Between Periyar House And The Jetty, Some Of The Trees Have Their Botanical Names Displayed On Plaques. You Can See, For Example, A Teak Tree And The Mighty Ficus Religiosa.
Entry To The Park Is Prohibited Between 6pm And 6am Under The Threat Of Prosecution. Of Course, The Area Around The Park Hotels And The Road To Kumily Are Excepted.
Related Travel Information
Is A Nearby Reserve. It Was Declared In 1976 And Has An Area Of 70 Sq Km (27 Sq Miles). The Area Around Periyar Park Is Not Famous For Its Animal Life But For Its Tea Plantations, E.G. Vandiperiyar On The Road To Kottayam. In The Mountains Around Iddiki (Sometimes Written Idduki), 50km (31 Miles) From Kumily, The Kerala 'Grass' Is Grown. Like In Manali There Is A (Drug) Smokers And Trekker Cene. They Visit And Sometimes Live In The Outlying Villages. Buses From Kumily To Iddiki Run Between 6.15am And 9.45am And 1.15 And 6pm.
Connections
Some Buses Leave From The Hotel Aranya Niva Or Periyar House, And For Some You Have To Go To Kumily.
Kottayam (115km-71 Miles): Around 8 Services Between 4.45am And 6.30pm.
Quilon (185km-115 Miles): At 5.30am.
Ernakulam (176km-109 Miles): At 5.45am, 9.30am 12.45pm And 2.30pm.
Madurai(135km-84 Miles): At6.15atn, 10.30am, 12.30am And 4.30pm. Trivandrum (286km-178 Miles);-At 8am And 1.30pm.
Kovalam: At 930am. There Is Also A Direct Servipe To Kodaikanal (141km-88 Miles) At 6.30pm But It Leaves From Kumily Behind The Tamil Nadu Checkpost.
The Capital Of Kerala Has A Population Of 500,000, And Not Much Worth Seeing. It Is Rather A Clean And (For India) Prosperous Looking Town. It Is The Jumping Off Point For The Famous Kovalam Beach And There Are Flights From Here To Sri Lanka And To The Maldives.
The mangrove forest around Pitcharam near Chidambaram (approximately 50km [31 miles] south of Pondicherry) is a must for everyone who is interested in Indian flora and birds. Not popular with tourists. You can take a rowboat trip with one of the rangers (not expensive). Take the bus from Chidambaram to Picknick Park Pitcharam '* and don't go to the village. (RB)
Kerala, With An Area Of 38,863 Sq Km (15,001 Sq Miles), Is The Second Smallest State In India After Goa. It Has A Population Of 30 Million, And Is Densely Populated. The 575km (357 Miles) Long Coastal State Was The First State In India To Elect The Communist Party To Power, In 1956. Since Then The Congress Party Has Been Re-Elected.
This Can Be Explained By The Fact That Only Approximately 50% Of Its Population Can Read And Write. On The Street, Practically Only Malayalam Is Spoken And Understood. Kerala Produces About 70% Of India's Spices, About 70% Of Its
