Silent Valley's Frog

The frog thought it was camouflaged!! It sat still like that!! Of course I was disturbing its habitat. poor guy!!

Yes this is a picture from the Great Silent Valley of Kerala, Palakkad District. Unfortunately I did not see any Lion Tail Macaque or Nilgiri Tahr or King Cobra or anything else! But what do you expect when a bunch of cackling women are around you or you are in a group of men who are only interested in talking!! Yes. Unfortunate but true. Indians rarely know how to behave in a forest. They will make all sort of noises instead of finding pleasure in the noises of the Jungle. So if you have to go to a jungle, always book your own jeep and trip in advance with the Forest Deptt. And talking of forest deptt if you really want to see something you need to go into places where they normally do not allow, Hence you must know someone in the Forest Service. Then you have made it! You can live with the tigers and all.

Silent Valley is called silent valley because of the absence of the Cicada the most common insect of the jungles and hence absence of their sound.

Silent Valley, Kerala

For official information go here

How to reach?

To Reach Silent Valley, Kerala, drive down from Coimbatore via RS Junction inside Coimbatore towards Anakatti and then Goolikadavu and then Mukkali and finally Silent Valley. Mukkali is where the Forest Office is.

Distances:

Chennai -Salem= 350 kms (4 hrs to 7 hrs depending on max and min speed possible)

Salem-Coimbatore= 150 kms (3 hrs since the last 60 kms is a single road and so your speeds becomes slow on this stretch.)

Coimbatore- Goolikadavu= Takes 2 hrs. i.e. 60 kms.