Now I am not a big fan of hiking, wildlife or anything that makes me sweat in my leisure time. Although I do love myself a hard workout, but I usually feel some of the destinations are a bit over hyped. The traveler should be adequately informed about what he should expect. One such event happened at the Periyar Tiger Reserve and here is why you should avoid the Bamboo Rafting program at this reserve.
Spread over nearly hundreds of acres, the Periyar Tiger Reserve hosts about 40 tigers and more than 2000 elephants. There are also bison, wild boar and lots of birds and plants to contend with. It offers a plethora of programs the pinnacle of which is the Bamboo Rafting program. It is actually a very thrilling idea of being able to raft on a bamboo boat while animals come over to quench their thirst at the river. But read on for the true story.
Bamboo Rafting at the Periyar Tiger Reserve
Although the Bamboo Rafting is divided into a half day and full day program, do not be surprised if you’re rafting for more than 2 hours. For the next 4-8 hours, you’ll basically be hiking through jungles in search of the elusive animal sighting. I am not a big fan of hiking and climbing, as you will know in my post about a trek to Triund. I was totally flabbergasted as the simple faced forest guides just kept on walking and walking, pausing to catch an hour long siesta after lunch.
Although the Bamboo Rafting is supposed to be one of the prime ways to see animals, all we saw were a pair of langurs, one wild buffalo, one wild pig and a few egrets. Now pardon me if I am wrong, but I can pretty easily see these animals in Delhi. Why on earth will I pay INR 2000++ to burn under a scorching sun and see them. We also saw a plethora of mushrooms and skulls of dead animals, the only ones I got to photograph. I was one of the lucky ones not to bring my DSLR along as it would have been a total waste of time. There might be prime areas to see these animals but the guides were too lazy to actually show us any.
The food and service on a whole was pretty disappointing throughout the trip. My hotel staff had thankfully packed some sandwiches for me along with a bottle of Watermelon juice to keep me hydrated in the jungle. What the forest department had provided was a carton of juice, a banana, an orange and a packed meal of Idli and Sambhar. Now how would the forest department expect people to scoop up Idli and Sambhar on lunch in a forest continues to astound me. After we had reached our island where we had to row to, the guides actually stretched out and started snoring. The same happened on the way back.
If I was going to go on a glorified morning walk for INR 2500 just to see a few animals whose domesticated versions I can see in the city everyday and sleep on grass, I’d better think twice about it. I can do better things at much cheaper rates through the country.
