If there’s one thing that I can’t resist myself, it is exploring. And because of this irresistible love for venturing out into the unknown, I could not reject the plan of a friend’s reunion trip to Kerala with my old college mates. We planned to visit the Periyar National Park, which ought to be a nice getaway destination to relax in the lap of nature and explore unseen wildlife.
We were a total of six people, along with one of our friends who was already living in Kochi. So we decided to take a direct flight from Delhi to Kochi, and one of the friends suggested to avail a spacious and comfortable tempo traveler in Kochi to cover the further distance.
Boarding the flight to almost missing it
Our flight was at 5:30 in the morning, so we had to wake up early and get to the airport on time. I used the metro to travel as I got late while getting ready and joined the rest of my friends once I reached. As we were standing in the queue to check-in our luggage, one of my friends just remembered that he forgot one of his bags in the cab he came in. We rushed to the exit to see if the cab was still out and luckily found the driver lurking around. The flight’s announcement was made by the time we could get back to the boarding gate, running hastily we were finally able to board the flight. This was quite the beginning of the journey.
Reaching Kochi airport and meeting our friend.
The flight flew swiftly, and in no time, we reached Kochi Airport. Although it took 3 hours, it felt so short amidst all the excitement and chatter. We checked out of the airport and thoroughly checked our baggage to avoid any problematic scenario later.
Our friend there booked a reliable taxi in Kochi for us, which was already waiting outside. We quickly hopped in as we were excited to meet our friend after a long wait.
The taxi dropped us at my friend’s apartment, and finally, we got to see him; we all went crazy and greeted him with tight hugs and started chatting right away about our old days. The taxi driver honked at us and asked us to take out our baggage, which we almost forgot in all the chit chat; we got in his apartment and started planning out for the day.
Exploring the Periyar National Park and wild adventure sports
We chose to travel by rental car to the destination to enjoy the fun of a road trip with friends. It was a distance of 175 km from Kochi to the national park, so I decided to drive as the rest of my friends were too lazy to drive, and instead, they wanted to enjoy the journey comfortably. As soon as we reached the Periyar National Park gates, everyone got excited and started singing and screaming like kids who reminded me of our college days.
Periyar National Park was a humongous natural reserve with rich flora and fauna. The main attraction there was the tiger and elephant reserve. We started our safari and took a rental jeep to explore the vast jungle; we came across tons of rosewood and sandalwood trees as we moved deeper into the park. We soon came across the Periyar lake, where many adventurous water sports like river rafting and banana shack were arranged. After this thrilling experience, we moved on to see the elephant reserve, where there were tons of elephants and their babies feasting on grass and bathing in water dumps. We also saw the tiger reserve at last and slowly grew tired as it started to get dark.
Partying at night just like old times and returning back
We went to our resort room and started getting comfy on couches just when one of the friends spotted the bar and bought us some beers. We had a few drinks and enjoyed our dinner and some traditional dancing arranged by the restaurant, which reflected Kerala’s rich culture.
We drove back in the morning to Kochi, got refreshed at the friend’s apartment, who then drove us back to the airport where we boarded the flight, thankfully without missing any luggage this time. We landed back in Delhi and promised each other to catch up soon for another exciting trip.