[pjay_in]

A nicely written TL with some beautiful pics! It left me wanting to read and see more. Hope you intend to continue the story, mallumowgli.

I have been in Palakkad innumerable times, including a 5-year-plus stay there for my studies, but have never been to Nelliyampathi. So I wasn't surprised to read that it took a brilliant travelogue from laluks to inspire you to go there. I am still waiting for my next opportunity. As the old saying goes, "ellattinum athintethaya samayamundu Dasa..."

And I loved your reference to the hot water with a spot of milk. Brought back some good Asterix memories alive. Mighty grateful to you, old chap.

[mallumowgli]

Originally Posted by Coooolcat21

Sir,
Fabulous Pics. The mist and the clouds are so soothing.
I have seen such countless small waterfalls formed during monsoons on our route from Bangalore to Mangalore via KG hills.
Waiting for more.
Regards

Thanks. But this is nothing compared to your decade of tiger sighting!! You can start a thread on KG hills after completing this TL

Originally Posted by pjay_in

A nicely written TL with some beautiful pics! It left me wanting to read and see more. Hope you intend to continue the story, mallumowgli.

I have been in Palakkad innumerable times, including a 5-year-plus stay there for my studies, but have never been to Nelliyampathi. So I wasn't surprised to read that it took a brilliant travelogue from laluks to inspire you to go there. I am still waiting for my next opportunity. As the old saying goes, "ellattinum athintethaya samayamundu Dasa..."

And I loved your reference to the hot water with a spot of milk. Brought back some good Asterix memories alive. Mighty grateful to you, old chap.

Thanks pjay_in. Dont wait for the 'samayam' to come.

Finally we reached Poabs estate

Poab's Estate is an organic farm owned by an ex-army man – a Colonel or Brigadier, I don’t remember. He has opened the farm for tourism and also to sell his organic green tea, coffee and pepper. The tea and coffee we bought from there are quite good. Can’t say about the pepper, since all pepper taste the same for me – good!!





It is nearly a 3 or 4 km drive to the view point from the entrance and nature gave us a colourful welcome







Whether the produce of the estate was organic or not, the surroundings were surely organic – a snail on a crotons plant. A find by nephew




And then you reach the cliffs – and that is the iconic gooseberry tree which has become sort of symbol for Nelliyampathy.



Nelli refers to the gooseberry in Malayalam and Tamil. Not sure whether Nelliyampathy got its name from there



We finally get a good view of the Seetharkundu cliffs, though occasional drizzle tried its best to dampen our spirits – but we were more than a match for it





I take one step from here and it will be another 1000 feet or so before my feet can touch ground. Well it is not as dangerous as the Dolphin’s nose in Kodaikkanal – there is more ground to stand and walk. But still the place itself will give the thrills



This seems to be birders paradise. My camera with its limited capability was able to get personal with only a few– these Scarlet Minivets, for example





We finally decide that we have seen enough of the cliffs and then drive to our resort –located inside Ranimedu estate.

The route is a bit of an off-road territory, having short slippery and muddy uphill stretches. Poor Santro had to back up and then go up again at a few places. Any throttle input and the tyres start to slip. The car would have had an identity crisis, confused whether it was an off-roader or a poor hatch

The resort itself was quite decent. Though it was called Ciscilia Heritage Ayurvedic Village, there was nothing much ‘heritage’ to talk about, except for the doors which were ‘replanted’ from typical old Kerala homes. Rooms were clean and well maintained though the garden around was not maintained at all.





But location-wise it was brilliant, since it bordered the forests.



We checked in and then checked out the surroundings.







There were a few Nilgiri langurs jumping around and a huge black owl which flew away as we approached. I was not able to take a snap of either.

There was a view point behind the resort – a small hilltop from where you get splendid views around; though this time we saw only mist engulfing us.





We decided to retire back to our rooms

After a wonderful dinner prepared by the cook Appu, at the thatched dining area, sitting late into the night listening to the sounds of the night, and hoping against hope that we will see something in the wild, we called it a day



To be continued with the next day's adventures...

