Karian Shola trek

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3 May 2015
The trekking activities in Parambikulam are very limited.
The amazing tramway trek is stopped and so is the tiger trail trek. But couple
of short treks is conducted for the interested. One of them is the Karian Shola
trek passing though evergreen forests.
Forests during sunrise time
The trail to Karian Shola started behind our bear hut
cottage.  After a little climb, nice view
of the surrounding hills is visible.

The trail continuously passes thought the forests. After we
entered into evergreen part of the forest, exciting events occurred. The
leopard made its appearance. It was there for a split of a second before
running away. We would have thought it was our imagination but our guide showed
the foot marks where it made the final jump!!
Trek route
Before we could get out of leopard hangover, a sloth bear
made its appearance with a heavy noise but fortunately ran out. Again it was
all over within a second. Bears are very unpredictable animals and they attack
in their excitement. We were glad that the encounter ended peacefully. Later in
the day we saw a forest guard who was attacked by a sloth bear. He was still
limping.
Within few minutes we heard another sound. The sound made my
heart stop for a while!! Some animal was very annoyed on seeing us. It was a gaur
and it fled.
All these events occurred within the span of few minutes. We
needed something peaceful. It occurred in the form of a Giant Pied Hornbill on
top of a tree with little awareness of our presence. We took many photos till
we could satisfy ourselves.
The trek lasted for little more than two hours. But the
experience was amazing. Encountering animals on foot is different than seeing
animals in the comfort of Jeep safari.

When we returned back to our cottage we were shocked to see
leaches on our legs!! We never expected leaches in May. But then it is
Parambikulam with evergreen forests!!

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