Nov 2008 | This is our first vist to Ooty. We made a trip to it during the deepavali weekend. It was a funtanstic journey through the Bandipur forest and the climb on Kalatti ghats was a unique experience. Really steep indeed. Ooty town as such is moderate, however we enjoyed our rail trip to Coonor and other surrounding places. Overall it is a good weekend getaway. I would visit it post monsoon during winter. I think visiting this place in summer would be a big bore!! |
| Again, we started on our journey with the now much revered Bangalore Mysore Highway. This was somewhere close to Ramanagara |  |
| Tippu Express or maybe cauvery express, not sure, but good to watch speeding trains in the green background, trains are always fascinating |  |
| aanh ondhu, aanh eradu, aaah mooru, phew nalku, abbabba ayidhu, more the merrier. I am sure the motorcycle manufacturer will be pleased for providing a better cost benefit ratio for a family of five than Tata Nano. Well..not really right..what about safety..i guess who cares until it happens..thats the attitude..by the way this was close to Mandya |  |
| Kabbina jille, try taking a small shoot out of this, then the Mandya Gowders will chase you away. I have tried it and i should admit it is not worth it. Overloaded trucks, but this time mysore road is better laid it can handle the most overloaded trucks without developing cracks. This is how life on this road has been for ages and no plans to change a bit. |  |
| Beautiful!!!. The lush green fields and the sweet smell of grass in the air. Once you pass Maddur, you begin to sense the smell of fresh air. I have always experienced it. |  |
| The cracky road towards Bandipur, deviation point just after Gundlupet. It was one heck of a ride until very close to Bandipur forest entrance. It is a dirt track or maybe even worse..as usual who cares, nodi swami navu irodhe heege.!! |  |
| Wild bull on the side of the road before reaching the main center inside Bandipur. Good sight, only hope he does not get knocked out by the speeding trucks and buses. You see nobody cares for them in this part of the world. |  |
| Bandipur forest core, our friends the monkeys, varities to see, i think they are on the roads for scavenging the throwaways by the motorists. No body in the forest department cared to put a sign not to feed the wild..why do they care |  |
| We crossed the Bandipur forest and reached the Madhumalai range, we took the deviation to go up the ghats. These are the domesticated on the way towards the ghats |  |
| Beautiful deers spotted very close to a village, past the masangudi area. Never seen so many of them earlier...this section from Madhumalai range office area towards the foot hills of the Kalatti ghats was extraordinarily green and scenic and silent for a change.Enjoyed it all the way. |  |
| The old village woman, the forest green and the dark background of Madhumalai, with white spots of cloud sprinkled around. Did i paint it? No!!! This was a picture perfect snap. Got encouraged to try more on photography.Hmm...you know where it ended. |  |
| The road towards the ghat section, this section i believe is risky at nights because of wild elephants, cheetahs, bulls and deers crossing across towards the Bandipur forest on the left. It was very silent and lonely, kinda of scary if you imagine your car stalling in between here, especially with the family and kids. |  |
| The winding ghats... |  |
| One of the falls on the way up the ghat section, a welcome break while negotiating very many sharp winding bends..not good to experience if you are prone to nausea in ghat sections |  |
| Never seen this before, this is almost at the half way spot through the ghat, probably at the same level as where the falls started above. |  |
| As we climbed up the hill, the air got thinner and there was a cloud burst and it was chill. Counting the very many pins |  |
| Our first view of the valley of Ootacamund |  |
| Hill Area development authority, at the entrace to the town. |  |
| The famous ooty park, it was boring though to go through the park, since it was filled with loads and bus loads of children from god's own country, not really as romantic as it should be. It was cold , very cold here |  |
| Nice little restaurant on one of the slopes around the valley. Good photo op. Did not dine here though |  |
| We cozied into our stay in one of the earlier british bungalows converted into hotels. The fire place inside the room provided extreme comfort and much needed warmth. |  |
| We stayed at the Glyngarth villa, www.glyngarthvilla.com. The view of the bungalow in the morning. It is a beautiful place and is situated on one of the elevated areas and provides a very good view of section of the town. We had good hospitality by the management. Good coffee and complementary breakfast provided. This bungalow was meant for our masters who enslaved us for very many years. Now i believe it is privately owned. Each room is converted into a comfortable accommodation. We really enjoyed the stay and feel the luxury our grand masters had. The entire place is build of wood and the smell and squeak simply reminded me of my visits to our grandparents place in Shimoga and theerthalli. Overall i would recommend this place for anybody anytime. |  |
| Entrance to the villa from the main road. The presence of white picket fence added a touch to this beautiful place. |  |
| The scenic lookout from the villa. We checked in to the place in the evening so did not realize where we were located, we had a pleasant surprise in the early morning to have such a view. |  |
| We spent the rest of the time making visits in and around the valley. This is one such visit to the tea estate and a tea leaves processing center. I dont think i can stay at this place for long, would have defintely puked, the smell of tea in such large quantity is not that tolerable for long duration. |  |
| Another shot at the tea grilling machines.. |  |
| After the tour comes business. Lots of freshly prepared tea bags for sale at the counters. We bought some. |  |
| Pathetic..absolutely pathetic. We indians never every pay respect to nature, and no wonder nature is out there to get us. Ooty is such a wonderful place, but these litter is every where..again who cares the government never cares...do you care?!! |  |
| Awful..whoever does it and is doing it, please have mercy on mother earth..dont you have any shame!! |  |
| We took the famous train ride down the hill from Ooty to Coonur. We reached coonur in the afternoon and it was even more wonderful. I would say Coonur is a better place to stay than Ooty proper. It was misty and exhilirating. We went around the town among the various estates and coffee shops. Had a good cuppa coffee and back at the station in the evening. This shot is at dusk. Wonderful isnt it. |  |
| Next day another tea estate tour. The picture perfect photo when you visit a tea estate, been there done that. |  |
| Chocolate galore, we ate some, we bought some |  |
| Back towards Bandipur, down the Kalatti ghats. |  |
| Women at work!! It was sunny while we descended, so not as picturesque. |  |
| View of the ghats while we descended. |  |
| Kothi galu saar Kothigalu in the Bandipur forest area. We started early morning from Ooty and reached Bandipur forest area by around noon. |  |
| We took the safari tour in the Bandipur forest area. Spotted wild elephant..being the highlight |  |
| Some wild bulls |  |
| Peacock!!! Waited and waited for it to dance and spread its wings, but naah..it does not care for people, maybe rains would have done the trick. |  |
| On the way back from Bandipur, we visited the himmad gopalswamy betta. This is the temple lookout. |  |
| Concluded the trip by visiting our lord, Nanjundeshwara at Nanjungud. It had been a while i had visited this temple. Lots of changes, they have removed the old path to the river side. The old hutments are all removed and converted into parking lots. As usual people have dirtied the place around this historic temple. Wonder why we cannot maintain cleanliness!! |  |
| We reached home in the night and celebarated deepavali with flower pots!! |  |
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