Kerala luxury safari holidays with IndianExplorations.com

Dense rain forest clothed these slopes once housing an incredible diversity of life. And even today – despite the surge of humanity up these mountains – they are counted amongst the worlds 24 biodiversity hotspots. Elephants roam these forests and I’ve seen tracks of tiger at over 600 feet high in the Munnar hills. Endemic species like Nilgiri Tahr (wild goat) and lion-tailed macaques make their home here. Coffee and cardamom with their dense cover are favourite haunts. At the edge of Periyar Tiger Reserve, in the buffer zone forests many of which now have an understorey of cardamom, it is possible to walk and camp in the wilderness. A single fruiting fig can hold one mesmerized as it attracts insects and birds to fruits and more birds hunting the insects and more birds hunting birds.

Tigers safaris with IndianExplorations.com

As evening falls the canopy comes alive with palm civets, eyes gleaming emerald in the torchlight and the distant trumpeting of elephants is suddenly drowned by the explosive alarm calls of sambar deer that sets the hair on the nape of your neck erect. In the morning you emerge from the tents and head out for another adventure packed day along trails that plunge across streams and then climb out to high clearings with the most exhilarating views you can imagine. And one of the joys of Kerala is that a luxury pad is never far from reach. I’ve always felt a little bit guilty ‘adventuring’ from such a luxury base – but the feeling passes quickly.

Luxury Kerala with IndianExplorations.com