Periyar

The Periyar Tiger Reserve is the most visited wildlife sanctuary in Kerala — not because of its tigers, which are present but elusive, but because of its elephants, its boat safaris on the lake created by the British dam, and its extraordinary setting in the spice-growing highlands of the Western Ghats.

The Periyar lake boat safari is the most unusual wildlife experience in India: a two-hour journey on a wooden government launch across a 26-square-kilometre reservoir, watching the grasslands and forest edge for the herds of wild elephant and gaur that come to drink, from a level closer to theirs than any land-based safari allows. The timber of the forest flooded when the Mullaperiyar dam was built in 1895 still stands as bare trunks in the shallower parts of the lake, giving it a slightly Gothic quality on misty mornings.

The community-based eco-tourism programme at Periyar — trained local guides, night border hikes, bamboo rafting, and tribal heritage programmes with the Mannan and Palliyar communities — is the model in India for integrating the communities traditionally displaced by wildlife sanctuaries into the economics of conservation. The border hikes, which follow the reserve boundary through forest in the early morning with a naturalist from the local tribal community, provide an encounter with the reserve's ecology that the official boat safaris and jeep tracks do not.

Places to Visit in Periyar

• Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary
• Periyar Lake
• Thekkady spice plantations

Things to Do in Periyar

• Boat safari on Periyar Lake
• Spice plantation walking tour
• Bamboo rafting (seasonal)