Tourist Attractions in Periyar
Periyar offers a large number of activities with the premises of the reserve. For one, Periyar and elephants are synonymous and one cannot be thought of without the other. Herds of playful wild elephants have made Periyar Lake their favourite haunt for frolicking in the water. Scores of them can be witnessed bathing and swimming here. It is interesting to note that Indian female elephants do not posses tusks like their African relatives. Other inhabitants of Periyar include the leopard, wild dog, barking deer, mouse deer, Nilgiri langur (a primate), bonnet macaque, sambhar, porcupines, squirrels, gaur (Indian bison), wild boar, and sloth bear. There are approximately 40 tigers in the area as per the latest reports. The tigers, along with the Nilgiri tahrs (a kind of a wild goat), are elusive creatures. However, an early morning visit could be fruitful and you might be able to catch sight of one here.
Monitor lizards can be spotted amidst the rocky hinges along the lake, and several trekkers claim to have sighted pythons, king cobras, and flying lizards. Also, about 260 species of birds can be found at Periyar. These include darters, cormorants, ibises, grey herons, mynas, flycatchers, orioles, wood pigeons, kingfishers, kites, ospreys, thrushes, and an appreciable number of blue-winged parakeets.
Animals spend a lot of time near the lake during the summer months of March and April. Animals can be seen from motorboats on the lake or from watchtowers. A special permission is required to travel by boat to the source of the artificial lake, the River Periyar. This area is generally not open for tourists, but is the favourite haunt of the sloth bear. There is a good chance of spotting an occasional tiger in this relatively peaceful corner of the forest. One can also form a group and go on a walking tour with locally available guides. The flora here is mainly composed of marshy grasslands, with forests that are a mixture of grasslands, fire-resistant low-growth vegetation, deciduous forests, semi-evergreens, and tropical evergreens.
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