Mesmerising Wayanad - A Monsoon visit
Another travel diary to the lap of western ghats. Obviously its Kerela, the land of god. Dont know who said Kerela as land of gods. Im admitting it, yes Kerela is god's home but here the god is nature. Among the 12 districts of Kerela, Wayand got a special characteristics because of his nature and greenery. More over it is the only state from Kerela sharing border with two other states Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. So we decided to make a travel to see this mesmerising beauty that too at the end of Monsoon. Yes, June first to July end is the peak season for South West Monsoon at Wayanad. In that period entire Kerela will receive huge amount of rainfall including Wayanad. Many people remember how Kerela got affected due to the South West monsoon at 2018. Lets go to our travel diary............
How to reach?????
Calicut @ Kozhikode is the nearest railway station to reach wayand. From there you have to take road ways only. Remember Calicut is the gateway for Europeans to enter India at 15th century. In case if you are planning to take flight. Mysuru, the majestic of Karnataka is the nearest airport. From kerela, Kochi is the nearest airport to reach wayanad. We went twice to Wayanad. First time reached calicut by train and hired a cab over there. Second time we took bike and take a ride from chennai, then bangalore, then Chamrajnagar, then wayanad. while returning took ooty road. Here im going to combine the places visited by me in both trips.
Bike ride route from Chennai to Wayand:
Link for bike route: https://www.google.co.in/maps/dir/ChennaitoWayanad_viaChamrajnagar
DAY -1
Nothing is better than a bike ride with friends to a destination filled with nature. And we had that four members and four bikes started from chennai, we took chennai to bengaluru highway via Vellore, Krishnagiri and Hosur. It took almost 8 hours to reach Bengaluru. No need to enter Bengaluru city we can take Mysuru nice road before entering the city. First day we covered till Electronic city, outer of Bengaluru took some rest.
DAY - 2
Second day we started early morning itself and reached Chamrajnagar in 3 hours which includes our breakfast time too. We didnt waste any time, after one hour of rest we started towards Wayand. Before reaching Wayanad itself the climate changed completely and gave some symptoms of rain. Luckily we experienced drizzling alone. But the road from Chamrajnagar to Wayanad, I will bet, you will never have such a bike ride experience in life. Near Karnataka border lot of peoples cultivating the flowers. It seems like the most of the flowers in Mysuru will started its journey from here only. Many people took photographs in that place. Some professional photographers charging for instant photography too.
After crossing this flower valley, we entered into some forest. Yes its Bandipur Wildlife sanctuary. Few Deers and Elephants welcomed us to the forest. Within some 30 mins we reached Kerela border. One more small wildlife sanctuary came at the entrance of Wayand. It is Muthanga wild life sanctuary, which is famous for Safari. We tried safari in that place, they charged around 750 per head for 30 mins. I already told the climate looks like raining and drizzled. So we cant able to see any beasts there. We saw only Elephants, deer, monkey like that. Our suggestion dont try this safari. If you have luck only you can see tigers and other carnivorous there. At the end of second day we made a stay at Sultan Bathery.
At Kerela border entrance itself we enquired at check post like which are the places opened for people visit. They told they wont allow for Kuruva Islands, Soochipara Falls because of rain. So we deleted those spots from our list.
DAY -3
Third day of our trip started with a small trekking to Edakkal Caves. The place having lot of history and having some ancient scripts on rocks. Actually a rock at top was standing in the gap between two giant rocks. Thats why this place is so called as Edakkal Caves. "Edakkal" means "stone at middle" in south Indian language. We didnt took any photos there, thats why attached some pics from internet.
We spend around 2:30 hours in Edakkal caves itself. Then we went to Banasura Sagar Dam. We never expect that much big the dam would be. Really its big and well maintained. It rained there so we got stucked in dam itself. Such a big dam near the gates, a roof was contructed beautifully which protected us from rain. Later only we came to know that roof was made of Solar Panels. A good initiative from Kerela govt, they got power from both Solar panels and Hydro electric.
End of day 3 we went to Pookoot Lake, which is the famous destination for honey moon couples. Its a small lake surrounded by a path for walking and jogging. In addition to that, a small fish aquarium is there. Many school kids came to visit that place.
DAY - 4
Fourth day of our trip, we know Chembra Peak is one of the best trekking spot in south India. Thats why we planned to start climbing on morning itself. We reached Chembra Peak foot at 8:30AM. The road is much difficult to ride. Many people came in cars they felt much difficulty in riding on that roads. Started our trekking around 9 AM. It took 1:30 hrs for us to reach the peak on the way we experienced a bit drizzle and rain of 5 mins. It made the trekking path very slippery. For first 1 hour we didnt had water. Just before the peak a small stream came, it quenched our thirst and tired. Many people asked us whether it is safer to drink and afraid like it may have some germs. But we know this is better to drink than water we are having in city from cans.
How to reach?????
Calicut @ Kozhikode is the nearest railway station to reach wayand. From there you have to take road ways only. Remember Calicut is the gateway for Europeans to enter India at 15th century. In case if you are planning to take flight. Mysuru, the majestic of Karnataka is the nearest airport. From kerela, Kochi is the nearest airport to reach wayanad. We went twice to Wayanad. First time reached calicut by train and hired a cab over there. Second time we took bike and take a ride from chennai, then bangalore, then Chamrajnagar, then wayanad. while returning took ooty road. Here im going to combine the places visited by me in both trips.
Bike ride route from Chennai to Wayand:
Link for bike route: https://www.google.co.in/maps/dir/ChennaitoWayanad_viaChamrajnagar
DAY -1
Nothing is better than a bike ride with friends to a destination filled with nature. And we had that four members and four bikes started from chennai, we took chennai to bengaluru highway via Vellore, Krishnagiri and Hosur. It took almost 8 hours to reach Bengaluru. No need to enter Bengaluru city we can take Mysuru nice road before entering the city. First day we covered till Electronic city, outer of Bengaluru took some rest.
