CooknDine....: Travelogue-Wayanad

"The world is like a book and those who don't travel read only a page"--St.Augustine

"Travel brings power and love back into your life"--Rumi

We love to travel...Definitely it brings in more of love and bonding to the family.With the hectic work schedules and routines we usually take a break to charge up our battery.Most of the trips are unplanned.Being nearer to Kerala we always adore the beauty of the state..It had been named aptly as God's Own country..We wanted to take a 3 day trip and so planned to go to Wayanad..North eastern part of Kerala.
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We took the Tuticorin-Madurai-Dindugal-Palani-Pollachi-Palghat-Manjeri-Wayanad route.We started at 4 AM and it was a pleasant long car drive.HH loves to drive and So me....We packed our morning breakfast(Podi Idly)/Plain Idly with tomato Thokku and for afternoon Tamarind rice and potato chips.I made chocolate cup cakes,Masala Biscuits,cookies which was a perfect snack for the kids.We packed the car with full of enthusiasm and gave a perfect start!!!

We reached pollachi by 10.30 am and it was a perfect coffee time...Luckily we spotted a Coffee shop in between Udumelpet and Pollachi..With little bit of hestitation we dropped into the shop...The coffee was very perfect..kumbakonam Degree filter coffee..Loved every sip of it...To my surprise it had around 15 branches all over tamilnadu....

We reached the resort by 3 PM.The weather was very moderate neither chill nor hot..Kids just enjoyed staying at the resort.It was at Kalpetta,a major town in Wayanad.

While coming towards the resort around 16km before we visited Pookot lake..It didn't attract us too much.Just had a glimpse of it and came off within 10 minutes.It is a perennial freshwater lake in Vythiri..

After a looong drive we reached the hotel at 3 PM. we had our dinner at the resort itself.They served delicious malabar parottas and hot roti with a veg kurma and stew..The taste of the parottas was too good as they were made with coconut milk and coconut oil.

Got ready in the early morning at 6.30 AM.It is better to hire a taxi if u don't know the routes properly.We hired a taxi and planned to visit Muthanga Wild life sanctuary first.The tickets were given from 7AM onwards till 10 AM.Just had a strong hot sip of coffee and boarded the forest Jeep...Infact it was very crowded as it was a vacation time.
We were accompanied with a forest ranger and our family hired a separate jeep.The driver was so kind to ensure us that we see all the animals. But he didn't allow us to get down to take snapshots.We spotted some deers,wild squirrel,elephants etc..While speaking with the ranger he was explaining us about how dangerous the wild elephants are..Infact earlier I thought lions and leopards are dangerous..but it is the other way round.A single wild elephant is very dangerous!!!After watching the tamil movie-Kumki(marvellously shot movie..fantastic one..do watch it if u hadn't)i changed my thought...We spotted leopard's footprint and unluckily could not see the animal at our sight..There was a road which was 5 kms away from Mudhumalai sanctuary,Tamilnadu.Beautiful peacocks,peahens were also spotted.If u want to see wild elephant you can visit the road connecting to mysore at 8.30 to 9 pm near the muthanga sanctuary.But beware those elephants are dangerous that they could chase your vehicle and roll it..This sanctuary connects mudamalai-Tnadu and Bandipur-Karnataka

We finished our safari at 9.30 am and had our breakfast at Sultan Bathery.We had hot Appams and Stew/Kadala Curry..The taste was fantastic..On the way we visited jain temple.The pillars were carved beautifully and some parts were ruined.Even the statue was not there inside but one should visit this to get the feel of the excellent work.They are listed under national heritage sites.

Then we had a quick drive to Edakkal caves.Edakkal caves is at a height of 1000m on Ambukuthynala near ambalavayal.Inside u could find ancient stone scripts,pictorial wall inscriptions of human and animal figures.It is 28kms from kalpetta.Edakkal literally means the stone in between.The cave here is formed when a big stone fell on to the cliffs of two big rock.It was accidentally explored byMr.Fawcett.

We need to climb for 2kms to see the carvings.I would advise not to take old poeple along.We can make them to sit at the entrance itself where you have benches to take rest.All along on both the sides on the way there were coffee plantations.All over the way there are petty road side shops and monkeys too.Don't miss to drink the spicy and chill buttermilk that is being sold.

After reaching the base of the cave again there were 200+ steep stairs to climb.I was very tired but at the same time the enthu of visiting the engravings made to climb the stairs.

