[Mysticeyes]

Originally Posted by lejhoom

Mysticeyes,

Surprising that it is so close to the city and few know about it! Do they allow picnic in such areas?

few know about it - as i always said, the anonymity is its beauty its not a family picnic spot as such due to the seclusion.

Originally Posted by NST440

Amazing thread , loved the serenity & the way you have written the whole trip. Somehow i feel one should oftenly take a break from the daily viscious circle of job/ profession & go for such places. I so much wish i could visit trivandrum, problem being that its way too far from my place & nobody would give me a weak off.

try once sir. beg, plead or order

Originally Posted by BusyBee

It is nice to see nature reclaiming the land which was used by man for some time. Let us call it the benefits of labour strife, which I presume is the root cause of the ruin of the estate and its return to nature.Planning a trip there as soon as possible.

its nice in a way, but not nice when one considers that there are many poor souls still living there in the hope that there would be a better future. as long as the plantation gels along with the regional pecularities without affecting too much, it would be beneficial to nature lovers and workers

Originally Posted by Guderian

Hi Mysticeyes,
So what is the exact spelling of the place ? The post office board seems to have a very Anglicised name on it...Bonnacord or something ?
Next time in Trivandrum will try and do this place.
Thanks for sharing !

I think the British used to call it as 'Bonaccord' for the ease of use, just like they spell 'Thiruvananthapuram' as 'TRIVANDRUM'.

tea-factory complex at the base


remnants of past


the lone state road transport corporation bus which connects the settlers to the outside world. its a wonderful feeling listening to the bus climbing up the hill through the winding roads. there would be no other sound except for the crickets/ distant waterfall and howling wind occasionally


Ides of life - life was once a walk on the flower strewn path relatively.. but those days are over. Now, as he looks ahead he faces barrenness, which is in contrast to the lush greenery on the other side

[BusyBee]

Originally Posted by Mysticeyes

its nice in a way, but not nice when one considers that there are many poor souls still living there in the hope that there would be a better future.

Once the leaders leave with their glory, the workers are left to fend for themselves. Need a visionary to organize them to fend for themselves - can be done with so much land around.

If they do well, you can be sure the leaders will be back to 'lead' them to their next round of misery which probably is why nobody bothers - the forgotten few.

[anachronix]

Superb narration and equally awesome pictures to go with the narration. Excellent!

I am going to drive to this place when I am in Trivandrum for Christmas

[Nutty Nair]

Nice TL Mysticeyes. Bonacaud during monsoon time is a very beautiful place. Btw I have a similar shot of Peppara reservoir from that place.
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/attach...d-dsc00635.jpg

[Mysticeyes]

Originally Posted by BusyBee

Once the leaders leave with their glory, the workers are left to fend for themselves. Need a visionary to organize them to fend for themselves - can be done with so much land around.

If they do well, you can be sure the leaders will be back to 'lead' them to their next round of misery which probably is why nobody bothers - the forgotten few.

well said buddy

Originally Posted by anachronix

I am going to drive to this place when I am in Trivandrum for Christmas

by the look of it, bonacaud is going to have some serious traffic jams soon


[quote=Nutty Nair;2528674 Bonacaud during monsoon time is a very beautiful place. Btw I have a similar shot of Peppara reservoir from that place.[/quote]

thanks for sharing the pic nutty boy. here is one taken from the top of the watchtower before reaching the estate. it was pretty foggy and had to edit to make it clear.

[joe1980]

Amazing pictures. What a great place. I've never heard of this place. Is this a well known tourist spot? Hope the green remains forever.

[Mysticeyes]

Originally Posted by joe1980

Amazing pictures. What a great place. I've never heard of this place. Is this a well known tourist spot? Hope the green remains forever.

joe, bonacaud is a less known place and as mentioned in the thread, the anonymity is its beauty

[rdna]

Sir, you really have a mystical way of showing things to us. The narration, the pics..... Oh man!! Really loved it!! Wish I could ride to this place, but just saw that it is a good 700km+ from Bangalore, which is disappointing. Thank you so much for sharing the lovely pictures. Please do keep updating the thread. I'm still waiting to see the haunted bungalow

[Mysticeyes]

Originally Posted by rdna

Really loved it!! Wish I could ride to this place, but just saw that it is a good 700km+ from Bangalore, which is disappointing. Thank you so much for sharing the lovely pictures. Please do keep updating the thread. I'm still waiting to see the haunted bungalow

rdna, as personal opinion I would say that, the 700km (nearly 630km if one reduce the NH passing inside Kerala which is pathetic due to low width & traffic congestion) is one of the best routes to drive o n in India, especially when it rains. but you can take a deviation from Thirunelveli and join at the Thenkasi - Shenkottai - Trivandrum road, which is another stunning drive through the fertile plains, ghats and forest.

waiting for the haunted bungalow?? well, last week, we set off on another attempt to find the bungalow. but when it came to a junction where the deviation had to be taken to reach bonacaud, we did a 'Sholay'-isque tossing of coin and ended up exploring the road mentioned above (a travelogue on that is soon coming up) So, the rest of bonacaud exploration has been tentatively been fixed for 6th November. hope we can find the haunted bungalow then.

