[ravib]

Originally Posted by B103

Last weekend, we did a 3 day trip from Bangalore to Wayanad. It is a drive of five and a half hours from Bangalore. Wayanad is beautiful and is still not spoilt as a result of commercial tourism.

Below are some of the spots we visited:
(1) Muthanga wild life santcuary
(2) Banasura sagar dam
(3) Pookotu lake
(4) Soochipara water falls
(5) View point
(6) Chain tree
(7) Kurava island

Prominent places we missed are:
(1) Tirunelli temple and
(2) Meenmutti water falls.

First one is a must watch which we could not make due to various reasons. Meenmutti water falls is good but the trek is adventerous and so we didn't do it as we had couple of kids with us.


Muthanga wild life santcuary

Muthanga wild life sanctuary is a place in Kerala near to Karnataka border. The forest is the continuation of Bandipur forest in Karnataka. Here you will take a trip in a jeep via Muthanga forest. A tourist guide accompanies you and explains the landscape. We could spot some deers, a peacock and bees. Nothing much to see here. You can visit this place after visiting all other places if there is nothing else to do.

Nice Pics. You made us to remember our trip to wayanad in Nov 2008 almost same time.

We saw the first 5 places in your list plus Edakkal caves. You had a chance to go there? Ofcourse, you need to walk and climb the hill to reach the caves, which will be tiring for old people and kids.

-Ravi

[B103]

Originally Posted by mkh

Great pics and nice description of places visited. Though it may have been posted on other threads, its useful to give exact route taken with enough details for a first timer to not get lost. Most routes posted, just give the name of places( like mysore-nanjangud etc) but there are some key junctions/turns that need to be kept in mind for first timers,which if posted, can be of great help( to folks like me)

mkh, We hired a tempo traveller this time and so I am not aware of the full route. I remember that we went via NICE road to Mysore road. From Mysore take the same road which goes to Ooty. After some time, there is a road turning right towards Sultan Battery in Kerala. Proceed this route into Bandipur forest to reach Muthanga wild life sanctury (This is the extension of Bandipur forest in Kerala). From there, we proceeded to Kalpatta where we stayed in Hotel Himagiri.

From this hotel, we went to most of the places either via road to Sultan Battery side or Mananthawadi. There are direction boards (in green colour) many places on roadside, which will guide you. In addition, the hotel where you stay can help you with travel info. You can even hire a guide via them, which I think is worth the money.

Again, if you are an avid traveller, check out the GPS units available at mapmyindia.com. I bought one some time back and consider it as a great gadget.

[kannan666]

Lovely crisp photos Biju ! Makes me want to plan another Wayanad visit soon !

[ajithbr]

Haritagiri Hotel kalpetta wayanad -wayanad tourism-Pookote Lake,Muthanga Wildlife Sanctuary,Thirunelly Temple,Edakkal Caves,kerala tourism india ,Waterfalls ,Wildlife ,Wayanad tourism looks like the hotel in Kalpetta mentioned above. Not heard of Himagiri, anyone else?

Route would be Bangalore(0 kms)->Mysore(140 kms)->Nanjangud(165 kms)->Gundlupet(200 kms)->Muthanga->Sulthan Bathery(255 kms)->Kalpetta(280 kms), all distances from Bangalore.

From Mysore, take the Ooty road, cross Nanjangud in about 25 kms and then Gundlupet in about 55 kms(from Mysore). After Gundlupet KSRTC bus stand on the right side, you get a T or Y junction (depending on the angle you see the junction :-) ) where straight/left goes to Bandipur/Ooty and right goes to Muthanga wild life sanctuary in Wayanad district of Kerala. Beyond Muthanga forest, you get some checkposts and then comes Sulthan Bathery town. Kalpetta is about 25 kms from Sulthan Bathery.
Actually, beyond Mysore, there are good distance/direction markers on the road and so there is almost nil chance of getting lost if you are proceeding towards Wayanad.

[B103]

This is a good place to stay in Wayanad:
Wayanad -Hotel Green Gate

[KwokFist]

Beautiful pics from Wayanad. I missed going there the last time I was in Ooty. Have been past Ooty thrice until now but yet to ride into Wayanad.

[Sajuanchorage]

Hi, Your photos looks brilliant ! I had visited wayanad atleast 20 times .This weekend(07th may 2011) again plan to visit wayanad for 4 days with two other families. All 4 days we will be staying two different places , mostly 'Green Gates' or 'Green Paradise'
and last two days at 'pepper green village' (btw, pgv is my own place)

[B103]

Wayanad is indeed a beautiful, un-spoilt place with many good-minded people. I decided to go Wayanad again during the Dusshera holidays of 2012.

