After exploring Coorg and Mysore, we decided to head to the Queen of the hills - Ooty for a short vacation over the extended weekend. I was aware of the fact that Ooty has lots of places and some planning is required to shortlist the places and chalk out an itinerary. After looking up the Team-BHP posts, I shortlisted Bandipur National park, Ooty, Conoor and Mudumulai National park. After the experience at Nagerhole national park, we were quite enthused about going on a safari at the twin national parks that fall en-route to Ooty. We took the following route Bangalore-Mysore-Gundlupet-Bandipur-Mudumulai-Masinagudi-Ooty-Conoor
As usual we left early and hit the road by 4 AM. we were anxious to reach Bandipur before 9 AM because the safari ends at 9AM. We were cruising on the Bangalore-Mysore road and before the sun rose we were in the vicinity of Mysore. There were heavy rains all through out. We exited Mysore and were greeted by the cloud covered mountains (Chamundi Hills). That boosted our spirits and we were literally waiting to get engulfed by the clouds. We rushed through to Bandipur and reached there by 0815. But unfortunately we were told that the safari has been cancelled due to rains. However, the forest staff told us that Mudumulai wildlife reserve operates safari as it has tarred roads. We rushed towards Mudumulai, to beat the 9AM deadline. Here too we were unlucky as they did not have the required number of people to operate the safari. We were told that we can go on the safari on our way back because there is a sizeable crowd in the evenings. So we decided to head towards Ooty. While passing through the national parks we did sight lots of deer. But we did not give them too much importance (height of conceitedness). Anyways, we decided to take the famous "36-hair pin bend" route to Ooty.
We were greeted by the first sight of the Blue hills (Nilgiris) and i must admit, the hills appeared quite imposing. We could make out numerous waterfalls on the hill. That was the sight to behold and we were absolutely looking forward to the trip. As we reached Masinagudi, we could see the clouds covering the mountains that were looming infront of us. We just could not wait. After stopping for some photo opportunities, we hit the 36-hairpin bends. To be fair, they were not tough to negotiate. However, one must liberally honk and look straight ahead instead of the spellbinding view around you. We did stop after every couple of bends to soak in the beauty around us.
We just could not get enough of the hills, clouds, waterfalls and the tea gardens that were beginning to appear. We reached Ooty at around 1030 and decided to check out a couple of hotels. We had planned to visit Emerald and Avalanche lakes on that day. We checked out a few hotels and decided to head towards the lakes and check into the hotels after returning. The road to the lakes was again a spectacular one. We came across several tea gardens and hill settlements. We reached a cross road and took a left turn for the Emerald Dam/Lake. It was a pretty steep climb and the roads were in bad conditions. It seemed that we required a 4X4 to negotiate the treacherous road. We persisted and carefully negotiated the narrow, potholed (understatement, they were infact craters) road. Finally we reached a bridge and there were two lakes on either side. The left one is called Emerald Lake and the right one is called Avalanche lake. there were no sign boards to indicate anything. there was no parking space and there was not a single soul in sight. then we heard a roar and there a truck appeared from the opposite side. We managed to get on one side to give the truck enough space to pass through. There appeared a couple of people (locals) on bikes, but it was difficult to converse as they did not know english. WE decided to park somewhere and climbed down to the lake. It was a tranquil beautiful lake, very different from the usual lakes that we see in the cities. There was greenery all around and the cattle were grazing. That was a sight to behold. After clicking several pictures we decided to proceed to the dam. But, the roads were in very bad shape. There were huge craters (filled with water) all across the road. We decided to turn back as the road was not motorable. It was kind of getting late evening and the early morning start had started to kick in. We decided to head back to Ooty and check into some hotel. We found a hotel located near to the lake and took a cottage there. This was the end of day 1
Day 2, we again decided to start early. So we left the hotel at 8AM and headed towards Conoor. and the weather was awesome. there were clouds and then there was sun. We even witnessed a rainbow forming across the hill. The drive towards Conoor was simply amazing, there were lush green tea gardens and there was cultivated farmland spread across the valley. We headed towards Lamb's rock view point and Dolphin's nose. There was very less traffic (because we started early) and by the time we reached Lamb's rock, it was almost 0930. The view from there was simply spell binding. The sky was clear and we could clearly see the two cities - Mettupalayam and Coimbatore. We enjoyed a hop cup of masala tea and chocolate tea, and also posed for pics in the adjacent tea garden. After sometime clouds appeared and covered the entire landscape. The cities were no longer visible. We left for another view point (this was the real Lamb's rock view point). The trek was amazing and we were told that several movies (like No entry's final scene and Jungle) were shot there. We could see the clouds covering the hills and the place where we were standing and were too excited to reach Dolphin's nose. After resting for some time we left for Dolphin's nose. There was dense fog/mist along the entire route. The clouds had engulfed the entire route. This was just what we wanted. We thoroughly enjoyed the place. Due to dense cloud cover, we could not get a good view from the Dolphin's nose view point. nevertheless, we wanted to enjoy the clouds and that what we got. We wanted to explore Glenmorgan and decided to leave from Conoor. But on the way we got to know that a permit from Forest dept is required. so we abandoned the plan of visiting Glenmorgan and instead explored the Botanical Garden and waited for the arrival of Toy train at Ooty railway station. It had started to rain and the weather was cold. chilly wind was piercing us and it was the perfect weather. We decided to call it a day and started our search for a hotel.
Day 3 - This was the day we had to go back to Bangalore. We enquired and decided to check out Pykara lake and falls. It was around 27 km from Ooty. Pykara falls were disappointing as there was hardly any flow. We arrived at Pykara lake at around 1000 on Day 3. Pykara lake was simply breath-taking. there were clouds all around and the lake was huge. We got into a boat to explore the lake. Again, the lakes in Ooty are very different. the shores are pretty steep,but the lakes are not deep. The weather was playing games with us. Suddenly it would start raining heavily and then stop all of a sudden. But, the tranquil lake was simply a treat for the eyes. We left Pykara and turned back towards Ooty for some chocolate shopping. We had decided to take the 36-hairpin bend route for our return journey.
Well the drive down towards Mudumulai was uneventful. We were just in time for the safari at Mudumulai. The people in the safari made enough noise to scare away any animal in the vicinity. Nevertheless, we still magaged to spot Elephants, deer, peacocks and one leopard (it was eating its prey, but ran off due to the sound of the safari). This safari made us greedy and we decided to stop again at Bandipur national park for another safari. We waited for the required threshold of people to gather, then another safari started off. This time we spotted wild boar, deer, some birds, bisons and peacocks. By the time we left Bandipur, it was 6pm. We had around 240 km to cover and I had an 8AM meeting in the next morning. We drove non-stop to Bangalore from Bandipur. 240 km in 4.5 hours and there were torrential rains for nearly 100 kms where the visibility was hardly 10m.
Overall the trip was totally rejuvenating one and one of the best holidays we had ever had
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