Wayanad

Wayanad

On Thursday evening 6:30 four of us left from Bangalore to Wayanad. The roads were good however the traffic was bad it took us 1 half hour to reach Mysore Road, in just about 2 hrs to reach Mysore. Well it is a wrong choice to have Pizza from Pizza Corner a horrible service was offered.
Then about 11:30 we left Mysore to and reached the bad section of roads from Gundelpet to Bandipur forest well u need to take a diversion to your right from Gundelpett to reach Wayanad. Well it’s quit a scary drive as it dark, silent and elephants are known to cross the road at night. And for our surprise we got stuck in traffic at 1:30am at the check post it took abut 1 hr to clear. We reached Sultan Bathery at 3:00am as we had booked the room we dint have to look around for any, Suggest to book rooms and then go as you might not get any at night as rooms gets booked from Bangalore.
Day 1:
Woke up late had some break fast and left to Edekal Caves. This is aprox 30 km from Sultan Bathery. We reached at the foot hill by 12 noon. You can get a jeep ride which costs 70rs which will cover about 20% of the climb suggested if in hurry. Its about 400ft above the sea level it’s a ancient cave which was formed after a earthquake which split the rock into 2 and a small piece covered the gap hence the name Edekal (stone in between). During weekdays It’s crowded with school kids and college students I guess its a part of their curriculum. There is a fee of 10/- per head and a fee of 25/- for camera. The trek was not tough but steep climb was not easy as well, as we were not exposed to any activity the only activity we do at work is to roll on the chair from a work station to other. So it was indeed a tough task, we could see the kids climbing up in a jiffy and we were stuck half the way. Once near the cave there is a trek of another 1000ft which include rope climbing takes you to the peak from where you can get to see 3 states Kerala, Karnataka and Tamilnadu. We chose to go to the cave to see the ancient drawing on the wall which is dated 1000 BC. Archeologist is still studying and excavation is still going on. This place was discovered by one British officer in 18th century. We climbed down and at the exit there is a natural source of water, very sweet never tasted such sweet and chill water.

The next destination was Soojipara Falls we moved on well it’s a beautiful rout with winding roads through the tea estate well the not to mention the roads are good. We reached soojipara at about 4pm well there are hotels available but one need to order food as they cook only after so we placed order for few chapattis and continued our trek to soojipara that’s again 1km walk from the parking into the forest now once down the hill there are 2 rout on to the right and one the left now we took the rout to the right to get closer to the fall. Caution The place is a bit risky and very slippery after getting as close as possible we planed to follow the stream to se where the water goes to moving away from the fall is a risky factor as there are no public and will have to do some adventure to reach the other end also be careful to put u shoes on as I stepped on glass piece please do not litter the place and do not carry alcohol even if u carry do not dispose it as the bottles will break when it hits on rocks and will hurt people who tries to go to the other side . Now when I say end it’s the end of the valley there is a wall and a small gap trough which the water falls down I guess that’s why the falls is called the soojipara falls

( sooji means Needle) now its very risky to get to the end please climb the cliff with at most caution as its just a small stone from which the view is very beautiful the water falls into a bucket like gap and then overflows to into the valley to gives a very beautiful view from the top of the stone. I mention again its to be done with at most caution as its dangerous and only 2 person can manage to stand on top and other down cannot support the guys standing on top. In turn a very beautiful view from top. After this adventure we returned back to the parking where we had ordered food had the Lunch + dinner from there and we head to Kalpetta for the Night Stay that brings the end of Day 1 planed to wake up early to check out other place.


Day 2
As usual woke up late as the previous days trek was a little hard. Plans for the day were to visit Pokode Lake, Banasura Sagar Dam and Kuruva Deep.
Had no breakfast as we were late quickly left to the lake which was about 30Km from the gust house. The place was crowded with school kids. A beautiful lake with lots of Lotus around it plucking of flower is not allowed also please ensure it’s not plucked. Nothing much about this place however a very pleasant and silent lake good place for couples.
The next location was the dam Banasura Sagar Dam the largest Earth Dam in Asia. Its very beautiful place with mountains as island and range of mountain on once side as the wall. Rain water is harvested here and there is a river however the major contributor is the rainwater. Here you have speed boating which cost 250/- for 5 ppl for 15min. From the entrance you will have to walk about 1.5 km to reach the dam or you can hire a jeep which will cost 50/- for 6 ppl.
We packed up by 2 had lunch at a hotel nearby and left to Kuruva Deep which is a set of islands divided by River Kabini a very silent and clam place some adventure involved as you will have to cross the stream to reach the inhabited island its filled with adventure crossing the stream should be careful. The entry costs 10/- per head camera extra no alcohol permitted inside. You can also take a boat to the island if the water level is high it costs 5/- per head this brings the end to our day 2. We reached the resort at Sultan Bathery had dinner. At about 10:00pm we went for a drive towards Pulpalli as we were told we might get lucky to sight some wild Elephant how ever we only sight some Deer on the road side. One side of the road is forest and the other side houses however we were amazed to see the Deer s near the civilization without fear of been hunted, moment they see any vehicle stopping by they just vanish in the dark forest. We returned back to the resort and planed to wake up early to visit Meenmuty Falls.



Day 3
Woke up late so had to leave to Bangalore so had to skip Meenmuty falls however on the way back we visited Gopalaswamy Betta to complete the trip now this was like having a Tequila Shot after the party a smooth finish for the trip. There is a very ancient temple which is situated on the peak. Its on the way to Ooty after crossing the forest check post of Karnataka you will enter a bad section of roads you can see a road to your right which says Ooty continue on the road it’s a very small road which leads between the villages can ask the people there they will be able to help you suggest not to use the road at night. There is entry fee of 20/- for cars, alcohol prohibited. You will get a very beautiful view of the Western Ghats from there when we reached it had just stopped raining so could see the clouds moving and the Mountain Range been visible. Had a good time then we head to Bangalore we reached Bangalore by 8pm.
How ever the trip seems to be incomplete will visit this place again to cover the rest of the place Meenmutty falls, Muthanga Wildlife and Tolpetti wildlife. Also head the place is at its best during and just after monsoon. So will probably the next trip will do during monsoon. It’s better to have your own transport as the places to visit are quit far from each other. We traveled 600km from Mysore to Mysore. Food is very inexpensive provided all like the food cooked in Coconut oil.