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Ok,

When I got a call to plan a trip to ooty, I was strictly told not to plan the general tourist places.
The idea is to escape the intense heat of hometown and relax without worrying about anything back home plus a tinge of adventure thrown in.

And here is the first preview. (Masinagudi)





A jungle safari and a visit to an elephant camp would add to the adventure part. We decided to stop at masinagudi and stay there for the day.

Part 1 (The wilds at Northern Hay & Teppakadu)

We decided to stop at masinagudi and stay there for the day. Take the jungle safari and visit the theppakadu elephant camp. This is especially for my 3 yr old niece.
Most resorts/hotels in masinagudi are constructed on leveled land just outside the forest range with fenced wire. Somehow this was not my idea of adventure holiday. So, someone suggested we checkout the place called the wilds at northern hay. Saw a few bad reviews and was quiet apprehensive but called them up and after getting full assurance of a trouble free stay, I finally zeroed into them.
This place is on a different route altogether. We have to cross the Singara check post and were escorted to this place in a gypsy while we followed in a Tata safari. It was raining and roads are slippery. It was in the midst of coffee estates of the area. As soon as we entered the property, the first thing that fell into my eye was the tree house and this sign board.



This place is a 150 year old British time coffee godown made to a resort. It was neat and the rooms are huge. Though I disliked the dim lighting in the room. The food was excellent and the staff was always at a call away.
We decided to take a walk in the estate and my eyes fell on this some 1940’s low bonnet jeep owned by the owner.






cut chassis 2 wheel drive for sale for 60K.


This low bonnet is not for sale


Inside view of the tree house





Teppakadu Elephant Camp Madhumalai forest

Then we left to the elephant camp and the place it real fun for kids. Some 18 Elephants gather at the camp every evening for feeding. This camp is well maintained and a list of ingredients that are fed to the elephants are displayed on the board along with cakes of those. Every elephant has its own place. At 5pm all elephants gather here. It has been happening since a long time I guess. There were a lot of foreign tourists. Some elephants were dancing while waiting for the food. Some seemed really hungry too.










Finally, by the time we went back to the resort, it was raining quiet well and we had to cancel our jungle safari. Nevertheless, we have seen wild elephants, peacocks, bison and herds of deers, mongoose and those black faced monkeys on our way thru the Bandipur - Madhumalai forest.

the journey continues ...

When I got a call to plan a trip to ooty, I was strictly told not to plan the general tourist places.
The idea is to escape the intense heat of hometown and relax without worrying about anything back home plus a tinge of adventure thrown in.

And here is the second preview. (Destiny)








After a 2 day search on the internet and travelogues section, we finally decided to stay here. The Destiny Farm Stay by a group called Littlearth.

The idea of farm stay is not new to my folks back home. But this is more modern and has more domestic stock than those black buffaloes and farm chicken. And the idea of horses would definitely put my 3 yr niece into hyper active mode.

I have read about this place. But didn’t inform my folks on what to expect. Naturally, I have confirmed that they are going to stay at a good place far away from the Ooty town and they were happy.

Just 2 kms from our destination, we have to park our cars at the parking lot since we are not allowed to take our vehicles to the farm. Probably because it’s a 4x4 terrain. For a jeeper in me, the terrain is just a slushy road with quiet a few pits and ruts. That’s all. But for my small town folks, it was “Oh my god” types. As soon as my Brother in Law saw the parking lot he was quiet apprehensive of my choice. I am sure he would have cursed me in his mind but put a smiley face.

15Minutes later an old and noisy yellow color shaktiman truck appeared in the horizon. It seemed like an auctioned army truck but redone and neatly painted. As soon as I informed them that they have to travel in the truck, I could see rolling eyes and raised eyebrows.

5 mins later we were in the truck and were on our way to the unknown destination. The truck ride is the worst ride in my life. Its stiff suspension amplified the roads unevenness and the 2 kms took us some 20 minutes of sore bottom ride.
I was worried how my folks are taking it and it seemed that they are enjoying the bumpy truck ride.

The view at the last 2 minutes of the ride just made us forget everything. It was more beautiful than I thought. This place reminded me of a farm in Gilroy California. We were just looking with wide open jaws. This place with its strawberry fields, farm type architecture and cold climate just left us awestruck. Finally the appreciation started pouring in. They never expected this. They thought we were going to some runoff the mill resort types far from ooty. But this place is really fantastic.

The reception was warm and we were taken care of well. Being a week day there was not much crowd except for a few honeymooners and a family from Bengal.

As soon as we checked into our room, I got my camera and ran outside. I just kept on clicking as if it was my last day here.









By then it was 3:00 pm and we assembled at the restaurant for some lunch. The lunch was good. Far in the horizon, I saw some movement and zoomed my camera to see this.


