The Periyar Reserve Bungalow is set amidst a sprawling cardamom plantation of six hundred acres, which lies sandwiched between the tropical evergreen forests of Periyar Tiger Reserve and Ranni Reserve. From the Downton Bungalow there leads up the hill top, into the deep forest, a mud road traversed only by jeeps or on horseback. The road serpentine up through the thick foliage some two kilometers up to the end of the Estate, and behold on the edge of the forest, upon a small hill, beside a gushing brook is the majestic Periyar Reserve Bungalow.