lovely breakfast was offered , after
NATURE CAMP AT ANAMALAI
TIGER RESERVE
January 19-21, 2011
A 3 day nature camp was
organized by the Environment
Education Cell (EEC) , State
Training Centre, Directorate of
School Education under the
auspices of the Pondicherry Council
for Science & Technology and WWF
(T.N chapter) for the winners of the
Wild life week celebration Essay
contest organized by the EEC, at
Anamalai Tiger Reserve (Top Slip),
from 19th 21st January 2011.
25 selected students of IX
Std. from various Government
Schools along with the
Environment Education Cell
Incharge Thiru. V. Ramalingam,
Thiru. P. Nagendiran, Senior
Lecturer, R. Gopal, Lecturer in
Botany, STC, P. Muthukaruppan,
PST of GPS Angalamman Nagar
and M. Vaishnavi, TGT of GHS
Thirukkanur left for the the
Anamalai Tiger Reserve on the
18th January 2011 at 9.45 PM by
Sharma Travels from Puducherry.
The journey by Sharma Travels
was up to Coimbatore and the
WWF Team led by Ms. Raichel, Ms.
Tamilselvi, and Mr. Prestone
received us at Coimbatore. After a
quick refresh by completing our
morning chores, a timely and
which we left for Top Slip. Shri.
Gopalakrishnan of Evergreen NGO
accompanied us from Pollachi.
After the usual formalities at the
Forest Department the team
reached Top Slip, Where a brief
orientation on the flora and fauna
of Anamalai reserve and the area
of the Western Ghats were given to
the participants. Anamalai
Reserve Forest has 25 Bio Diversity
hard spots. ( Anamali was earlier
known as Anapadi) It is the habitat
for 350 species of birds, 1550
species of plants 40 species of
mammals. We were provided with
an accommodation which made us
feel comfortable as well as very
much at home. Lunch was
provided followed by a small rest.
By 4.00 PM a trip to the elephant
camp was undertaken where we all
were given a briefing on the care
and life style of the 22 elephants
housed in the camp.
The mahouts used 48 command
words which is obeyed by the
elephants instantly. Each elephant
in addition to its daily diet of
fodder is given a ball of solid food
consisting of 18 Kg Ragi 5 Kg of
Horse gram, 200 g of salt per day
as a nutrient supplement. It was
fun as well as thrilling watching the
mahouts feed the elephants.
 On our return at 7.00 PM
there was a discussion on journal
writing followed by a slide show on
the flora and fauna of Anamalai
Tiger Reserve. Dinner was served
at 8.30 PM and this was followed
by an informal chat and everyone
went to bed by 9.30 PM.
We were shown the Thunakadavu
Dam which releases its excess
water to Azhaiyar Dam. We were
next taken to the Salim Ali
Ornithology Centre, which was
maintained by the Forest
Department, Kerala in a beautiful
and extrodinary manner. Various
rare photographs of Salim Ali in his
expedition as well as with his
family members and our national
leaders were displayed.

Day II
This day commenced with a
bird watching and dawsn trail
season at 6.30 AM. There was an
expedition into the nearby forest
reserve area to observe the habit
and habitat of the migratory as
well as the domicile birds of
Anamalai Tiger Reserve. After our
breakfast we were taken to
Parambikulam Tiger Reserve where After this we were taken to a place
we are escorted by two forest where an amazing world’s biggest
guards to take around . Enroute we and older living teak (Tectona
found the tree top houses as well grandis) aged 450 years stood with
as bamboo houses built for pride. It had a Girth of 6075m and
tourists. a Height 48.5mts. This tree has
also been awarded with the
‘MahaVriksh Puraskar’ by
Government of India in 1994.
From there we were escorted back
to the Forest Department of
Parambikulam Tiger Reserve,
where we had our lunch followed
by briefing on the projects taken
up to preserve wild life at
Parambikulam by them.
Sri Vijayanath IFS, gave us a
laudable discourse
Parambikulam Tiger Reserve
before 2006 and after 2006. The
session was highly educative and
informative and thought provoking.
The Officer requested all the tiny
lots to keep in their immediate
environment neat tidy
pollution free and asked them to
plant as many saplings as possible
in their institution. He also insisted
them to work for the cause of
those animals who have no one
else to care for them, except us.
the
A visit to the Parmbikulam
Information Centre was done at
4.30 Pm where Thiru. Murugan
explained about the specimens,
exhibits displayed there in a
catchy, impressive and lucid
manner. This session was liked by
one and all. Before our return to
our van we could see many
Peacocks and wild boars and wild
deers roaming freely in their place
everywhere. We also saw a few
deers (barking deer, kadaman,
etc).
on We returned to our camp by
6.30 PM. After tea and refreshment
we relaxed for a while , followed
by a slide show on snakes and
other wild animal species of
Anamalai Reserve by Thiru.
Prestone. Dinner was served at
and 9.00 PM followed by a brief
discussion on journal writing we
were sent to bed by 10.00 PM.
Day III
This day started with a trail
to Kariyan Chola where we were all
taken on a trekking to the dense
forest with an escort from the
Forest Department Mr. Prestone,
Mr. Gopalakrishnan gave us
detailed explanation on the
trekking expedition. We also
spotted a few droppings (Excreta)
of wild cheetah and wild dogs.
 This camp was organized in
an excellent manner and it was
meticulously planned. There was
no drawback in any aspect. All the
participants expressed their
sincere thanks to the Secretary,
Director, Department of Science
Technology and Environment for
giving us this rare and
unforgettable experience. We also
owe our thanks to the Officer on
Special Duty, STC and Thiru. V.
Ramalingam, EEC I/c for the
painstaking efforts. Our gratitude
is also expressed to the WWF
personnel and the resource person
from Evergreen NGO for all their
support and guidance. We look
forward for many such
programmes to other students and
teachers in the near future.

We then reached a watch tower,

from where we had an aeriel
glimpse of the water reserve and
the wild forest. We all shared our
experiences before the WWF
personnel and then came back by
2.00 PM for Lunch. The post Lunch
session was once again a thanks
giving session where we expressed
our thanks to the WWF Personnel
and the NGO for their lively
interaction and explanation .
Certificates were distributed
followed by a photo session. The
WWF Personnel also distributed
T’Shirts depicting “save our tigers”
to all the Students Participants.
After a Thanks giving session we
departed for Coimbatore and
reached Coimabatore by 8.00 PM
had an excellent dinner and
boarded the Sharma Travels at
9.45 PM and we reached back
home at 6.30 AM on 22.01.2011.
V. Ramalingam, EEC I/c
P. Nagendiran, Lecturer
R. Gopal, Lecturer
M. Vaishnavi, TGT
P. Muthukaruppan, PST