Since a long time i was thinking about visiting this place.I went to this beautiful place last week.
Marayur is famous for Jaggery.Marayur produces high quality Jaggery which is having huge demand in Kerala.
Marayur is 49 Km north to Munnar in Idukki district.
I reached in Marayur at noon.Many grocery shops there displayed boards mentioning that "Marayur Jaggery" is available there.I thought of buying it while i return.
I walked forward from the busstop and reached a point after a Km.The board shoed that "Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary starts from there.
I was initially apprehensive to go further fearing that someone might stop me.The Check Post nearby was closed and no one was visible around.So i decided to move further along the road.
After a while,the road keep on deflecting haphazardly .Later the either sides of the road was thick forest.
A board on the way showed that guided Trekking is possible from the Forest Department Office,1 Km away.
An autorickshaw suddenly stopped beside me The driver asked me in Tamil where i was going.When i mentioned that i al going to the Forest Deaprtment Office,he asked me to get in as he is going to the very same place.
From the Forest Department Office there are guided Trekking to 2 areas
1) To dolmens and rock painting sites
2)To Thoovanam waterfalls
I opted for the first one as i had read about the ancient Dolmens and rock paintings in internet articles.
Raja,a lean,tall ,dark skinned guide was asked to take me with him.He first took me to the dolmens.
Dolmens over there was small in size.Dolmens are made using 4 flat rock pieces.3 forms the boundaries and the 4th one is placed above forming the roof.These small dolmens were burial sites of lower class people in ancient days.
Raja mentioned that there are some large dolmens in deep forest.These large dolmens are burial sites of high class people and also believed that sages used such dolmens for meditating.Some of the dolmens are destroyed by elephants while they move around in search of water.
The path from the dolmens was quite gruelling with steep climbs and narrow valleys.I was gasping for breath after sometime.But Raja didn't show any obvious
changes.For him,its just a routine way.
He showed me a Sandal wood tree.Marayur is the place where natural sandalwoods are seen in abundance.A survey conucted in 2004 showed that there are around 60,000 sandalwood trees there.They are used to prepare sandalwood oil and sandalwood paste.
After sometime Raja suddenly stopped.He started looking for something above us.He showed me a Kite sitting in the branch of a tall tree,making occassional sounds.Raja informed that the Kite might have noticed a Squirrel or Pigeon nearby,which are its favourite prey.
He stopped again after a few steps and took diversion to right.His steps suddenly become small and was keenly listening to a peculiar sound coming from a nearby tree.He easily spotted what he was searching for.It was a Grizzled Giant Squirrel!!!
The Kite might have been looking at that Squirrel.Grizzled Giant Squirrel is an endangered species seen in Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary.Its image is synonymous for the sactuary as every board of the sanctuary adores an picture of this Squirrel.
Raja mentioned a peculiar behaviour of this Squirrel.It usually makes around 10 nests,especially at the edges of branches and prefer to live in the ugliest of these nests!!
Raja then took me to the site of rock paintings.According to him it is mainly archeological and history students who often visit these rocks.
Last we went to a place which gives a panoramic view of the forest and the surrounding mountains.
On the way back i enquired about Chinnar Watch Tower,which i read in an online article.Raja informed that it was 13 Km away and a bus going in that direction will soon reach there.
He suddenly pointed to a place and mentioned that wild buffalo was there a bit back.It was a surprising information and asked him how he found it out.
Raja said that he was getting the unique smell of buffalos.Each animal has a peculiar odour.The odour will stay in the forest environment for around 30 minutes.Besides that buffalos has a tendency of pressing their horns to ground.So its easier to recognize the place.
Within 5 minutes i got the bus to Watch Tower.The Watch Tower was near Kerala-Tamil Nadu border.There also a guide accompanied me from the Office.His name was Muthu.He shared similar features as that of Raja.Watch Tower was 300 meters deep in forest.
We reached the Watch Tower within 20 minutes.The time was 4:40 PM.According to Muthu,Animals will not come out usually at that time because it a bit sunny.He said ideal time will be 5:30 PM or arounf 7 AM.During those times plenty of animals will come near to Watch Tower,on their way to the river on the adjacent side.After some time we stepped down from the Watch Tower.
On our way back,he quickly noticed a small group od spotted deers and showed them to me.I was impressed by his sharp eyes.He stated that he could recognize an animal seeing its excreta.He showed me small small ,light brown,coffee bean shaped things on a rock.He said they are the excreta of wild rabbits.
I was extremely happy because i did my first guided trekking in my life!!
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