Kerala / Tamil Nadu trip with partner, destination advice (1 Viewer)

[pbjosh]

Hello all,

Looking to spend 7-10 days in the south of India, presumably in Kerala, with my partner. Birding will be actually secondary, as I will stay on some extra after and am pretty clear on the birding circuit. I've been to N India before (and PK and BD) but never the south so no familiarity.

I'm hoping for recommendations for what would be enjoyable for the two of us that would include more attractive towns and or nice guest houses, parks with better chances for tiger and generally enjoyable wildlife / casual birding, maybe some hiking if possible, and generally nice scenery and nothing that's too logistically painful. We don't need luxury and I presume that, like the rest of the subcontinent, the food will be excellent everywhere.

Initial thoughts are Mudumalai or Bandipur and perhaps a visit to Ooty as well, and then perhaps Periyar? But I don't know yet how nice the areas to stay near to Mudumalai / Bandipur are to stay or if you can stay close to the parks? Is Ooty as cute as it looks in photos? Was also looking at Eravikulam but I'm not sure if it is possible/worthwhile to do some hiking? I have read some reports of new restrictions on where you can go in the park. For Periyar, are there nice guesthouses to stay at near to the entrance?

In general, just looking for thoughts / recommendations, realizing that nothing is perfect, sightings are guaranteed, and we'll enjoy ourselves tremendously no matter what.

Cheers,
Josh

 

[kb57]

My information is decades out of date, but I've been to both Mudumalai and Periyar with my non-birding ex-wife and would recommend both. For Periyar we stayed in what I thought at the time was a really nice guesthouse in Kumily near the bus station, but after travelling around the sub-continent for 6 months by then our standards were pretty low...it is certainly a convenient location for Periyar though. There were some nice cafes and restaurants in Kumily too.
We didn't see tiger at either park, but Periyar allows great wildlife viewing from boat trips on the lake; also whilst on foot on our own not too far from the park entrance we came upon a pack of Indian hunting dogs across an inlet from us, a really memorable experience.
Ooty as I recall is pretty cute, a great way to get there is on the narrow-gauge railway, if that still exists.
One thing to note about South Indian food is while it is indeed great, it is very different from the north - mostly very hot spices, even for breakfast you have things like Idlis or Masala Dosas - usually washed down with milky coffee rather than the otherwise ubiquitous chai. You might start to wish for something plainer like omelette and chapatis after a while!

 

[temmie]

Hello all,

Looking to spend 7-10 days in the south of India, presumably in Kerala, with my partner. Birding will be actually secondary, as I will stay on some extra after and am pretty clear on the birding circuit. I've been to N India before (and PK and BD) but never the south so no familiarity.

I'm hoping for recommendations for what would be enjoyable for the two of us that would include more attractive towns and or nice guest houses, parks with better chances for tiger and generally enjoyable wildlife / casual birding, maybe some hiking if possible, and generally nice scenery and nothing that's too logistically painful. We don't need luxury and I presume that, like the rest of the subcontinent, the food will be excellent everywhere.

Initial thoughts are Mudumalai or Bandipur and perhaps a visit to Ooty as well, and then perhaps Periyar? But I don't know yet how nice the areas to stay near to Mudumalai / Bandipur are to stay or if you can stay close to the parks? Is Ooty as cute as it looks in photos? Was also looking at Eravikulam but I'm not sure if it is possible/worthwhile to do some hiking? I have read some reports of new restrictions on where you can go in the park. For Periyar, are there nice guesthouses to stay at near to the entrance?

In general, just looking for thoughts / recommendations, realizing that nothing is perfect, sightings are guaranteed, and we'll enjoy ourselves tremendously no matter what.

Cheers,
Josh

I didn't particularly like Ooty: too crowdy, only small pockets of forest around (it didn't help we were lodged in a small pension where the female head of the family decided to openly shout at the young lady that took care of rooms and cleaning, as it gave us the feeling she was enslaved)...

I liked Mudumalai (savannah with some gallery forest along stream(beds) and especially Thattekad (lush, subtropical, day-roosting owls and frogmouths, Indian Pittas all around, quiet and peaceful). I haven't been to Periyar but I reckon it's a rewarding destination.
There is plenty of 'undiscovered' beauty all around (for non-birdwatchers), like colourful temples everywhere, waterfalls (like this one: Athirapilli Waterfalls · 7HM9+XQ9, Chalakudy - Anamala Rd, Vellukkara, Pariyaram, Kerala 680724, India ) and some roads down the Ghats are spectacular (I vividly remember this one: Kuttiadi Hairpin Bends · PRG7+CCW, Ancham Peedika - Kolathuvayal Rd, Kavilumpara, Kerala 673513, India ).
I would check, for once, things like lonely planet / tripadvisor kind of sources and check google maps (great coverage by streetview) to get a good impression of the natural beauty / culture of the region.
With regards to transport, I really enjoyed taking buses in Kerala. You get to see loads of people and it's a very interesting (religious) mix of muslim, christians, hindus... For places that are less convenient, I found taxis are, by European price standards, a no-brainer (as in: too cheap to wait longer than an hour for a bus).

 

[pbjosh]

Cheers for the thoughts kb57 and temmie! Still collecting opinions and then we'll figure out what makes sense logistically to not spend too much time sat in vehicles getting from place to place.