Monday 24 December - this morning things started misty but by the time breakfast was over the sun was out and it was warming up.
Our plan was to visit the Periyar Tiger Reserve and spend the day exploring on a bamboo raft. However despite being told all was ok this morning it was clear everything was in fact booked up ! So we settled for a afternoon Nature Walk with a Forest Ranger.
We set off to find the booking office which actually was only a kilometre away and got ourselves booked on the 2 pm walk from the Landing Dock in the Park - some 4 kms away. As it happened the Forest Office was on Lake Road and along it were a number of home stays and small hotels. We found a nice and new looking bed and breakfast called Wilder Nest - where we had coffee and tea cake. If we ever come back definitely worth checking out.
Stuart was in need of more Ayurvedic massage so we headed to book that stopping at various curio shops en route. Having bought three Kashmiri painted wooden elephants yesterday we looked at some very nice Kashmiri - silk and woollen - rugs but felt Kashmir was the better place to buy them ! We did come across a small shop Via Kerala with a tee shirt for Stuart and a shopping bag for Violet.
We had not reckoned on the challenge of getting into the Park which was a single road thronged with trishaws, buses and cars - no one way system here ! Once our trishaw driver had negotiated the traffic and dropped us off it was a short walk to the Rangers Hut. Having donned gaiters to ward off the leeches and ticks we headed down to the lakeside crossing on a bamboo raft.
The walk itself was not unlike walking through an English wood - although of course the trees and wildlife were different ! Monkeys, wild boars and bison and the Malabar Squirrel as well as a variety of birdlife. As for a tiger none were to be seen but we did find a paw print in a stream - which Stuart rather unkindly suggested was put there to add authenticity to the walk !
Back at the Greenwoods Resort Christmas Eve offered entertainment and 'a lip smacking buffet' ! Regrettably the limited selection of Christmas music on a continuous loop had began to dampen our festive spirits !
Our plan was to visit the Periyar Tiger Reserve and spend the day exploring on a bamboo raft. However despite being told all was ok this morning it was clear everything was in fact booked up ! So we settled for a afternoon Nature Walk with a Forest Ranger.
We set off to find the booking office which actually was only a kilometre away and got ourselves booked on the 2 pm walk from the Landing Dock in the Park - some 4 kms away. As it happened the Forest Office was on Lake Road and along it were a number of home stays and small hotels. We found a nice and new looking bed and breakfast called Wilder Nest - where we had coffee and tea cake. If we ever come back definitely worth checking out.
Stuart was in need of more Ayurvedic massage so we headed to book that stopping at various curio shops en route. Having bought three Kashmiri painted wooden elephants yesterday we looked at some very nice Kashmiri - silk and woollen - rugs but felt Kashmir was the better place to buy them ! We did come across a small shop Via Kerala with a tee shirt for Stuart and a shopping bag for Violet.
We had not reckoned on the challenge of getting into the Park which was a single road thronged with trishaws, buses and cars - no one way system here ! Once our trishaw driver had negotiated the traffic and dropped us off it was a short walk to the Rangers Hut. Having donned gaiters to ward off the leeches and ticks we headed down to the lakeside crossing on a bamboo raft.
The walk itself was not unlike walking through an English wood - although of course the trees and wildlife were different ! Monkeys, wild boars and bison and the Malabar Squirrel as well as a variety of birdlife. As for a tiger none were to be seen but we did find a paw print in a stream - which Stuart rather unkindly suggested was put there to add authenticity to the walk !
Back at the Greenwoods Resort Christmas Eve offered entertainment and 'a lip smacking buffet' ! Regrettably the limited selection of Christmas music on a continuous loop had began to dampen our festive spirits !