Wayanad

Wayanad Wild

Wayanad is among the most beloved treasures of God’s Own Country and here it is that its eponymous wildlife sanctuary was set up in 1973. These are located in the southern trenches of the famous Western Ghats, ranked 8th in the list of the World’s Biodiversity Hotspots. The landscape usually consists of hilly terrains interspersed with dense valleys, which have helped build its reputation as one among the most picturesque natural sites in the whole world.

The Wayanad Wildlife Division as an administrative unit has 344.53 km² of Wildlife Sanctuary area, comprising two discontinuous units of 266.77 km² and 77.76 km² respectively. It covers the Wayanad Plateau (about 3000 km²) situated at the confluence of three biologically distinct and diverse regions- the main Western Ghat Mountains, the Nilgiri Hills and the Deccan Plateau. The plateau area is mostly located in Kerala, with small parts in the neighbouring states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

The plateau extends from Kerala and slopes gently eastwards towards the Deccan Plateau. The protected areas here share their boundaries with the protected area network of Nagarhole and Bandipur Tiger Reserves of Karnataka in the northeast and Mudumalai Tiger Reserve of Tamil Nadu in the southeast. These four contiguous protected areas have a total area of 2,184 km².

The sanctuary is a component of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve (5,520 km²) and of the Elephant Reserve No. 7 of South India. Kuruma, Paniya, Kattunaicka, Urali, Kurichiar and Adiyar are some of the tribal communities that inhabit this area

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About the Forest

Set deep in nature’s backyard, is CGH Earth’s experience of the wild and the natural in the hills of the Western Ghats.

Wayanad Wild is indeed a rare holiday where you get to meet nature in an unseen, unsullied and untamed manner! The forest is your constant companion, peeping in through your windows or assigning a pretty butterfly to eavesdrop on your lively chatter upon the balcony. To those smitten by raw nature, your experience starts with a 3.5 kms off-road ride to reach the forest lodge, even the pool offers front row seats to the unusual spectacles of the forest around.

Your Itinerary

Day 1

On arrival at the lodge in Wayanad, tour instructor, will greet you and welcome you to our beautiful resort. After check-in and a scrumptious lunch, the resort manager will introduce all participants to the property with a brief on the wildlife found in the area.

At around 4:00 pm you would be taken for a evening walk around the property. This would be a small one hour trek around the property and enjoy the scenic beauty and landscape photography.

Over some refreshing beverages and snacks in the evening, your naturalist would introduce the wonderful world of macro photography to all the participants with some documentary and discussions.

We have early dinner at around 8:00pm and then around 9:00 pm, we prepare to set out for the much awaited late evening walk where your local naturalist will lead all participants and begin exploring for various macro subjects. We have a great chance to come across various bush frogs besides the amazing gliding frogs, and the amazingly cool Malabar tree toad. We will also keep our eyes peeled for some of the amazing snakes found in this region, like the prized Malabar pit viper, Hump-nosed pit viper, Malabar vine snake and even the amazing Thackeray’s cat snake apart from coming across various lizards, spiders, caecilians, beetles, centipedes and an array of insect life.

Day 2

We awake to the sweet calls of the birds found within the campsite and after a hot cup of coffee or tea, prepare to depart for the morning birding walk. We’ll keep our eyes peeled and hope to sight some of the amazing birds that this part of Wayanad has to offer. We return to the campsite for breakfast and now proceed on a gorgeous stream walk, and spend the entire morning photographing various subjects including dancing frogs, insects, wild flowers, many species of mushroom and fungi, snails, crabs apart from doing some great birding too.

We return to the campsite for a delicious lunch followed by some well earned rest.

After a refreshing cup of tea or coffee, we head out birding once again, and hope to tick off all the targeted species. It is likely to be dark by the time we return, which is a great time for frog encounters and hope to come across some more cool endemic species.

We end the night with a celebratory dinner.

Day 3

On the final morning, we wake early and head out on the final macro photography session where we will try out some interesting perspectives.

We return for breakfast and gather for a final rendezvous before checking out at 11:00 a.m. and driving back to our homes to share some fascinating tales.

Our Standard Wayanad tour packages packages are for 2 nights 3 days.

We can also customize the package according to your requirements for Best wildlife Experience at Wayanad.

Choosing the travel company that can deliver your dream trip is the most important decision you’ll make as you plan your trip. We know there are many choices available but we’re confident that none will offer the combination of wildlife expertise, good lodging , exclusive activities and overall value for money and we take your trust in deciding to travel with us.

Climate at Wayanad

The climate in the forest has been influenced by the monsoon. The park receives rain from the southwest as well as the northeast monsoon. The southwest monsoon showers in the months from June to September, and the northeast monsoon is active during October and November. It rains the most in July, while February is the driest month. The average rainfall that the sanctuary receives is around 300 mm.

There is not much difference between the park’s maximum and minimum temperatures. It shuttles between 29 °C maximum to 18 °C minimum. The mercury soars to its maximum during April and May, while January and February are considered the coldest.

The best time to visit the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary is from June to October.