Go Trekking in Chinnar and Walk With the Wildlife

Our motive behind the weekend trip to Chinnar wildlife sanctuary was to film the wildlife here.

After a long five hour journey from Cochin, we reached Chinnar. When it rains in the nearby town of Marayur, it is still sunny here in Chinnar. The climate was looking different; so was the landscape. With thorny shrubs and very few trees, Chinnar looks like a dry forest. Human presence and settlements in this area is very less. This could be the reason behind the abundant wildlife here.

Hoping for watching some wildlife, Sreejith and I got our tickets to go trekking. We were joined by our trekking guide, Biju Chettan. I must introduce this amazing ranger first. Biju Chettan is the best tracker we have seen. He knows every nook and corner of Chinnar. When it comes to tracking wildlife, he is the best. We got to film a few animals, all because of him.

The trekking started near the Chinnar river bank led by Biju Chettan.Very Soon we were accompanied by monkeys. Some were busy playing with their infants, some of them were fighting over the jack fruit and some of them thought of giving us company and walked with us. We kept walking through the Chinnar river bank. Our first sighting was a Malabar Giant squirrel. Its tail is as big as the rest of its body. It was alone on top of a tree, making some weird moves. May be that little giant was trying to attract its mate. Our poor photography skills have let us down many times before. We had a bad time capturing pictures of animals from our previous trips. So, Sreejith and I decided to film and take a few pictures of animals with patience.

Chinnar:  The Jungles in the Eastern part of Western Ghats. See more pictures from our trekking here

We walked deeper into the jungles of Chinnar. Soon we got to film the long tailed common Langurs, a different species of monkey which are normally shy and scared of humans. They love to be on the tree tops, looking after each other. After two kilometers of trekking we reached the end of the Chinnar River which is met by another fast flowing river. The meeting point is called “kootaar”. The other side of the river belongs to the state of Tamil Nadu, said Biju Chettan. All this way our trekking was kind of easy through the Chinnar river banks. We then moved in a different direction in search for bigger animals. Soon we started climbing the rocky slopes which was full of thorny plants.

We walked another two kilometers. By then we were on top of a hill, from which we got a very good view of the whole sanctuary. We were disappointed at first as we didn’t find any form of wildlife there. We sat on top of a big rock without making any noise for a few minutes hoping for animals to come out of their hide. We waited patiently with our eyes open and ears sharp to listen for any movement in the bushes. Still found no sign of wildlife in the area. Animals would have already eloped after they felt our presence in their area, said Biju Chettan.

Biju Chettan was never ready to give up; he had another plan in his mind. He said, we will track them and find them. We continued our trekking and suddenly he started sneaking through the bushes and asked us to follow him. “I can see a lot of footprints here, the animals are somewhere near. It could be deer or the wild boar and they might be watching us now.” said Biju Chettan. Suddenly out of the blue, a herd of Sambar deer (Mlavu in malayalam) strayed out of the thorny plants, but they flew seeing us. We started walking without making any noise. Cry of the peacock, far from the jungle was the only thing we could hear. We kept moving further deep into the jungle and got to see more Sambar deers in the bushes. But this time we took a few pictures and filmed them. Our next sighting was the spotted deer. They were aplenty, but too quick for our cameras. Our trekking was coming to an end, but to our fortune the show stopper was the wild Indian Gaur. The animal was grazing with its calf. Without making any noise we filmed the calf and its mother. After travelling almost 7 Kms through the Chinnar wildlife sanctuary, we came across a variety of wildlife. The joy of watching wild animals in the wild is a different experience. Chinnar is definitely one of the best places in Western Ghats, where they are abundant.

Our search for wild animals was unsuccessful at first. But towards the end of the trekking, we learned a couple of things: Talk less and listen to the wild calls. Always mind the space. When you see an animal staring at you, do not try to approach them to get a better shot. Just stare back at it with your camera and film them or get pictures.

Trekking Details:

You will get the tickets for trekking at the amenity center near the Chinnar check post. Tickets for trekking will cost you: 225 INR. No additional charges for camera. For a night’s stay in the jungle, they offer tree house and log house which is above 2000 INR and you have to book them in advance.