The view of the district from the height was breathtaking..It was worth trekking such a long distance,climbing so much of stairs...I was happy that I burned out so much of calories on that day.There were 2 caves- One the lower caves and the other upper caves.The carvings were found at the upper cave.They are the archives of neolithic-iron age engravings.Some of the distinct figures that we could spot were the wheeled cart,Animal figure,human figure with head gear and other decorative elements,Ritual dancer,figure carrying a bow and arrow,peacock,Tamil Bamini scripts etc..

Don't hesitate to ask the guide(who offer services at free of cost)the details of the figure.They brief us both in English and malayalam.

With heart full of satisfaction we came down the steps.With ease we reached down having 2 more cups of buttermilk on the way.Wayand was so hot and never expected this amount of hotness there!!!We could not predict the climatic conditions at this present age...We are the main culprits at destroying the nature!!But luckily at evenings and nights it was very chill..

Finally at 4 PM we had our lunch on the way.The lunch was not so good and we ended eating only curd rice and salad.Then we started towards Sentinal Rock waterfalls.Of course kerala is known for the waterfalls.You can sight so many waterfalls on the way and it is very hard to cover all the waterfalls at a stretch!!With so much of water facility donna why the kerala government is so quarrelsome on the periyar dam!!!??

Sentinel Rock Waterfalls is also called locally as Soochipara.The pool at the foot of the falls is very safe to have a quick dip.Again it is 1km walk from the base.There are places to rest all over the way.The way down the falls is easy to walk,but the return was very difficult as we need to climb the slope.The waterfalls was at great height and the scene was much spectacular.We took a quick dip and enjoyed the cool water..

The day 1 of our trip was very tiresome.We came to the resort at 6 PM.As our kids wanted idly/dosa we took a quick walk to woodlands hotel which was opposite to our resort.The food was okay there.With lots of trekking we were tired and slept off early.

We got ready by 8 AM the next day.Had the complimentary breakfast the resort supplied.We had hot hot idlis and rava uppuma..The taxi wala took us to the Kuruvadweep Island.We reached there by 9.30 AM.This is a 950 acre uninhabited island on kabini river.Rare species of birds,plants and butterflies can be spotted.Sometimes elephant can also be spotted.The tickets were given from 11 am on that day.The visit of the wild elephants to the island had delayed the opening of the ticket counter

We went through the bamboo raft to the island.It was a nice experience.Though the distance was very small the kids loved to go on the bamboo raft being pulled by the strings

It was again a 2 km walk to enjoy the beauty of the island.At the end there was river where kids enjoyed playing there.We spent around 1 hour there in island and returned back.

We had ordered for Vegetarian lunch at one of the mess there.The lunch was just awesome..Too many varieties...All the dishes tasted very delicious.Kudos to our Taxi driver who had booked the meals!!They even provide non veg meals but we rarely take NV outside!!This mess is few metres away from the kuruvadweep..

After having heavy lunch we had no mood to visit a place where much walking is needed.So we thought of visiting Banasura sagar dam.It is the largest earthern dam in India.It is a mini-hydel project too.Boating facilities are also there.But we didn't opt for boating as there was a long queue..The mountains were too too good to look at..
It was a hot sunny day that we could not wait there for long hours..

Just had a jeep ride to the top of the dam..Took some snap shots and returned back by Jeep.

Then we visited the other side of the dam where we hardly found people.I found this place more interesting than the regular dam.The place was very cool and also had lots of places to rest for..

On the way we visited karalad Lake..where there is not much to see than the boat ride!!

Finally we thought of visiting the Meenmutty falls, a spectacular waterfalls in wayanad.Unfortunately the falls was closed for tourists as there was continous drowning n deaths that happened for the past 2 weeks.

Few more places were there to cover..we didn't have time to visit.So 3 days of stay in wayanad is essential to cover up all the places..Some areas need prior permission and some are unapproachable.

If you visit wayanad do visit the other places like Neelimala,Thirunelly Temple,Pazhassi Tomb,kanthanpara waterfalls,Kadachikkunnu waterfalls,Chembra Peak,kadavakuzhi,Tholpetty wild life sanctuary.

Finally to end with...vacations are not complete without shopping!!I reserved the 2nd day evening for the shopping.Don't miss purchasing small items made of wood,jute,bamboos.Our car was fully loaded with bamboo items and jute items..

While returning we thought of taking the other route to tuticorin.Ooty was only 100+km from wayanad.So we took the route Wayanad-Gudalur-Ooty-Mettupalayam-Avinashi-Tiruppur-Dindugal-Madurai-tuticorin.

We enjoying riding through the hair pin bends and the weather was too too cool.The road were completely filled with mist by 12 noon and luckily we drove safe home.

On the way we bought freshly taken carrots,beetroots,radish,turnip.The carrot tasted so good and we finished eating it on the way and got another again bundle