Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary.

The reason why you go to Kumily is to explore Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary. Besides all the small game, Periyar is known all across Southern India for its many Wild Elephants and its very few wild Tigers. So I took a guided trek in the jungle, hoping to say hi to wild elephants for sure and possibly some tiger if luck ever struck.

A flat tire on the way to Kumily.

I was up to a very good start. Just as I arrived to the welcoming center, two huge wild elephants came out of the jungle and walked slowly to the lake shore. Everyone was very excited about it. I took a couple pictures and didn't really worry about it since I was going to trek deep in the jungle and I was surely going to get much closer to them. So I thought... Little that I knew, those two were going to be the only ones I saw the whole day. Useless to say there were no tigers around either.

At the very end of the trek, following small paths

But it was still very interesting. There were all sorts of monkeys up the trees, and many more smaller exotic animals. I saw many very exotic birds too, most of which I didn't even know existed. Some of the trees were also quite something to see.

I guess this trek showed me more than anything how little I knew about the jungle and its fauna and flora. Quite a fascinating experience.

Andre.

Cinnamon and Bay Leaf Tree

Here's what a freshly extracted bean looks like.

I didn't know coffee grew in such a tree.

Pepper picker.

Ripe pepper ready to be picked.

This is a pepper tree.

Wild Elephants at the back of the lake.

Wild Hogs.