The bus journey from Pallakad to Mannarkad and then on to Mukkali was one full of apprehension for me. I was absolutely brimming with excitement as I expected this visit to be very different from those to other wildlife reserves. This was the only remaining evergreen rainforest left in the area. In my mind I thanked the many people, like Dr. Salim Ali, who fought a long battle to convince the authorities of this forest's importance. If it hadn't been for them, we would today have been deprived from seeing the most fascinating jungle in the country. Instead we would have been visiting a hydroelectric power plant. It was declared a national park as late as 1984.

Even as you approach Mukkali, which is still some distance from the main entrance to the park, you can see the changes taking place in the vegetation on the surrounding hills. As you gain altitude rapidly with one hairpin bend followed by another, you notice the jungle and specially the undergrowth getting a lot denser. The leaves seem to get larger as you approach the park. The variety of birds you see also increases with every bend in the road. I was lucky to spot a huge Giant Malabar Squirrel basking in the sun on an exposed branch of a tree below us. On entering the main park, you have no doubts whatsoever that this is a very unique jungle and nothing like the others one is used to visiting.

Due to its inaccessibility, the forest here has survived without much influence by man. Due to this, it is still a scientist's and researcher's dream come true. Every year new plant species are being discovered and the presence of many unexpected birds realised. For the normal visitors like us, the park is open from 6am to 6pm. The ideal period for visiting the park is between the months of December and April. For most of the rest of the year, it rains. To describe it better, it pours. The average annual rainfall is over 3000mm and there are some spots that receive even up to 4500mm. The only ways to visit the park are by jeep and a mini bus belonging to the wildlife department. Exciting treks are also organised by the authorities but prior permission needs to be taken from the concerned State departments.

We were almost deprived of accommodation once again due to a senior state government official and his party arriving the next day. Luckily for us the officer in charge of the park was an excellent and understanding person who other than sharing fascinating information about the park with us, also gave us a place to stay on the condition that we would vacate it by 8am the next day. Phew!

Silent Valley is famous for its population of the rare Lion Tailed Macaque. Besides this it also hosts healthy numbers of Tigers, Leopards, Elephants, Gaur (Indian Bison), Leopard cats, Jungle cats, Fishing cats, Civets, Mongoose, Wild dogs, Sloth beer, Otter, Flying Squirrels, Malabar Giant Squirrels, Indian Pangolins, Porcupines, Wild boars, Sambar deer, Spotted deer, Barking deer and Mouse deer. Just like its vegetation, it also boasts of rare bird species such as the Ceylon Frogmouth, Black Crested Baza, Shaheen Falcon and the Nilgiri Laughing Thrush among 170 species found there. It is also home to over 100 species of butterflies and 400 species of moths.

One confusing fact we learnt - one that we were unable to clarify before we left - was that foreigners are not allowed entry into the park. We sure were glad there were no restrictions for us! We left Silent Valley the next day swearing that we would soon return with trekking permissions to explore as much of its fascinating 90 sq km as is possible. For the time being we had to leave with sad hearts but with the exciting prospect of our reaching our next destination, the Indira Gandhi National Park, more commonly known as "Topslip".