The staff then briefed us about some do’s and don’ts and suggested we check out the place.

While I too was trying hard to remain calm, my sis and BIL were still walking with wide open jaws. There is an indoor games room, a children cartoon zone, modern dairy farm with almost a 100 cows, a horse stable with 12 horses and huge sized rabbits and white mountain sheep and what not. My sister realized that we were walking past strawberry field which is part of the farm and enquired at the reception if we can get some. This being the last of the seasons, they managed to get some 2 Kgs of fresh strawberries freshly picked from the farm for some 200per KG.










Fresh strawberries

The trainers on a race

My niece enjoying her solo horse ride.


to be continued

Awesome tusks!

Remindes me of an old tamil saying that "an elephant is worth 1000 sovereigns whether it is dead or alive!"

You must have had a whale of a time :D

Awesome. The Destiny Farm Stay looks really great. Will keep this in mind when i plan to visit ooty or the surrounding areas.

The next day was spent hiking and fishing and a visit to the cowshed too.

Feed for the cows

Automated milking machines

Goose pond

View from the top.

Nearby village zoomed

The local cowboy and cowgirl.


The fishing pond

People enjoying fishing. The fishing rods were nothing fancy. Just a plain bamboo with a twine tied to a hook. Maida is used a bait.


My BIL got a fish.


The evening was cold and the campfire and barbeque kept us warm and cosy. The kebabs were excellent.







we left the next day to conoor to another place.

the journey continues...

Nice pictures Kittigadu, reminds me of my trip to destiny a few years ago, nice to see the place still so beautiful.

When I got a call to plan a trip to ooty, I was strictly told not to plan the general tourist places.
The idea is to escape the intense heat of hometown and relax without worrying about anything back home plus a tinge of adventure thrown in.

And here is the third preview. (Acres Wild, Cheese making farm stay Coonoor)





From the excellent stay at the farm, the next destination is towards Coonoor town. We didn’t want to stop at Ooty. So after an hour of dodging heavy traffic and huge buses we finally landed up at this place called the
“Cheese making Farm Stay”.

This is another beautiful place of its own kind. We booked the 2 bedroom cottage and it was like staying in our own home under the magnificent Nilgiri hills. The weather is more pleasant here than at the farm stay.
View of the cottage from the top


interior view of the cottage. We can make our own food or opt for food cooked by them.







It is run by a friendly and warm couple who also make their own cheese in there. One can take a week long lesson on how to make the best cheese or a quick 30 minutes tour for not so interested gang like us.
The man of the house is a noted Bollywood film director and the nephew of another most popular actor of our times. His first film was a phenomenon in those good old school days. His name is Mr. Mansoor. He is also an ex IITan and a MIT alumni who now settled here kooks after the farm. In spite of his popularity, he is a warm and down to earth host.



I believe the pictures do most of the talking.

view of the Farm stay and surroundings.


The famous Glendale estate as seen from the farm.

view of Mr.Mansoor's house from my cottage

View from top

The other single room cottage

The cowshed. This is where they get the milk for cheese.




Stayed here for 2 more days and finally came back to Bangalore to live another day.

Miscellaneous panorama shots of my trip

Few villages on our way from the Destiny to Ooty town.


Evening view of the cheese making farm stay

Valley view at the cheese making farm stay

Aravakadu railway station.


The end.

Regards,
Krishna.

Note: This is not an endorsement or an advertisement of any sort. Honestly my trip this time is all about enjoying the place rather than going here and there.

Fantastic location for this farm house. Do they have a website?

Loved the panorama shots.

Infact, Your photos have been one of the reasons why i chose this place. I should thank you for introducing this place here.

www.http://www.littlearth.in/ for the Destiny Farm stay.
Acres Wild Cheesemaking Farmstay Coonoor, Nilgiris, India - Mansoor Khan for the Acres Wild, Cheese Making Farm stay.
The wilds at Northern hay doesn't have a website i guess.

The panoramas are shot on Samsung Wave mobile phone. Unbelievable but true.

Regards,
krishna.

Nicey Nice.
Beautiful place and beautiful pictures.

Thanks for the links.

+1 to what Lalu said. should try some time

Beautiful pics Krishna; what camera did you use, they're absolute value for money. Was it a DSLR? The panoramic views are excellent. The pics carried me away from reading lol:

Nice snaps there. Destiny is known to be a very good place. Acres wild was once featured in Hindu. What at that time I could not believe was that its run by the same Mansoor Khan, who has made those block buster movies. Even more apalling to know he was IIT/MIT alumnus. So much for deciding our own destiny!

Kicha, excellent place. Nice panoramas. Love those Tusker. Great.
Very different from the usual tourist places we see in logs. Good find.

I was wondering why we haven't seen any film from Mansoor Khan after Josh. So he has settled in Coonoor. Awesome snaps by the way.