[NFS]

wow, breath taking pictures and cool for eyes pictures. Narration for each picture was/is excellent. Awaiting more pictures here and of course your narration. The beauty of looking at the pictures, after a short one line read makes it much more valuable.

One of your best shots so far is (IMO) the broken road with orange floral carpet and the curve ahead looks like life (mystery of what is to come). Wow!

Man I cannot stop writing. Me being native of Palakkad, only once I had been there, that too from our college (college one day tour). Thanks for the travelogue, I am visiting soon with inspirations from you!

[mallumowgli]

NFS - thanks for the comments. Am really pleased that you have taken the time to type in a detailed reply.

Yes, as they say in malayalam, 'muttathe mullaikku manamilla' (loosely translated - the jasmine in one own garden doesn't smell so sweet), I find not many localites have visited Nelliyampathy. I feel that it should remain this way, lest it becomes crowded like the other popular tourist spots

[benbsb29]

Nice travelogue there, i really enjoyed it. Forwarded the link to my wife as well, and we've added this to our itinerary.

[Coooolcat21]

Another set of fantastic photographs.They remind me of the countless trips i would have made to ooty , conoor since my childhood and seeing the misty green mountains. The clouds and the mist make the mountains so magical .
Thanks for liking my log.
Regards

[mallumowgli]

Originally Posted by benbsb29

Nice travelogue there, i really enjoyed it. Forwarded the link to my wife as well, and we've added this to our itinerary.

Thanks benbsb29. Nelliyampathy would surely look beautiful through your lens!

Originally Posted by Coooolcat21

Another set of fantastic photographs.They remind me of the countless trips i would have made to ooty , conoor since my childhood and seeing the misty green mountains. The clouds and the mist make the mountains so magical .
Thanks for liking my log.
Regards

Thanks again Coolcat.

Hope to finish the rest tonight

[mallumowgli]

Continuing...

After a wonderful dinner prepared by the cook Appu, at the thatched dining area, sitting late into the night listening to the sounds of the night, and hoping against hope that we will see something in the wild, we called it a day

The next day I was woken up by the ‘hoohoooo’ call of the langurs. It was still only half past five, but still decided to get up and greet the day as it breaks. The little one was still sleeping, hence I, wife and my mother decided to let him be and go to the view point as the light came out

The resort engulfed in early morning fog…




We need to climb through the electrified fence (power switched off on request, of course) surrounding the resort to go to the view point.

The view was splendid as usual, with the mist rolling off the grass covered hills. Air was as fresh as it can be
















I spotted the Malabar Grey hornbill, the first time I’ve seen one in the wild. Nelliyampathy is actually a hornbill sanctuary.



That’s me pondering on the state this world has come to….or was it on how to go back to the resort without getting bitten by leeches?



I was not able to pull myself out of the place…







After a while I decided to go a little further up to second hillock to see if nature has some luck in store for me. So leaving my wife and mother there I went up, slowly and cautiously since this was elephant country and I was surrounded by grass that were as tall as me.



And it was now that I had the closest encounter with wild nature. I’d seen a few Gaurs on a hillock further up. They were visible faintly through the grass and I was just about to move up when I heard a small breaking of the twig. I look sideways and I see a huge Gaur quite close to me. The bloke had not seen me and was quite happily munching away on the grass


I readied myself to get a good snap and was moving behind a concrete pedestal kind of thing (kept as some kind of indicator) for safety, when suddenly everything happened. He looks up, sees me, gets surprised and takes to his heels or rather hoofs. I was lucky that it decided to run away from me and not at me. The sound of the hoofs is still reverberating in my ears. It all happened in seconds and I was too shocked to click a photo. Anyway, I was ready to jump behind the concrete platform so was relatively safe.