This time, I started with the purpose of relaxing in a resort. I later decided to extend the stay by one more day and also see a couple of places which I missed earlier. From a colleague's recommendation, I chose 'The Meenmutti Heights resorts' (http://www.meenmuttyheights.com/) in Vaduvanchal, Wayanad. Incidentally, they drew 95% of the crowd from Bangalore.

It is hospitable place inside a big tea estate and is just next to Meenmutti falls. Roads are made out of rubbles (not asphalted) for retaining the originality and allowing rain water to go down the earth. Cars can easily make it though. The resort will get soaked with mist in the mornings and evenings when sun goes hiding. It gets pretty cold then. Attached are some pics of the resort:

[B103]

Here are some more pics from the resort. Resort is situated in Kerala. Other side of the river is Tamil Nadu. Elephant herds will roam the area at night and so the resort is protected by low voltage electric fence which will get switched on by night.

[B103]

On the second day, we decided to visit Pookotu lake. I have been here when I came to Wayand the first time. I really love this lake so much. It is serene and pristine covered by 7 hills. Nothing but simply awesome!!

Second picture is of Rajeev-ettan (ettan in Malayalam is big brother) who had taken us to the lake last time. I waited to get into his boat this time as well. He is a hardcore enviornmentalist and an apt poster boy for Wayanad tourism.

Pics are below:

[B103]

From the lake, we had lunch at a place called 'Chundel' next to the temple. We ate from a vegetarian hotel named 'Ramavilasam'. Small clean hotel which will serve a good Kerala lunch.

Proceeded further to 'Edakkal' caves. On the way, we hit Kalpetta-Calicut road which was in shambles till Meenangadi. We continued and reached Edakkal caves at 3 pm. Please note that the place closes down at 4.

Here, you have to climb a steep hill for 1 to 1.5 km. At the end again, you may have to climb around 100 to 150 steps to reach the top of the caves. So, not for people with heart ailments for sure.

[B103]

Next day morning, we checked out of the resort and proceeded to see Banasurasagar dam and go further to 'Thirunelli'.

Nothing magical about the dam for me as I have already come here. Still decided to go there again. Tourism department had tied lot of swings between tree branches and children would have a good time. Speed boating is available (Rs 450 for 5 people) but there aren't enough boats for the crowd and there was a 2 hr waiting period. We decided to skip the boating.

[B103]

From the dam, we went to Govt hospital road and saw the tomb of great Kerala king Pazzhasi Raja whi had fought the British at Wayanad ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pazhassi_Raja ).

Nothing much to see here other than his tomb and a museum.

[B103]

Next destination is Thirunelli. Thirunelli is around 30 kms from Mananthavady town and the drive is through forest is too beautiful. With the help of an employee in the Meenmutti resort (thanks to Vipin) we arranged a stay in a small home stay kind of place at Thirunelli.

We went to Tirunelli primarily to offer prayers to good lord 'Vishu' at his pre-historic temple ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirunelli_Temple ). It is a must place to go. Don't miss it. The temple is situated by the side of the beautiful and majestic 'Brahmagiri' hills. Though it is a very very old temple, it appeared to me that the current financial situation of the temple is exactly not that great.

The last stone structure that you see is 'Papanasham'. Water coming out of the stones is so pure and is supposed to relieve you of all sins accidentally committed. The stone structure goes too far to the left. Beware, don't venture the trail too much as I saw a group of westerners being haunted by leeches when the attempted it.

Also, this is a very famous place to offer rituals (bali) for your forefathers.

[B103]

About Tirunelli and our stay there. What really strikes immediately is the quality of water in Tirunelli in particular. It simply is so enriching, so electric, so refreshing and so energetic. Take a bath with the water coming down from 'Brahmagiri' mountain and you will realize what I am saying. The beauty here is comparable to what many of you would have seen in North America and Europe -- lush green tropical forests and water streams/falls garnishing the land.

There are very few options to stay in Tirunelli. We stayed overnight in 'Himagiri homes' which is kind of a small home stay. For those who want to stay longer can avail the 'Agraharam' resort at tirunelli. There is a KTDC tamarid resort as well. All the 3 are on the same road, slight left from the main road.

Again in Himagiri homes, we met another wonderful human being in the form of 'Jose-ettan' who manages the place. Jose-ettan spared quite some time to talk to us about Tirunelli, it's tribals, wild animals, landscape etc. He took us to a half and hour walk through the property to the 'Kalindi' stream running down from Brahmagiri mountains. This was indeed the most beautiful part of our Wayanad trip. Thank you Jose-etta.