Valley Of Silence - Silent Valley National Park with Kalkundu Waterfalls

View from the top of the watchtower at Sairandhri. A closer inspection can reveal the old suspension bridge ( Look for a shadow )

This is the closest national park to my home in Melattur and is extremely close to the school where I studied from my 1st standard to 10th. I studied in Little Flower Central School , Karuvarakundu from where I could see the peaks of Silent valley. The school is located on top of a hill covered with rubber plantations (Rubber Estates). With the altitude advantage of the hill and the 3 stories below our classroom , we could see the entire Kalkund Valley and the arc of mountains , particularly  the Mt Koomban which is the dominant peak visible from the town.

Keralam Kundu Waterfalls at Kalkundu

Since I was an outstanding student , I had to stand out of the classroom as a punishment for a myriad of reasons. I used to get the company of my friends from the nearby Kalkund valley , to whom I used to ask about their life in the wilderness. They used to tell stories of wild animals roaming around there house , particularly pythons, porcupines, wild boars and elephants. Some of them used to bring quills of porcupines and wild fruits to our class so that we outsiders could have a look at them. At that time a machine that can show an image while typing "Porcupine Quill" was beyond our imagination. We used to enjoy seeing and feeling them as if we were watching Avatar 3D..... :-)

I never believed my Kalkund friends when they used to tell me that some portions of Kalkund is part of the world famous Silent Valley National Park. Only with the advent of Google Maps I could finally understand that the watch tower at Silent Valley is only 9 kilometers away from the Keralam Kundu Waterfalls in Kalkundu. The first time I went to Kalkundu was in 2012 with my cousins. We had to trek through rubber plantations and reach the waterfall climbing vertical cliffs like Spider man.

I was also bitten by a leech on that day. The location though remote and unforgiving , had a lot of young boys who where playing in the water by jumping from the top of the waterfall. It not a very high waterfall , but a mistake from that height is extremely deadly. The rocks below the waterfall are very slippery and the only way to walk is on the sandy floor. The bottom part of the waterfall is infamous for gold nuggets as the Geological Survey of India has classified the rocks around Silent Valley as having high gold content.

Now the Kerala Tourism Development Corporation (KTDC) has funded for the construction of road to the Keralam Kundu Waterfalls along with a bridge for tourists. The bridge was inaugurated by A P Anil Kumar , the tourism minister of Kerala on September 27th 2015. The road to the park is still rocky and an Off road race was conducted in 2014.

Even though the Waterfalls is close to Silent Valley , we cannot go inside it without permission from the Silent Valley National Park office at Mukkali. 2 Kms from the Keralam Kundu Waterfalls , we can reach Poochi Paara ( Poochi = Butterfly/fly  , Para = Rock ). The only way to reach the location for tourists is to circle the mountain and go to the other side of the forest , where the official entrance to the park is situated.

The main entrance to the Silent Valley National Park is situated at Mukkali , Mannarkkad , which is in the Palakkad district of Kerala. From Mukkali , we will have to reach the Silent Valley Information Centre , from where we can choose to go in to the park by bus or jeep or go for a trek. The ticket for one person is 300 Rs as of 31st October 2015. Some times you will also have to pay an entrance fee if you are a foreigner and also will have to take a ticket for your camera.

The park is one of the last natural habitats of the endangered Lion Tailed Macaques (Macaca silenus). This animal was the reason for the Save Silent Valley Movement  of 1977, one of the biggest environmental debates in the world.

Since the park is close to my home I have went there in both jeep and bus. ("Jeep" means SUV in India). The main focus of the trip will be the endangered Lion Tailed Maccaque , which triggered the Silent Valley Movement , one of the greatest conservation struggles of modern era.

Lion Tailed......This is the lion like tail of the macaque

The park is called Silent Valley because of the absence of Cicadas. Most of the park consists of dense evergreen forests and mountains. Some other mammals which we can easily spot in the park are the endangered Nilgiri Langur , which is also endemic to the Western Ghats like the Lion Tailed Macaque , and the Malabar Giant Squirrel. On the way to the park , its easy find another species of macaque that is also endemic to the western ghats. Its the common bonnet macaque , which like to live on the edges of the national park. Malabar Giant Squirrels also are easily seen on the way to Mukkali.