After that adrenalin pumping experience, I came back to join my family and had to take an earful on describing the experience. We came back to the resort to be welcomed by a an army of different birds chattering



Good companions at the resort




It was time to follow more gentle creatures – the White Cheeked Barbet, Southern Hill Mynah, and the Nilgiri Flycatcher were caught in my camera. Experts correct me if I am wrong on the bird naming






All these birds around means I would have ended up with a stiff neck after some time



Before the animals and birds decide that we are also some wild brethren, who don’t brush teeth or take bath, we decided to get freshened up and have our breakfast. As last night, food was wonderful – we decided to go for Kerala fare this time and puttu kadala, Appam egg curry were gobbled up in no time

Checked out, thanked the cook Appu and hit the road towards Kesavanpara.

A small stream enroute stopped us for some weather appreciation moments…





Exotic locale for us…All in day’s work for him



We finally reached Kesavanpara. It is about a kilometre walk from the road to Kesavanpara cliffs

(...to be concluded)

[laluks]

Originally Posted by mallumowgli

I readied myself to get a good snap and was moving behind a concrete pedestal kind of thing (kept as some kind of indicator) for safety, when suddenly everything happened. He looks up, sees me, gets surprised and takes to his heels or rather hoofs. I was lucky that it decided to run away from me and not at me. The sound of the hoofs is still reverberating in my ears. It all happened in seconds and I was too shocked to click a photo. Anyway, I was ready to jump behind the concrete platform so was relatively safe.

, me too .
That fellow and me was just 50m. Too much involved in photography in Nelliyampathy is not good for health!!

[mallumowgli]

Originally Posted by laluks

, me too .
That fellow and me was just 50m. Too much involved in photography in Nelliyampathy is not good for health!!

very true. Not only the because of the local denizens even the topography can be dangerous!!

We finally reached Kesavanpara. It is about a kilometre walk from the road to Kesavanpara cliffs

Views on the way…





This is another rock face looking out at Pothundi reservoir. Nelliyampathy has quite a few cliffs to give you the thrills – and must also be an offroader’s paradise





My nephew Nishant on top of the world



There were no security arrangement and people – adults and kids alike – were able to walk up to the edge of the cliffs.





I didn’t dare to take my nephew there, though I’d gone and taken a peek





A grandfather-grandson moment



AVT tea factory is adjacent to this place. A peak at the tea estate



The tea factory





Just as we reached the road, we were given a ‘jumping’ display by the black Nilgiri langurs - 3 of them, though I was able to capture only 2. The kid’s day was made. He was least bothered about the cliffs and forests – he was more interested in snakes, monkeys and the like…





A typical tea-garden modified MF1035 DI



A view of the village …



And we finished off the visit with a cursory stopover at Pothundi Dam. After all the abundance of beauty and excitement at Nelliyampathy, Pothundi was like we were grounded. After all it was at the ground level compared to the higher altitude Nelliyampathy. A localite



But not before climbing the hundreds of steps to the top of the dam





And clicking a few a snaps












Some kind of government building at a distance - they usually are at great locations


The garden below






And that brought us to the end of a memorable two days


THE END

[darklord]

Thanks very much for sharing this. If you don't mind, can you share the tariff at Ciscilia Heritage Ayurvedic Village?

Some kind of government building at a distance - they usually are at great locations

I think that was the location of the movie Vinodayathra as well.

[mallumowgli]

Originally Posted by darklord

Thanks very much for sharing this. If you don't mind, can you share the tariff at Ciscilia Heritage Ayurvedic Village?



I think that was the location of the movie Vinodayathra as well.

Room rate was Rs. 800 per room, food extra

Vinodayatra was shot at Mangalam dam a little distance away from here

[laluks]

does Joemon recollect us by any chance?

[mallumowgli]

Originally Posted by laluks

does Joemon recollect us by any chance?

Joe had gone to Thrissur during our stay and we did not meet.

Was the cook Appu there when you visited?

I did not check with the Gaur, but may be he would have remembered you better

[jacs]

Hey Praveen, amazing trip you had. As always lots of photos to enrich the TL. I had been to Nelliyampathi about 7 years back and still remember the uniqueness it had though I am a frequenter to hill stations.