Bamboo Rafting

Duration:8-9 Hour

The main attraction in Thekkady is the Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary is situated on the banks of the Periyar Lake - an artificial lake, at Thekkady. Below this dense evergreen, moist deciduous forests and savannah grasslands roam herds of elephants, sambars, tigers, gaurs, lion tailed macaques and Nilgiri langurs. The Periyar Tiger Reserve covers a total area of 777 sq.km.

Terrain is undulating with lofty peaks of over 1700 meters bordering the north and east. Towards the west it merges into an extensive tableland Mount Plateau of average elevation 1200 meters.From the edge of this plateau the land falls steeply to the thickly forested tracts of Sabarimala hills in the Pamba River basin.The overall elevation ranges from 100 meters at Pambavalley to 2019 meters at Kottamalai.

The High Ranges have a cool and bracing climate throughout the year, while the plains are hot and humid. The temperature ranges from 15ºC in December and January and up to 31ºC in April & May.

This is a dawn to dusk range hiking and rafting programme through some of the richest forest tracts of Periyar Tiger Reserve. Starting at 8 am from the boat landing, a mosaic of habitats will be traversed before the party gets into rafts made of bamboos.

The forests are rich in bird life and arboreal animals like giant squirrel and Nilgiri langur. The rafting is for about three hours and one gets a panoramic view of forest-clad hills reflected on the lake. Animals like elephant, gaur and sambar are sighted keeping close to the edges of the lake.