The Periyar Tiger Reserve is located near Thekkady in Kerala, India. We had originally planned to go trekking there with a guide, but heavy rain overnight put paid to that idea. Instead we opted for a boat cruise on the large lake that lies within the reserve. As we were waiting for the tour to start, the heavens opened again and we did not have high hopes of seeing anything of interest. Unfortunately, that turned out to be more or less true for most of the cruise: some deer and buffalos (mostly in the distance), a few nice birds, but little else.
However, when we were nearing the end of the tour, the rain eased and finally stopped – and as we took the last bend towards the jetty, a group of six elephants appeared magically just next to our boat. Coming across them turned a disappointing afternoon into a wonderful experience.
We were fortunate in that our boat was the first of four which had set out for the tour. As a result we could get in very close and also had much more time than the rest to observe the elephants.
The additional shots below probably do not require any narrative.
When we moved on, the elephants also decided to go elsewhere.