Joy – is when you realize that you’ve managed to break off from shackles or keep an open door to the world..Joy – is when you realize that you’re able to think and act out of the box (shoe).

[raghu230506]

Amazing Pics, lovely TL.

Keep rolling.

[Mysticeyes]

Originally Posted by raghu230506

Amazing Pics, lovely TL.

Keep rolling.

21 hours to go.The countdown for the (re)quest of haunted bungalow begins.

[Mysticeyes]

The second attempt at finding the haunted bungalow turned futile again thanks to the unending downpour and the warning from the locals that pachyderms were really on the loose in the area. To top it, we heard that on the previous day, a man was trampled to death by elephant in a nearby area. We decided to explore down the valley area near check-post for some time and return.

We drove down back the check-post and call it the better luck, the rain was not so intense and we even managed to get a tribal as our guide at the last point till where the car could be taken. He took us around the forest path. But once, we crossed the tribal settlement areas, the air got heavy with the scent of elephant dungs..it was feeling so fresh and close. Still we decided to push on and the 'guide' kept telling us of his close encounters with pachyderms, the tips to fool them (pheww!!! if only we would recollect all these tips when one runs for life). Having reached the top of the catchment area, Mr. Guide found his friend angling at the opposite bank and he told us to wait there for few minutes and he swam across the water to his friend. We wandered around clicking and 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes..we could see our guide angling along with his friend. We called out to him and he said he would return only after he catch some fish to take home for lunch

He screamed to us to take another route to reach the point where he was sitting and told us the route. We retraced our path and followed his route for some time and that was when we lost way and started treading into thick bamboo forests..the smell was unmistakable and the landscape looked like a big black creature had just passed through. There were lumps in throat and we signaled the tribal code aloud 'koooooooooooooiiiiiiiiiiiiii...' from a huge distance, we could hear back our guide returning his 'koiiiiiiii....', having found the direction, we walked up that way and again gave the signal. but this time, instead of his return code, there was a scream from him that "danger, clear the spot asap". We gave the signal once more and the response was "run now on same way you came through". If we knew which path we came through, we wouldn't be coding him, we thought. but then, a certain unmistakable scent entered our sense making us realize that the only option was to run and run, we did. Our GPS was the blind feeling that we could reach back the wild trail we took the deviation to reach the tip of catchment. Luckily, one of us had better sense of direction and he kept track of a tip of hill which was in the direction of the check-post. Instincts told us to follow his word and we finally managed to reach the spot where we had left the car. Reaching there, we found many tribals assembled there to set in search of us, tipped by some other tribal who picked up our code inside the jungle. And the good news was that they had chased away a lone pachyderm yards away from where our car was parked and the loner was on loose. Now, this was enough adventure for 2 years at least. Hope my dad ain't in TBHP reading this one.

But, the urge for the trip back to bungalow was still there and we reached back the check-post where the warden told us that its still raining so heavily up in the mountain side. Well, the mission had to be abandoned once more and we decided to explore another destination sans pachyderms and off we went.

The rain seems to have withdrawn from Kerala and yet another date has been set for the tryst with the bungalow..X'mas day is when we plan to have another exploration. Nothing seems to quench the lure of Bonacaud..not even the loner lurking around on the way.

This was how the climate was when we reached


Glimpse of everything the place is..lush green, foggy, cool, serene, mystic, unexpected forest trails, tiny human elements, lone trees..


An underlying darkness stood out more than the brighter side of creeping greenery..may be, there was no one to walk down the bridge and open the door


Pristine - at the tip of the catchment area


A 'running' shot - pity that we couldn't halt and enjoy

[Guderian]

Originally Posted by Mysticeyes

The second attempt at finding the haunted bungalow turned futile again thanks to the unending downpour and the warning from the locals that pachyderms were really on the loose in the area.

Hi Mysticeyes,
Another set of delightful snaps. Superbo.
My favourite - the very first one with Tommy (!) lying on the trail.

I really must check this place Bonacaud - on my next visit to Kerala/Tvm.

[mallumowgli]

Excellent Mysticeyes. Wonderful pics and what play of words!!

Originally Posted by Mysticeyes

An underlying darkness stood out more than the brighter side of creeping greenery..may be, there was no one to walk down the bridge and open the door

Even Thomas Hardy would have been proud of the above quote!!

[figo_mba]

excellent one mysticeyes. Had been there twice but I guess both my words and pics are no match and could not have done justice to the place like you have.

There is also a waterfall called vazvanthol which is right from the forest checkpost point. That is more of a trek spot. Bonacaud was my alternative to Ponmudi cos I had been there a lot of times during my 3 years in Trivandrum.
Incidentally even I travelled in a Ford to Bonacaud.

Once I saw Bonacaud I never went to Ponmudi this was simply pristine.
Really great to see it all come alive in words and pics.