My Adventure in an Indian Tiger Preserve:

Tigers are fascinating and majestic creatures. After my misadventure at a tea plantation, my family headed to the Periyar Tiger Preserve National Park. The national park was a beautiful area covered in dense forest with a series of interconnected lakes. On one of the lakes, there was a small resort where guests could stay the night. Guests had to take a small boat out to the resort, and my father had rented it as an anniversary gift for my mother. When we arrived by boat, we were informed that it was possible to see wild elephants bathing in the lake early in the mornings.

The following day, I awoke early to see the elephants bathing across the lake. A small family of elephants was bathing together in the water. The baby elephants were playing together, and the parents sat in the water cooling off. I was excited to see nature so close to where I sat on the water’s edge. After breakfast, my family prepared for our adventure in the preserve. First, we met our tour guide, who would take us into the forest to see the wildlife and possibly see a wild tiger in the distance.

We crossed the lake and landed on a small dock at the edge of the forest. The forest was alive as we heard and saw animals and birds in the trees. As we walked through the woods, we looked out for anything representing a danger to the group. This task included looking out for wild elephants, which, if startled, could become aggressive and attack. Our guide informed us that if we came across a giant steaming pile of poo, we were too close to a wild elephant. If we came across a pile, we were to immediately turn around and go back in the direction we came. Luckily, we never came across a steaming pile of poo, and the only elephants around were the ones I saw earlier in the lake.

As we walked through the forest, I saw a group of black-looking pigs. They were feeding in the distance, and I was curious to get a closer look at them. That is when I saw him. Across from me, separated by a deep ditch, was a large male boar staring right at me. It was the most enormous pig-looking creature I had ever seen, and he looked angry. Boars are known to be vicious and male boars are extremely ferocious when defending their family. I informed my family and the guide about the male boar. The guide told me to slowly walk backward and not make too much noise that would excite the boar. The ditch that separated us from the boar would buy us time to move away. Thankfully, the boar decided not to chase us as we walked further away from him and his family.

Throughout the forest were areas covered in water that we had to cross. As we traveled, we became aware of creatures that were hanging on for the ride. I looked down to see a black and slimy object attached to my leg. As I watched, the slimy thing grew larger and larger. Finally, my family and I realized that we had them attached to our legs and arms. At that moment, the guide informed us that leeches surrounded us. The leeches were in the water and hung from the trees. Surprisingly, there was no pain when the leeches attached themselves and began feasting on our blood. Once they were full, they fell off back into the water. While leeches look gross, they are harmless.

The wild boars and leeches were not the end of our jungle adventure. As we continued walking through the forest, we heard a lot of noise in the trees above us. Besides birds, the trees were full of monkeys jumping back and forth. From a distance, the monkeys look cute and friendly, but they were anything but pleasant. As we walked, we noticed that things were being thrown in our direction. I suddenly recognized that these little bastards were throwing rocks, and worse of all, their poo in our direction. This realization meant WAR. I was not about to be harassed by these tree monkeys, and I began returning fire by throwing small rocks back in their direction. Looking back, I realized my actions were juvenile, but I was not prepared to walk away from that monkey fight in the heat of battle.

After our encounter with the monkeys, we headed back towards the dock. We did not want to be out in the forest when the sunset for the evening. Back at the lake resort, we feasted on fish for dinner. Unfortunately, we did not see any tigers in the forest or the lake, but as I went to sleep that night, I imagined a tiger was staring at me from across the lake. Every time I see a tiger at a zoo, I remember my adventure at the preserve with the boars, leeches, and monkeys.