Wayanad- My story of meeting a Tiger
13 February 2010
It has been quite while I was thinking of taking a trip to Western Ghats. When my friend Vimal told me that he would be in Wayanad for a few days also, I thought it was right time to go. So there started a trip that I will be remembering for a long, long time.
I had my train from Ernakulam by noon also, and made it on right time in Calicut. Finished a small business meeting I had there, then there it occurred that there should be a change in plan. So first night spent in Calicut. In the Morning set out my uphill journey through the zing zang road to Mananthawady. I always wonder why they didn't plan a rail line uphill. Or is it technically not possible?.
The Journey uphill in the KSRTC Bus was pleasant. Some of the views in the curves , looking at the valleys were breathtakingly beautiful.
Reached Mananthwady by noon, met Vimal, had lunch together and left out to Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary.
Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary is located in Tholpetty Forest Range Division. Entry time to Sanctuary is 7 am to 9am & 3 pm to 5 pm. We opted for Safari trip at the evening. It was a jeep, and we were 7 in the vehicle including Vimal, the driver and other 4 foreigners.
As the Jeep moved into the jungle, we spotted a family of deer. Then there were a couple of Hanuman Monkeys,Moorhens, Malabar giant squirrels and families of Gaur.
It was inter
esting to see how the Gaur family was roaming around as our Jeep was moving by them.
All these sightings actually enthralled us. We were told before it was not possible to sight these many of animal in a given trip of of one hour. There were stories we had learned that some people who took this trekking before us had not seen any animal at all.
Our jeep was moving further. I was looking out unintentionally at the side path. We were passing a small pond.
TIGER, TIGER.................... I cried out.
There he was, in the shallow bush. We were into that it can not be true. But it was true.
We had learned from blogs etc.. there were Tiger sigtings in this Sanctuary. The last one reported a 2 months back also. only the lucky, very very lucky get to see them.
And we were those lucky people.
By this time all had seen the Majestic Beauty. The Great Indian Tiger. He was just 20 meters away from us,now standing and looking at us with suspicion.
I am sure he was looking at Vimal, and he was close to him. God !! We got a few snaps of the Tiger. Vimal's camera was in Video Mode. SO we missed nice pictures. But our friends at Jeep managed to grab some photos.
Then, only then our Tiger Friend turned around and went to into deep forest.
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I had my train from Ernakulam by noon also, and made it on right time in Calicut. Finished a small business meeting I had there, then there it occurred that there should be a change in plan. So first night spent in Calicut. In the Morning set out my uphill journey through the zing zang road to Mananthawady. I always wonder why they didn't plan a rail line uphill. Or is it technically not possible?.
The Journey uphill in the KSRTC Bus was pleasant. Some of the views in the curves , looking at the valleys were breathtakingly beautiful.
Reached Mananthwady by noon, met Vimal, had lunch together and left out to Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary.
Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary is located in Tholpetty Forest Range Division. Entry time to Sanctuary is 7 am to 9am & 3 pm to 5 pm. We opted for Safari trip at the evening. It was a jeep, and we were 7 in the vehicle including Vimal, the driver and other 4 foreigners.
As the Jeep moved into the jungle, we spotted a family of deer. Then there were a couple of Hanuman Monkeys,Moorhens, Malabar giant squirrels and families of Gaur.
It was inter
esting to see how the Gaur family was roaming around as our Jeep was moving by them.All these sightings actually enthralled us. We were told before it was not possible to sight these many of animal in a given trip of of one hour. There were stories we had learned that some people who took this trekking before us had not seen any animal at all.
Our jeep was moving further. I was looking out unintentionally at the side path. We were passing a small pond.
TIGER, TIGER.................... I cried out.
There he was, in the shallow bush. We were into that it can not be true. But it was true.
We had learned from blogs etc.. there were Tiger sigtings in this Sanctuary. The last one reported a 2 months back also. only the lucky, very very lucky get to see them.
And we were those lucky people.
By this time all had seen the Majestic Beauty. The Great Indian Tiger. He was just 20 meters away from us,now standing and looking at us with suspicion.
I am sure he was looking at Vimal, and he was close to him. God !! We got a few snaps of the Tiger. Vimal's camera was in Video Mode. SO we missed nice pictures. But our friends at Jeep managed to grab some photos.
Then, only then our Tiger Friend turned around and went to into deep forest.
And it is believed that there are around 16 of them live in and around the forests of Wayanad.
This had made our day. Spotting a tiger made me feel really good.