It’s not all People versus Park at Parambikulam!

A roadtrip to Tamil Nadu is necessary for all travelers from Kerala to visit the second tiger reserve in their own State. This ritualistic crossing of the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border to travel to the Parambikulam Tiger Reserve will be the most striking feature for anyone who embarks on a journey to Parambikulam Tiger Reserve from Kerala. Though the Reserve is near Peechi and Chimmony, the route through Kerala is not open for the general public as they form an integral part of the core of the Tiger Reserve.

"We used to drive straight from Peechi to Parambikulam”, remarked our jeep driver who is a frequent plyer to the Reserve.  He is even familiar with the three routes for trekking that the Parambikulam eco-tourism now offers.  Eager to liberate ourselves and to be immersed in the tranquility of forest and wildlife, as a part of the nature camp organised by Kerala Shastra Sahyta Parishad (KSSP), a group of wildlife photographers and members and supporters of the Yuvajana Samiti of KSSP travelled through the Thalasheery- Polachi route to reach the Anamalai Tiger Reserve, first.  The  Anamalai Tiger Reserve of Tamil Nadu is contiguous to the Parambikulam Tiger Reserve and as we drove past the hill range, we reached Topslip. Topslip, strangely is a hilltop from where a lot of timber “slipped” down to cater to the British administration. A beautiful bunglow stands testimony to this exploitative colonial history at Topslip. We did not stop to explore Topslip but we drove down that hill and took another winding path up to reach Anappady, the beginning point of Parambikulam Tiger Reserve.  

Anappady is the major eco-toursim centre of the Parambikulam Tiger Reserve.  Everything about the spot is neatly planned.  The centre stations a few tented niche which are named after the main trees of the Reserve; an interpretation centre established to educate the tourists about biodiversity hotspots, biomes, and particularly about Parabikulam through modern technology whose touch buttons are unfortunately defunct. The eco-shops selling various forest products such as honey, honey bee wax and spices collected and processed by Eco-Development Committees (EDC) and the canteen facility which employs the local Malasar community clearly demonstrates the community participation in tiger tourism.   The two forest guides, who accompanied us in our trekking, are also from community members from the nearby Sungam colony. Everything about the centre is green and mild yellow, even the safari jeeps which are named after the birds of the Reserve!

The first trekking route through the forest took us to a brief encounter with one lone tusker, eating and basking itself in the sun. We were captured by the beauty of this majestic creature and many of us indulged in fixing even its slightest movements in our photographic frames in all permissible angles.  But all his slight movements were taken with a pinch of caution by our forest guides instructing us to move back and the group duly obeying those instructions.  It was almost like a shadow play, us reflecting all his moves. Ultimately when he began to take long strides, we got the signal to retract soon as we never know how this majestic creature could behave in the next split seconds.

 The second trekking route was following the trails of pug marks; afterall are we not in a tiger reserve! The guide told us that there are about 37 tigers in the reserve, one of which has marked this trekking trail as its territory.  We were informed that none of the tigers in the reserves have collars, but they are monitored through modern conservation tools like sensor cameras.

The safari area is guided by three magnificent reservoirs which are connected to each other through canal system.  The information boards especially adjacent to the dam explain the inextricable connection of the space with the government of Tamil Nadu. The three man made reservoirs constructed under the Parambikulam-Aaliyar Project, serve one of the vital ecosystem services of this Reserve, the supply of water to Tamil Nadu along with providing fish to the local population. This project has brought many Tamil labourers to Parambikulam which is otherwise the home to four indigenous tribes such as Kadar, Malasar, Malamalsar and Muthuvas. Now they are reduced to living in small homes of their’s overlooking some breathtaking views of the natural world.While returning, I met the mother of a ten year old, boarding two buses to visit her daughter who studies in a residential English medium school far from the Reserve as the Reserve only has English medium school till 4^th standard.  There are also no hospitals in the Reserve serving about 11 idyllic tribal settlements of the Reserve and one realizes the significance of development rights under the Forest Rights Act.