The vehicle will take you only up to Sairandhri , where there is a watch tower. From the top of the watch tower , we can get a better view of the forests around. We can see the river Kunthi , which forms the border of Palakkad & Malappuram districts of Kerala. Since Kalkund is on the other side of Kunthi river , it is located in Malappuram district.

We can trek to an old suspension bridge on the river Kunthi from Sairandhri  through leach infested grounds. Unless you are visiting the park in mid summer , you are almost guaranteed to experience a leach bite. The bite does not hurt like a mosquito or ant bite. The animal will apply a local anesthetic which prevents you from feeling the bite. Don't forget to take some table salt to help you out of leach bites. Once those blood suckers attach to your skin , don't pull the leech by its body. It may regurgitate the contents in its body and may lead to infection. You can either let the leech finish its drinking and let go by itself (SCARY..??) or put some salt over it and then it will let go by itself.

A fallen tree on the way to river 'Kunthi'

Please don't carry small kids to the Kunthipuza trek during rainy season as the kids may get scared and start screaming seeing blood flowing like water from the leech bite. Usually when we get a small cut , the blood will clot within a minute. But leeches have an anti coagulant in their saliva called Hirudin. This means that blood flow after leach bite will look like water flowing out of a punctured water bottle. Leaches are the reason why the nearby town is called Attappadi as "Atta" means leech in Malayalam ( "Attai" in Tamil) so you can expect at least one byte if you are planning a trip to here.

Angry Green Vine Snake On the Way to Sairandhri

I haven't counted the number of bytes I have from around Silent Valley. The first day I went there , I didn't had salt and have got about 20 leaches on my shoes (wet season) , which I managed to snap out of my shoes. about 6 unseen leaches climbed over to my legs and I never knew they where there and saw them only after completing the trip. So far , none of them have become infected or itchy. It will heal in about 4 days and wont even leave a mark.

Jeep Safari with German tourists

Seeing any large animals is based on pure luck. Don't exptect to see large mammals in the park as it is extremely rare. Spotted deers , which you can see in abundance in many other national parks are non existent in these dense evergreen forests. They thrive only in grasslands and deciduous forests. A tiger has its range in the route to Sairandhri . It has marked its territory by claw marks on a tree near the entrance to the core zone.

100 Feet high  Rajeev Gandhi watch tower at Sairandhri

In order to see Lion tailed macaques , you will have to reach the information center by about 7:30 am and go for the first safari. By mid noon , the animals will go to deeper forest and will be less active. If your objective is to photograph animals , go in a jeep and don't go by the bus. For casual visitors , the extra price of the jeep safari is hard to be justified unless you are having a group of 5 to 7 individuals.

Leech Bite - These guys are very very very common and at least one bite is guaranteed if you are to visit Silent Valley with out adequate preparation. For the least , carry a small packet of salt. Unlike a mosquito or ant bite , the bite of a leech is painless as it applies a local anesthetic , which makes you totally unable to sense pain. Even you don't feel it crawling on your body. I have got bitten about 8 times on my last visit. The wounds healed by themselves and didn't cause any discomfort

IMPORTANT:   Always book your visit in advance. Pre book your visit in the Silent Valley Information Centre Phone number. This is one of the few national parks where large scale tourism is discouraged. You will also have to carry food with you as there are no shops once you go inside the park. There are some shops at Mukkali.

Tiger Claw Marks - Tigers mark their territory by standing on their rear legs and putting their body weight on to the front claws creating an up to down scratch mark . This marking along with scent marking is used by tigers to mark their territory. Only some special kinds of trees are used by them as very hardwood trees are harder to scratch with their claws.

A trek to Butterfly Rock in Kalkundu is avilable ( "Poochi para" trek). (7.5 Km)

Old suspension bridge across Kunthi river

Also this jungle is also home to some terrorists called Maoists ,who have recently burned a Forest Department's 4x4 SUV and have attacked KFC Mc Donalds shop in Palakkad. The attack was supposedly a reaction to the corruption by local governments towards tribal people. Encounters between Maoists and police is rare but on the rise during the last two years.

Kunti River

A new special forces team armed with automatic rifles, named "Thunder Bolt" has been trained for encounters inside forests and they where trained in the Jungles of Silent Valley. Their patrol vehicles are some times seen in the roads around Silent Valley.

Anginda Peak