Megamalai Wildlife Sanctuary
Megamalai is one of the hidden gems of Tamil Nadu for biodiversity lovers. Megamalai is situated as part of the mountain ranges that extends from Periyar tiger reserve. This means this place is also home to the mega fauna of the state i.e. one can spot Tigers as well as Elephants here. So when it was time to visit the place we were super excited. We picked September as it was the month when the rains had just stopped and there will be clear days.
Megamalai is situated at about an hour drive from Theni. We were expecting poor roads as this is not a typical tourist spot. Whenever we see poor roads, we kind of , have a happy face because poor roads are often a deterrent for mass tourism. In places wherever human traffic increases biodiversity suffers. So we always prefer a bumpy horrible ride instead of a crowded place. So when we entered the check post at the start of the mountain we were expecting some broken old road but what we faced was different.
The hill was being stripped apart for road construction. This is not road repair, it was road expansion on a massive scale. There were places where the roads were like highways. We were irritated by the amount of destruction that was happening but decided to proceed anyway.
As we moved forward , the place started to show what a treasure trove it was. There was a pair of Painted Spurfowl crossing the road. There were some interesting wildflowers on cliff faces that had escaped the road construction. As we slowly crept on the partly constructed gravel road we had a nice show of butterflies in places where there was water seeping from rocks. The White-banded Awl butterfly which is commonly found alone was in huge numbers. There were hundreds of them loosely distributed on the rocks. The iridescent colors of the Awl butterfly were amazing.
After watching butterflies along the way , we slowly reached the top of the mountain. Like all the high altitude locations, Megamalai too was exploited for it’s climate. With abundant rainfall and a cool climate , this place is being used for tea cultivation. Wherever tea plants go there is always deforestation to a great extent. The sight of greenery was beautiful but for biodiversity lovers it is always a sad painting to look at a tea estate.
Stay in Megamalai :
Our plan was to stay at an Cardamom plantation hut. It was neither a formal hotel nor a homestay, it was a stay! Well that was all we needed.
We met the person arranging the stay and we started our trek to reach the place , after leaving our vehicle near a settlement for plantation workers. The trek was pleasant with Nilgiri flycatcher following us along the path. After stopping for every single bird sighting we reached the place only by evening much to the annoyance of the person accompanying us. Since he was only worried and not angry , everything seemed to be fine.
The place was beautiful and secluded. We were super happy and we started for a small walk. We were told about a small marshy place near the stay and we hoped to find some interesting plants there. When we reached the place the location looked serene and also quite scary because of the fading light. Roaming around in tiger territory during twilight is not an ideal thing to do. We decided to return after spotting couple of nice snakes.
Night was amazing with the calls of frogs echoing through the place. We spotted couple of really beautiful one’s near our stay. Though we are not experts in frog identification we do like frog watching. Frogs are fundamental indicators of the health of an ecosystem. One can be pretty sure that any place with abundant frogs will also have other wildlife in abundance. Since frogs around the world are perishing at an alarming rate, any frog sighting is a welcome one.
Next morning we started our day hearing birds sounds. After some time , the cicadas started singing too along with the birds. We roamed around the place doing birding and butterfly watching . While we were focusing on the bushes , suddenly there was someone watching us from the sky. It was a Shaheen falcon. What a beautiful sight it was ! After watching the Shaheen falcon searching for prey we went back to the hut. We had breakfast sitting near the hut and watching a forest lizard.
After treating ourselves to a wonderful morning ,we decided to start our return. Our plan was to go to nearby hillock and spend until the afternoon and then start our journey to Thekkady. We went back to the car and then drove up an estate road. After walking for a while, we reached a place with an amazing view.
We were told that while it looks like forest, some of the land was actually private. The person was sad that forest had encroached upon a once beautiful plantation! He was looking at a forest and blaming the owner for the state of disrepair. We were quietly thinking let it be in “disrepair”!
After some sauntering we called it a day and started our journey to Thekkady.
Megamalai is a beautiful place with amazing wildlife. Places like these are few and rare but it is unfortunate that people have different views on how they look at places like these. When we look at places where pristine forests are destroyed for the sake of tea, should we blame those working in tea plantations? The answer is no of course. When one considers that tea is just a casual drink, it begs to reason the sanity of the general public in destroying forests for the sake of “sipping”.
Megamalai Tiger Reserve announcement:
Recently , the Tamilnadu State government declared Srivilliputhur Megamalai Tiger Reserve (SMTR) as the fifth and largest tiger reserve in the State. We are very happy to hear this positive news and hopefully the biodiversity in this zone will be protected along with tiger conservation.