Day 2
5.30 – woken up!! We assemble at the Gol Ghar for coffee and then we meet the guide at the gate for a trek. The group comprises of two families, a couple with a child and a techie.
We walk for a kilometer and a half past some farms. My daughter makes friends with another girl. The geek is on the phone. The weather is just right and the air is fresh!
And then the climb starts, the girls manage quite well despite the odd trench. My wife is able to climb but the others are totally out of sync, one lady is huffing an puffing and having to be pushed up the hill. The other couple have it tough since the lady and infant think it is a Sunday walk and are wearing fragile chappals. The husband is a total chauvinist and never helps carrying the child, only video’s them.
Reach the top of a hill and the view is mind blowing, pure forest! Somewhere in there are Veerappan’s millions. Suddenly the guide points to another hillock, we see a leopard laying on a rock watching the world.
We make our way down and a jeep is waiting for us to take us back. After breakfast, we pack up at get going.
JLR Bandipur Verdict – Okay for one day and one night, anything longer is more dependent on whether you are keen on discovering more wild life or each other! Like any other JLR, you get simple excellent hospitality.
Back to the road, we drive through Bandipur. People keep stopping despite no stopping signs. We enter Tamil Nadi and turn left to Masinagudi. Road is good if narrow, plenty of Bangalore reg cars but my mumbaiya munches them up and then we get to Segur ghats
“Papa, what is 36/36 ?”,
I then give a potted concept of hairpin bends and then we attack the first one. Ms Matthew strapped in front enjoys it. Mrs Matthew at the back does not but the scenary distracts her. The Skoda attacks the bends but gets blocked by overloaded Tavera’s which we overtake on the straights. I slow down before each bend and try to hear any oncoming traffic and get into the bend. This works well.
20 bends later, am behind a convoy on a steep hill. The Logan in front stalls. I stop and then try to start and find the engine is weak, then I realise that off-boost on a hill, the whooshy Skoda turns woosie. Gun the engine, fire the turbo and we are off.
Enter Ooty, it is a really nice drive with lovely forests etc, bit like driving in Germany. We enter Ooty on day one of the flower show. It is crowded but the cops are effective, the move the traffic on and are very patient with lost tourists. We decide forget going to Ooty, we want peace.
Exiting Ooty , the road is awful but improves, Drive is scenic although the road is narrow and buses are fast. Plenty of cops around shooing people who stop.
Approach Coonoor and drive upto Simm’s Park where Neemrana Wallwood is! We are welcomed and shown to our room, in the outhouse suite. This was cute and gave us some privacy. We go to the dining room and sit on an enclosed veranda for a cup of tea (which they can’t make properly, overstewed).
Ms Matthew is hungry and we go to a Tea Room next door called Tranquility. Good if expensive.
Hang out there for an hour and then chill out. We decide to go for a drive and find a small tea factory nearby – HighRange. Plenty of tourists, we are taken on a small tour for Rs 25 (tip the guide a bit more) - machines are ancient, my grandfather used more modern stuff thirty years ago.
We return and my wife connects with a friend and they go shopping. I say thanks and no thanks and go for a long, long walk. Come across Nandan Nilekani’s mansion - 6 acres of it. People in Coonoor are reeling about the fact he paid a rumoured Rs 5 crs. We set them right by telling them it is a bargain considering you only get an average flat in the city centre for that much. End up walking on the dark Kotagiri road. Bit scary and no one can see you.
Reach back and we go to the Coonoor Club for dinner. Quite a nice cosy club, with none of the stuffiness that is seen in most other clubs. It seemed to be exactly as I last saw it in 1974! Service is hilarious but we are having fun. Get back a little late and a little high!