TRIP TO WAYANAD

Hi Friends,

I hope that the post about my trip to ooty would have been entertaining as well as informative.Now moving on to wayanad district,First i want to say what "Wayanad" means,It means "Vayal"(paddy) "Nadu"(field).I would say that nature is at its best here.We started from Ooty after visiting Pykara on 3.3.08(monday) and reached "Gudalur",a small town which connects Ooty with Wayanad.The stretch from Ooty to Gudalur was bumpy,but from Gudalur to Sultan Bathery(a taluk of Wayanad district)was smooth.We checked in a hotel called 'Regency'around 6.30 pm,located off the main road,It is one of the main towns of the district and is easily connected with tourist spots.The hotel was very good with a restaurant . The service was very good,i would suggest you to go to a hotel called 'Kalpakka' located in the main road(pure veg restaurant),The food was very nice and delicious.If you want to eat more without spending too much money,there are many road side eateries selling hot aapam,poori and kadalai curry,but will have non veg too.In kerala you can have good parottas,puttu and aapam.A type of banana called "Nendiram pazham"is very prominent one and dont miss it,the chips they make out of it is a very good snack.That evening we were tired after a tiresome journey ,just went for a round around the town ,had dinner at kalpakka and went to bed.The next morning we started to "Edakal caves" Twelve kilometres from Sultan Bathery, is a very magnificient place to see.we have to trek up the hill called "Ambukuthi"and reach the caves.The trek was steep so please take necessary things to keep you comfortable,there are few shops along the sides selling 'lime soda',water bottles and other stuffs.The trek will be between 2-3 kilometres,inside the cave you can find the ancient stone scripts,inscriptions of animal and human figures etc,these are said to be 7000 years old.The significance of the name Edakal is that a stone is hanging in between two rocks Edai(in the middle) kal means stone.These caves are said to be the earliest centres of human inhabitation,there will be a guide who will be explaining about the scriptures and other things.Please note that you will not be allowed to take pictures inside the cave with your mobile phone.The guide told us that if we climb up still some 300 metres ,we will be able to see the borders of Tamil nadu,Kerala and Karnataka,On hearing that we started eagerly,but that stretch is the most adventurous one where a question about life or death arises,at one point we need to climb up holding a rope ,we can manage to climb up,but on return you will sweat in that cool place and thatwill be the feeling.While coming down via the rope dont look around as you may be terrified by the deep abyss around you, remain calm and climb down from your back.I did not go and see the border after climbing the rope because, the feeling of how am i going to get down haunted me and it was because of my friend who encouraged me ,that i was able to get down.On return you can see several shops selling handicrafts and in a shop named "Kerala Handicrafts" Goose berries dipped in honey are sold ,Yummy , worth buying it.
Next to "Kuruva Islands",40 kms from Sulthan Bathery is a very adventurous place where you will first cross the river Kabini, a tributary of Kaveri.The first part is very deep and we will be reaching the other bank by a raft,from there a guide will take us for a few kms walk in to the forest,where you have to cross 6 water bodies(of the Kabini river)and reach the starting point.We can cross these by stepping on the small sized stones on the river,but some may be slippery and it was fun watching many people slipping in between from the other bank,but you wont feel anything adventurous of this sort initially when you step in slowly after travelling inside the forest starts the adventure.Note: After 5 in the evening entry is restricted.



The final day of the trip was a memorable one and will not be forgetten by any one of us ,the visit to "Meenmutty Falls".Trekking in the first phase surrounded on either sides by coffee and tea plantations made me feel that it will be easy but as we proceeded there were many descending slopes that too very narrow and on either sides were deep abyss.Life seemed to swing from there on,a very risky trek of more than 3.5kms(not advisable to go with family).A very adventurous trek at the cost of life,compulsorily a local guide is needed as you may be seeing two paths before you and you may not know which one to take.After a risky trek of about three kilometres you will hear the sound of water flowing from a height and it is an indication that you are nearing the falls.After travelling a few metres comes the gigantic falls falling from a height of 500metres.The speciality of this Meenmutty falls is that it is a three stage fall ,first one is a small one ,second is big (where we went),the third one is still bigger,all the three requires different treks.The waterfall is very beautiful but extremely dangerous with heavy water currents.Iwould recommend you not to take bath unless you are an experienced swimmer .after spending some time we have to rush back to catch the 5.30 train to chennai from calicut and calicut was 95 kms from there.But trekking back was relatively easy.I would recommend you to carry grip shoes but not slippers for the trek and also water and other requirements as you may not find any shops in between.While returning from falls we stopped at a shop where we had buttermilk and it was like an elixir after that exhaustive trek.We started around 12.30pm ,had lunch at meppady and reached calicut station by 4.45pm.The next day morning 5.30 reached chennai .

Those four days in the month of march will be marching in my memories forever.