
Rainfall: 2500 mm annually
Forest type: Tropical semi-evergreen and tropical deciduous
Mammals: Elephant, Leopard, Sloth Bear, Porcupine
Bird species: > 250

How to Reach Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary, Thattekad

The sanctuary is 13 km north-east of Kothamangalam along the Pooyamkutti road. The nearest railway station is Aluva at a distance of 48 km. The new airport at Nedumbassery is around 60 km.

Kothamangalam is well connected by privately operated buses to Ernakulam via Muvattupuzha or Perumbavoor. There are frequent buses from Kothamangalam to Thattekad.

Accommodation Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary, Thattekad

There is a three storied watch tower inside the Sanctuary with two beds, a toilet and a kitchen. No electricity here but there is are a few solar powered lamps. A forest department inspection bungalow called Hornbill is located near the sanctuary entrance. There is a dormitory just inside the sanctuary which is ideal for large groups. Accommodation is also available at the PWD rest house near the Bhoothathankett Dam and in lodges in Kothamangalam.

For further information about the sanctuary and for booking accommodation contact:

The Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife), Thiruvanthapuram Kerala 695014

The Wildlife Warden, Idukki Wildlife Division, Vellappara, Painavu P.O. Idukki District 685603 Phone 0486 232271

The Assistant Wildlife Warden, Thattekad Bird Sanctuary, Njayapilli P.O. , Kothamangalam, Kerala Phone 0485 588302