[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.

[B103]

This is a beautiful place and a must see. You got to park the vehicle at the base and take a ticket to enter the dam site. There is a 45 mins walk to the top of the dam and is worth the effort. It is beautiful over there. Boating is available but there were only 2 boats and many people waiting for it.

[B103]

This is a nice place but I don't advocate old people to visit esp if they have heart ailments. There is a 30-40 mins walk involved and the last mile is a difficult trek esp for old people.

[xingamazon]

Hi we had also had a recent visit to the Waynad, we did go for the boating as this place was visited by us first for the day.
The boating was very nice, BTW we also covered the same list of places that you mentioned.

[B103]

Pookotu lake is a fresh water lake surrounded by 7 hills. It is a plastic free zone. Source of water in this lake is from the seepages from earth. it is a beautiful place and boating too is available here. Agriculture department sells seeds and plants here for those who are interested.

[B103]

This place consists of multiple small islands. We couldn't cover all the islands in it as it was raining and administration had blocked the access to many smaller islands. Before starting to this place, you better check out with tourism department or the hotel front office where you stay to know if the islands are open for tourists that day. If it is raining heavily, chances are that they would have blocked it. These islands are floating in the Kabini river which is the same river as Kaveri in Karnataka.

[B103]

Kozhikode is connected to Sultan Batthery via mountain passages. This is called 'Thamarassery churam'. Coming from Sultan Batthery, you can get a top view of the mountain passage, which is a bit scary for the faint hearted.

British built this road and they did it to transport produce from the mountains.

Story goes that an adivasi guy (local aborginal) helped the British to map this mountain route and they killed him later to take the whole credit. Due the wandering soul of this guy, many accidents happened on this route and local people tied his soul to a tree with the help of a thantrik. That is the story of the chain tree.

[B103]

Wayanad is a beautiful place with lot of coffee and tea plantations. People are very hospitable and tourism is a major revenue source for the district.

It has scenic places, history and lot of greenary.

Below are some random pics. No wonder, Kerala is known as 'God's own country'.

[kaushikr]

Pookot Lake has a good walking path around it, did you get a chance to explore that? While we were there we did not really enjoy the 'View Point' as we did not find anything interesting there. Lot of plastic rubbish thrown around by vendors and tourists.

Wayanad is indeed a nice place and good to hear that you enjoyed your visit there

[Lightening-Fast]

I had been to Wayanad in the month of May. It was peak summer then. And man, Banasura Sagar Dam was boiling. But still a beautiful sight. My personal fav from the trip is the drive till Soochippara falls. Curves that flow with tea plantations and the sudden sprinkles of rain is a great experience.
And nice pics by the way!!

[raghu230506]

Hi Biju,

Hmm good snaps and it's inspiring me to plan this destination which is pending from quite some time. Can it be done in two days?

Cheers

[sarmarishi]

Can you also put the route info as in which route you took and the road conditions as I am planning a trip end of this month and will be very helpful Thanks.

[MohsinRoadster]

Nice pics!!! bring it on . wanna see more nature

[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)

[B103]

Originally Posted by raghu230506

Hi Biju,

Hmm good snaps and it's inspiring me to plan this destination which is pending from quite some time. Can it be done in two days?

Cheers

Raghu, Two days might be bit hectic because you need close to 5 hrs to reach the place. We did it in 3 days. Still didn't go to places like Tirunelli temple which is a must see.

Also there are many trekking places in Wayanad which is for the typical bachelor guys. I was told by a guide that you need to take prior permission from the forest department to do trekking there.