Periyar

Created in 1950 around an artificial reservoir built by the British in 1895 to irrigate the plains of Madurai, Periyar is celebrated in conservation circles for its model of community ecotourism: in the 1990s dozens of former local poachers were recruited and trained as the park's own rangers and guides, sharply reversing the hunting pressure on elephants and gaur by making conservation their new livelihood. The boat trip across the lake, among the trunks of dead trees still standing in the water since the original flooding, remains the usual way to explore it.