Another long cherished desire - Lion Tailed Macaque

I had a family function in Coimbatore and since I had to anyway travel there, I decided to extend my trip and visit The Silent Valley National Park at Mannarkkad in Palakkad district, Kerala.

Why the Silent Valley National Park? Because it is famous for the Lion Tailed Macaque - a macaque species that is endemic to the Western Ghats and almost exclusively found here. Considered endangered and extremely vulnerable at one point of time, it was always something that I wanted to see - again a desire nurtured from my college days or even before. 

Not only is it endangered, it is also threatened with the destruction of its natural habitat and human-animal conflicts like so many of our wildlife species.

Although my initial plan was to go directly to Palakkad from Coimbatore, I instead went to Periyar Tiger Reserve, Thekkady for a 2 night - 3 day Tiger Trail trek and then went to Palakkad. 

Coming back to Silent Valley National Park, my sister joined me and we took a train from Kochi to Palakkad - a short 2.5hr train journey. 

At Olavakkode Junction, Palakkad, we had an amazing lunch of local dishes. Except for Elai adai, the rest of the dishes were vegan. 

Puttu - Kadala

Appam - Stew

Elai - Adai

Pazham - Nirachathu

Transportation to Silent Valley National Park is tedious, so plan in advance. There are buses from Palakkad station to Mannarkkad and then you can change to go to Mukkali, the place closest to the Reception of Silent Valley National Park. We had a car to drop us off (thanks to a relative) so it was convenient.

I opted for Keerippara camping & trekking option that the forest department had, but that was unavailable due to some water issues and so we had to check into the River Hut Cottage, which was a serene setup on the banks of the River Bhavani - a tributary of River Kaveri.

Since we reached late afternoon / early evening, it was not possible for us to go trekking in the Keerippara area and we decided to do some bird watching over an area of about 4-5kms in the buffer zone itself with the help of a forest guide.

Some of the birds we saw included - 

Racket tailed drongo

Flameback woodpecker

Vernal hanging parrot

Rose ringed parakeet

Black hooded oriole

Common kingfisher

The next morning, we decided to take it easy and do a jeep safari in Sairandhri, the main safari area which takes you to a small part of the core. Most of the 3hr safari is through the buffer zone.

My sole purpose of doing this trip was to hopefully see the Lion Tailed Macaque and I had indicated as much to our driver and guide. The Silent Valley National Park is one of the areas where they are most concentrated due to the presence of their favourite fruit tree - Cullenia exarillata.

As we drove through the buffer zone, except for the initial 6-7kms where the road work has not been done, for the rest of the 17km stretch, concrete road has been laid. It is unfortunate that so much construction activity is being done within the main forest - obviously at the cost of vegetation & flora & fauna destruction.

The drive to the main gate of Silent Valley National Park, takes you through teak, & coffee plantations followed by semi-tropical and tropical rainforest.

Driving through, we kept checking for signs of different wildlife and came across the Malabar Giant Squirrel, happily munching on some food. Pics below - 

As we were nearing the main watch tower inside the Silent Valley National Park, our driver pointed out to a group of Lion Tailed Macaques crossing over from the left of the road to the right. A couple of them were coming down the tower in front of us.

The excitement of seeing them got the better of me and it took me a while to reset my camera to start clicking pictures.

Since it was not the fruiting season of their favourite food, they were constantly on the move which made it very difficult to photograph them properly. 

The amazing thing was that we were the only people (my sister and I) who spotted them, because the group ahead of us had already gone to the watch tower and the group behind us had not yet reached.

Feeling privileged and blessed, I went about clicking a few pics.

I could not get a decent picture of an entire Lion Tailed Macaque with it's tail. This was the best of all that I could find :( Hope it helps you understand.

What an exciting and exhilarating experience. It was a dream come true and such exclusive sighting!

I could not stop smiling and feeling grateful. We went back and had a simple lunch of rice, sambar, vegetable and papad which was locally made. We decided to take it easy that evening and did not do anything much except shopping for some local produce.

Early evening before departure, I went around the property trying to shoot some more birds but could only find the Leaf bird in different poses. 

Looking at you!

Probing for nectar

We had a late night train to Chennai from Palakkad, so after a cup of Kattan Kaapi (Kerala style black coffee), we took a taxi-rickshaw to Palakkad Railway station.