Silent Valley National Park

This is the continuation of my previous post. It covers Silent Valley National Park which is in Nilgiri Hills. The SVNP visit includes jungle safari, 100ft. tall watch tower and a very easy trek.

Narrow Road - clicked from moving Jeep

Visiting hours is from 08:00 am in the morning till 01:00 pm everyday. After 01:00 pm no entry tickets are issued. Its about 23 kms jungle safari which takes the narrow forest roads. Since the roads are so narrow no private vehicles are allowed inside the park.

One needs to hire forest department jeep. Only 5 people are allowed in one jeep even if it has space for more than 5 people. They also provide driver cum guide with each jeep and 5 hours time span is allotted for each jungle safari. 

Long Legged Buzzard

There is no option for food at the SVNP, one has to pack and get before starting to the park. 

This is a rain forest so don't expect to see much wildlife sighting. If you are lucky you could be able to spot few of them. We spotted three - four types of birds on the way. 

Flowers on the Way

Common Wood Pigeon

According to our guide only the tribels of this area has got permissions by forest department to do coffee & other crop plantations. Forest department has also done a fabulous work by creating jobs for triblel women. Well, we did meet few of them who were dressed in lady constable attires at the entry zone and were doing the security checks for all the visitors.

100 ft. Tall Watch Tower

At the end of the park there is a 100 ft. tall watch tower. From the tower one can see the awesome 360 view of the valley. Car parking, resting place and washrooms are also available next to the watch tower. 

One can do a trek of 2.5km from tower to the hanging bridge across the Kuntipuzha river. Its an easy trek and passes thorough the forest. Second end of the bridge is kept closed and no one is allowed to cross it. During the trek one can see beautiful butterflies too which are hard to find in cities.

On the way back from Hanging Bridge

A visit to SVNP gets concluded with Jungle Safari, Watch Tower and 5kms Trek.