Malabar Memories @ Shendurney WLS

One of the wish list that was pending for some time was a family trip to a wildlife sanctuary.

The wish came true with a trip to Senduraney Wildlife Sanctuary @Thenmala, Kerela.

It was through a common friend who suggested this place but couldn’t join us last minute.

So it was all by ourselves.

Day 1 – On arriving at the ecotourism office at Thenmala, we had a long briefing by Ms Sudha who was kind and courteous about how to schedule the day.

While we had good 3 hrs before we could set out to Rockwood Estate, we decided for a quick activity that would engage kids.

The first one was a Coracle ride that was a first time for kids. When we reaching the boating point, kids were excited thinking they are going to board the large motor boats. They got it to see the steering, gears etc… little did they know that was only for seeing.

When we showed them the small cute Coracle, they said this doesn’t even have a motor. But they were thrilled to see the rowing skill of the boat man who did some spins to make them scream. They enjoyed it thoroughly singing row row row a boat all the way 😊Sudar had a chance to row it and was gasping like doing 50 push ups a minute.

When we got back to the Ecotourism office, the next on the list was a Jeep Safari. This, we thought was a long safari all through, but was despised when we were dropped off in a place in 10 minutes. The place was a little island, which was also the other side of storage reservoir. It has a beautiful view of only blue green sky and water. The water was just knee level and kids waded through the water to reach other side but was restricted because of some outgrown reeds. The other side of the reeds were a roosting site of Brahminey Kites, quite a handful juveniles and adults soaring high and perching on stump and ground. It was quite a site and as per murphey’s law, we didnt carry our cameras to the location, but seeing the action there gave us much more satisfaction. Harrshid and me got a hang of stone skipping and it was so exciting to see the stone bouncing on the water.

We came back to the Ecotourism office to be picked up to reach Rockwood estates. In the meantime, we finished a quick Kerala meal and the kids couldn’t take their eyes off the matta rice (Kerala rice). They finished the meal quickly as they were hungry post activities.

We set off the journey on a forest jeep 4*4 Thar. We dint probe too much on what to expect, however was taken by surprise each time. The first one was picking groceries from the checkpost for the whole stay, following by picking up the cook. When we took the off road, there was no time given to think what was next, we were all busy bouncing off the seats on the rocky climb which only stopped after a good 1.5hrs journey. The best part of Harrshid having a deep sleep getting pushed to corners for each turns, we couldn’t even keep our eyes closed.

During the journey, we heard some wildlife encounters by the cook who has been visiting the estate since the 80’s.

When we reached the gate of Rockwood estate, we had a sigh of relief but that was just the starting point and we had another 5 km pending in our journey.

Finally when we reached the cottage, it was a welcoming site. The tall trees that stood in front was enchanting. The deep pit and electric fencing around the cottage to distance elephants was a thriller.

The lobby kind of place was truly enthralling which was a pit stop for all our treks. The Katta chai was a breather after the bouncy ride to the cottage.

We got some time to unpack before going to the falls for a bath.

The falls was just behind the cottage and required a down trek between boulders.

The water was flowing through two entry points and the rocks had mosses that made it slippery. After a careful move, when we touched the water it was freezing cold and took many attempt to stand directly below the falls.

It was a brilliant experience and kids were having splash in the close by stagnant water. There were group of water striders busy making rounds in the water.

A Malabar whistling thrush was making rounds along the falls, while we heard its song we couldn’t spot it.

After coming back to cottage, we did a short walk to see the Senkurinji Trees (Gluta travancorica). These were huge tall trees with wide trunk that grows upto 35m. They are commonly known as red wood that grows in ever green forests. They are in the near threatened list under IUCN.

It was getting cold and dark and the caretakers gathered huge logs and started camp fire which was such a blessing in the evening. Kids were busy gathering all the dry leaves around the cottage to refuel the fire. They experimented different sounds and light on dry leaves vs green leaves.

The dinner was ready by 7 pm, the Malabars own Kanji, payaru, pappadam and chammandi. We all wiped it in a move and were back to the room and fast asleep by 8 pm.

Day 2

Wake up call was our whistle boy, what a pleasant morning and the time was 6 am. While the kids were still asleep me and Sudar geared up for a walk around the forest. We came down and the care taker was ready with a Katta Chai we sipped it and walked along the forest guard towards the view point. It was a brisk 6 km trek along the forest and saw Malabar squirrel doing its stunts followed by a loud thug which was a Lion tailed macaque doing a jump with a loud noise very close by and disappeared in a wink.

On the way we saw a Crested Serpent Eagle with a nice perch on a pole near the water body

Vernal hanging parrot were making circus all around, Emerald Dove was crossing over. Malabar parakeets were noisy companions till we reached the viewpoint which was a 360 degree forest and island view. Common Iora’s courtship behaviour was quite a sight, it looked beautiful in the morning lights.

After our breakfast, we took another route and went deep into the woods. The kids made a good maiden trek of 5 km smoothly, Tarra was tagging along the guard all through and was asking questions on various trees and was collecting bay leaves all through. They also picked interesting coloured seeds. Lot of abandoned weaver ant’s nest was found on ground and kids got amused seeing the strong structure of ant house.

We came back and went for a shower in the falls, that when Sudar spotted a Malabar Pit Viper nicely sun basking between two rocks exactly in the spot where sun rays fell. We all got so scared being in that vicinity, but we dint see even a inch movement of the snake for the next two days and built courage to be around.

Post lunch we went to the viewpoint along with the kids where a Booted eagle was soaring at the eye level and busy hunting. We also went to the water hole, which had elephant and bison footprints and lots of dumps.

The campfire followed by hot egg curry and Roti’ made a complete memorable day.

Day 3

It was the day we need to vacate and hence had limited time. In the morning we went to the near by stream, where we saw a lot of birds chirping. Racket Tail Drongo, Jungle Myna, Whistling Thrush, Minivits, Greater Flameback and White bellied treepie. It rained previous night and the moisture made the leaches active.

The next 30 minutes each one of us had alteast 3 hanging on to our feets and within sometime that place was spilled with blood and salt. Harrshid had his first leach bite, Tarra was spared.

Followed by breakfast we went on a trek where we saw a Bison just few feet away, it was literally a rock moving, so massive. On the way we saw a flock of Malabar Grey Hornbill, making noisy calls crossing here and there. We went up a hillock which had the scat of Sloth Bear and its marks on the nearby tree. We saw some of the fruiting trees that were frequently visited by these bears, elephants.

We came back to the cottage, had a shower in the falls and was preparing to pack and leave.

We saw the southern bird wings flying high around the canopy and was pleasantly surprised to see the Malabar Tree Nymph, it was looking gorgeous.

Our driver along with the Thar was on time to pick us. We finished the lunch and left back to the Eco Tourism office.

The drive back was equally bad but had lovely views.

We had challenge in accommodation for the Day 3 as most of the other cottages were under renovation. They had given us the officer quarter, which was a disappointment in the Jungle.

We managed it and spent the next day by covering the Deer park and Butterfly park.

We left for Tirunelveli at around 1 pm and reached the Railway station at 5 pm. We had a proper Tamilnadu meals with thin rice in Thenkasi which was so delicious.

We bought the famous Shanthi Kada Tirunelveli Halwa and packed dinner before reaching the Railway station.

Overall, it was a memorable trip that gave us a good break and also a completely new experience of forest stay. We have Idimulangan Parai in our list, which is again in middle of Jungle where you can reach only through a boat.

Kids never believed the concept of far away from people and gadgets, which they loved at the end of the trip.

Definitely recommended for nature lovers planning a family trip.