Wildlife

Today I went to the Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary. There are several guided treks to choose from. I choose the "Bamboo Raft" tour, which is an all day raft ride/trek. The tour is guided by two guides. There is also a porter (who caries the snacks and lunch) and an armed guard. The guard is considered important because there are tigers and wild bison.

Fear my WWI era rifle!


The first part of the day was pretty un-eventful. It mostly felt like a hike through the woods. We didn't see too much wildlife. I did see a Kingfisher (which is India's national bird) and some other birds.


We also spotted some wild pigs.



Just before lunch, everything changed. First, we saw some bison. At one point, the guides and the guard got very serious. The guard loaded up his WWI era rifle and shuffled out to the bushes. It seems that we had nearly cornered the bison herd, which is exactly the thing one does to make them charge. After the close call, the guides had us skirt around the herd and wait for a while so they could get out from being cornered. We then continued to stalk them until we could get into visual range. I got a good view myself, but unfortunately the lens I had with me wasn't long enough to get a great photo. At least I did get something.



After lunch it started raining. But rain was a small price to pay for what we saw on our raft ride back to the main trail. A herd of wild Asian Elephants! The herd actually swam across the lake to get away from us. When were were our closest we were maybe only about 75 yards away from them.


Leach proof booties being dusted with tobacco powder. Double protection from leaches! (All the guides except for the "guard" wore only sandals. They had no problems. But they did need to be much more diligent in checking their feet periodically!)


Fungus and bugs: