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WINGS Birding Tours – Information

India: The South

Tour Information

Note: The information presented here is an abbreviated version of our formal General Information for Tours to India: the South. Its purpose is solely to give readers a sense of what might be involved if they took this tour. Although we do our best to make sure what follows here is completely accurate, it should not be used as a replacement for the formal document which will be sent to all tour registrants, and whose contents supersedes any information contained here.

TRAVEL TO INDIA: The main tour starts and ends in Kochi, India. The Andaman Islands extension ends in Chennai.

ENTERING INDIA: United States citizens will need a passport, valid for 6 months beyond date of visa application, at least two blank pages, and a valid Indian visa to enter and exit India. Citizens of other nations should contact the nearest Indian Consulate for entry requirements. U.S. citizens seeking to enter India solely for tourist purposes, and who plan to stay no longer than 60 days, may apply for an electronic travel authorization* in lieu of applying for a tourist visa at an Indian embassy or consulate.  For the most current information on entry and exit requirements, please check the website of the Indian Embassy in Washington, DC: https://www.indianembassyusa.gov.in/

*If you are booked on the main tour only, you may be eligible for the e-Tourist Visa. If you are booked on the main tour and the Andaman Islands extension you must apply for a regular tourist visa, as electronic e-visas are not valid for entry to the Andamans.

Citizens of other nations should contact the nearest Indian Consulate for entry requirements. 

COUNTRY INFORMATION: You can review the U.S. Department of State Country Specific Travel Information here, and the CIA World Factbook background notes on India here.

HEALTH: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that all travelers be up to date on routine vaccinations. These include measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine, diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis vaccine, varicella (chickenpox) vaccine, polio vaccine, and your yearly flu shot. 

They further recommend that most travelers have protection against Hepatitis A and Typhoid, the latter being particularly important because of the presence in this region of S. typhi  strains resistant to multiple antibiotics. 

Malaria:  There is a malaria risk in India (lower elevations). Please consult your physician. 

The most current information about travelers’ health recommendations can be found on the CDC’s Travel Health website here

Water: Tap water is not safe to drink and should be avoided at all times. Bottled water (which the leader provides at mealtimes), soft drinks and beer are widely available. Do not eat any salads or unpeeled fruit. 

Mild upset stomachs, often brought on simply by a change of diet, can be hard to avoid in India. We suggest bringing anti-diarrhea medicine such as Imodium. Gatorade or other electrolyte-replacement drinks in powder form are also worth bringing as they replace the vital salts and minerals lost during a bout of diarrhea. 

InsectsAlthough we will not see many mosquitoes there might be a few, especially in the lowlands at the Mudumalai, Anaimalai, and Periyar National Parks. There are typically a few more mosquitoes on the Andaman Islands. 

Smoking: Smoking is prohibited in the vehicles or when the group is gathered for meals, checklists, etc. If you are sharing a room with a non-smoker, please do not smoke in the room. If you smoke in the field, do so well away and downwind from the group. If any location where the group is gathered has a stricter policy than the WINGS policy, that stricter policy will prevail.

CLIMATE: Most of our days in the lowlands around Kochi as well as in the Mudumalai, Periyar, and Thattekad Sanctuaries should be pleasant with daytime temperatures in the range of 20-30°C (68-86°F). However, it can be quite humid, especially on the coast. Ooty (Ootacamund) in the Nilgiri mountains is nearly 7,000 feet above sea level and is noticeably cooler, with nighttime temperatures occasionally dropping to almost freezing. Rain is unlikely anywhere but should not be totally discounted; it’s perhaps slightly more likely at Ooty, Munnar and Chennai.

The Andamans have little seasonal variation in climate. Continuous sea breezes keep daytime temperatures within the 23°-31°C (73-88°F) range, though again the humidity is high.

PACE OF TOUR AND DAILY ROUTINE: This tour will not be particularly physically strenuous. There will be optional early morning birdwatching excursions on several days. On a couple of these we may leave the hotel as early as 5:30am (it’s typically light at about 6:15am) and return for breakfast, while on other days we’ll depart shortly after breakfast. We’ll take packed breakfasts on several occasions and packed lunches on a good number of days. There will be the opportunity to stay out birdwatching until dusk many evenings or, on occasion, to return earlier to the hotel if you so wish. There will also be a couple of evening owling excursions - these will usually take place after dinner and may last an hour or about one-and-a-half hours.

Much of the birdwatching will be done along quiet roads and jeep tracks. We’ll frequently walk downhill ahead of the coach with our driver catching us up at intervals. There will be a few occasions where we venture off onto forest trails. Hardly any of the walking will be over rugged terrain, and most of the walks will last a maximum of four hours. Exceptions will be at Periyar Sanctuary where we hope to be able to make an excursion in search of the Broad-tailed Grassbird. This excursion, if we are given permission to enter the core area of the park, initially involves an hour-and-a-half jeep ride and then about an 800 meter walk through one metre high wet grass overlying a spongy bog. The walking is not easy, but the group will take it slowly. Also at Periyar we’ll have one full day’s walk, setting off after breakfast and taking our own packed lunches and drinks. We anticipate walking about four or five miles and will return over the same route in the mid to late afternoon. Although our coach is not allowed inside the park’s ‘core zone’, it is sometimes possible to arrange for park jeeps to pick us up.

On the Andamans, foreigners are allowed to stay overnight only in Port Blair, which is an hour or an hour and a half away from the two best areas of forest. As it will be hot during the middle of the day, with an attendant decrease in bird activity, we anticipate making a series of very early starts (often leaving the hotel at around 04:00am) to take advantage of the early mornings when the birds are at their most active. On such days we’ll take packed breakfasts to eat in the field, then usually have lunch and a midday break back at the hotel. However, since we expect to be using several vehicles, there will usually be the option of remaining at our hotel for breakfast and joining the group later.

Several of the Andamans’ ornithological specialties are night birds, and seeing them may involve staying out as late as 10:00pm. On this and other days there will obviously be the option of returning to the hotel earlier.

ACCOMMODATION: Accommodation is of a moderate to good standard throughout this tour. In Ooty, Kochi, and Chennai, and on the Andaman Islands, we’ll stay in good-quality international-style hotels. At Mudumalai we’ll stay at a beautifully situated family run safari-style lodge in a wooded area outside the Tiger Reserve. The accommodation and food is of a good standard. Most of the accommodation here is in small cottages, again with single or double rooms, each with a private toilet and private washing facilities.

At Munnar we will stay in a good, government-owned hotel. The rooms are well-appointed and clean, the restaurant serves excellent food, and the staff are very amenable. At Periyar National Park we will also stay at a Government Hotel — this one right in the center of the park; the accommodation here is of a good standard, as is the food. At Thattekad we’ll stay in a privately owned hotel outside the sanctuary; the rooms are of a good standard, and all have air conditioning and a ceiling fan, and the food is delicious. 

FOOD: Throughout the tour we are served a wide variety of good quality Indian food. Salads or salad garnishes are frequently offered, but these should always be declined or left on the edge of your plate. The food we are served always includes a good selection of vegetarian dishes. In some of the places that we will visit are buffet-style with several different dishes available, while in other places set meals are provided. However a typical Indian set meal actually consists of three or four different dishes. We appreciate that not everyone likes to eat Indian food (which can occasionally be a little bit spicy) everyday or even at all and several of the places we visit will, if requested, provide western food. If a buffet is being served this normally includes one or two western-style dishes. However if you require western-style food and cannot eat Indian food please advise the WINGS Office in advance and the leader once you are on the tour. Not everywhere that we stay will provide a western-style meal, and it must be said that even those places that can cater to westerners are able to cook Indian food to a much better standard than they cook western food.

TRANSPORTATION: Transportation between sites is by coach or internal flights. We are not allowed to use our own vehicle inside Rajamalai National Park and instead will use a park bus. Elsewhere around Munnar we will probably use local jeeps to access a couple of other sites near this mountain resort. We might use similar jeeps when we search for Yellow-throated Bulbul on our way from Munnar to Periyar National Park.

Some of the roads in South India are poorly maintained, rough and pot-holed. This can make for bumpy, slightly uncomfortable journeys on a couple of days. Note, however, that we operate a seating rotation within our vehicles and, especially on the bumpier roads, will be travelling slowly and stopping frequently to stretch our legs and to birdwatch.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF WINGS TOURS: Please take a moment to read the About WINGS Tours portion of our website. This section contains important information about how we conduct tours, e.g., what is included in the tour price, refund and cancellation policies, pace of the tours, and other information that will help you prepare for the tour.

Updated: 03 August 2023