DAY - 2
Second day we started early morning itself and reached Chamrajnagar in 3 hours which includes our breakfast time too. We didnt waste any time, after one hour of rest we started towards Wayand. Before reaching Wayanad itself the climate changed completely and gave some symptoms of rain. Luckily we experienced drizzling alone. But the road from Chamrajnagar to Wayanad, I will bet, you will never have such a bike ride experience in life. Near Karnataka border lot of peoples cultivating the flowers. It seems like the most of the flowers in Mysuru will started its journey from here only. Many people took photographs in that place. Some professional photographers charging for instant photography too.
After crossing this flower valley, we entered into some forest. Yes its Bandipur Wildlife sanctuary. Few Deers and Elephants welcomed us to the forest. Within some 30 mins we reached Kerela border. One more small wildlife sanctuary came at the entrance of Wayand. It is Muthanga wild life sanctuary, which is famous for Safari. We tried safari in that place, they charged around 750 per head for 30 mins. I already told the climate looks like raining and drizzled. So we cant able to see any beasts there. We saw only Elephants, deer, monkey like that. Our suggestion dont try this safari. If you have luck only you can see tigers and other carnivorous there. At the end of second day we made a stay at Sultan Bathery.
At Kerela border entrance itself we enquired at check post like which are the places opened for people visit. They told they wont allow for Kuruva Islands, Soochipara Falls because of rain. So we deleted those spots from our list.
DAY -3
Third day of our trip started with a small trekking to Edakkal Caves. The place having lot of history and having some ancient scripts on rocks. Actually a rock at top was standing in the gap between two giant rocks. Thats why this place is so called as Edakkal Caves. "Edakkal" means "stone at middle" in south Indian language. We didnt took any photos there, thats why attached some pics from internet.
We spend around 2:30 hours in Edakkal caves itself. Then we went to Banasura Sagar Dam. We never expect that much big the dam would be. Really its big and well maintained. It rained there so we got stucked in dam itself. Such a big dam near the gates, a roof was contructed beautifully which protected us from rain. Later only we came to know that roof was made of Solar Panels. A good initiative from Kerela govt, they got power from both Solar panels and Hydro electric.
End of day 3 we went to Pookoot Lake, which is the famous destination for honey moon couples. Its a small lake surrounded by a path for walking and jogging. In addition to that, a small fish aquarium is there. Many school kids came to visit that place.
DAY - 4
Fourth day of our trip, we know Chembra Peak is one of the best trekking spot in south India. Thats why we planned to start climbing on morning itself. We reached Chembra Peak foot at 8:30AM. The road is much difficult to ride. Many people came in cars they felt much difficulty in riding on that roads. Started our trekking around 9 AM. It took 1:30 hrs for us to reach the peak on the way we experienced a bit drizzle and rain of 5 mins. It made the trekking path very slippery. For first 1 hour we didnt had water. Just before the peak a small stream came, it quenched our thirst and tired. Many people asked us whether it is safer to drink and afraid like it may have some germs. But we know this is better to drink than water we are having in city from cans.
Such a difficult climb came to end and provide us an exotic view of nature. One of the best view of nature we got in our life. The grasses are almost 5 feet which is enough for a Tiger to hide and attack. On the way we saw some Elephant Dungs, a forest department person at top told it belongs to some single Elephant which came yesterday night. Many of us heard about the Lake of Love at Chembra. Yes we got that view after climbing a bit top. A heart shape small lake, actually it looks like a pond filled with fresh water and few fishes added some beauty to the gorgeous peak. One more hill was there at top, but they didnt allow us to climb because of Elephants roaming over there. After spending some one hour we returned back to chembra foot with heart filled feel.
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| Exotic View of Chembra peak |
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| Small hill at the top of Chembra peak |
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| Love Lake - Heart shape lake at the top of Chembra peak |
We spent half of the day at Chembra peak. Then we went to a surprising place in Wayand, a glass bridge at 900kandi near Meppadi. Actually we were not aware of that until we went wayanad. Later we heard about this place from local people and went there. We saw a big glass bridge was constructed in China which gave a false crack experience when we walk on it. This one is not that much big. Its having a 20 feet distance which can withstand maximum of 3 person. But they only 1 person at a time to stand on it. Dont hestitate to visit this spot. Its very near to Chembra peak. One thing i have to remind you. Since the roads are very steep, either we need to get a jeep to reach there or we need to walk about 2 kms. Be aware of leeches, if you are planning to visit wayand during rainy season.
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| glass bridge at wayand - 900 kandi |
DAY - 5
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| Sign Board at Kerela-Tamil Nadu border |
Thats it, after taking a deep sleep on day 4 we started to back chennai on day 5 via Ooty. We people already visited ooty number of times thats why didnt have any plan there. While returning we didnt take much rest. We took Ooty to Salem route and had some rest there. From Salem to Chennai via Villupuram took around 6 hrs to reach. Finally we reached Chennai around 11PM.
Still many places are there to visit in Wayanad. But we missed now, may be in future we will plan to visit. During my first time visit, i came via calicut and saw a chain tree (local people saying it as haunted place) and Thusaragiri falls. These two also the must visited place in wayand. Some how we have completed our bike ride with in 5 days. Hope this article will help, if you are planning to visit wayanad.
Please feel free to share at comment box, if i missed any places at Wayanad.
You have shared a veri good experience. It will help me to plan a trip to Vayanadu.
ReplyDeletethank you so much.... stay tuned with our page.... revert back if you need any other information about your trip..... Its our pleasure to help you....
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