Our Valparai trip made us wanting more of the western ghats,
So
when it was time for planning a December vacation we thought it would be
appropriate to travel to the western ghats.
The first step was to identify the places we wanted to visit
and our list consisted of Munnar, Idukki, Gavi, Kumily, Vagamon, Vattavada,
Thekkedy, Kodaikanal. Yes the list was long but we had reasons to choose each
of them,\.
Munnar because it’s a popular hill station, Idukki because
of the wildlife, Gavi and Kumily because of the location, Vagamon and Vattavada
for vegetable farms, Thekkedy because of the lake and Kodaikanal for location
and of course passion fruit.
After searching for the ideal route, road conditions, and
places to visit we decided we will stay
in Munnar for 2 nights and 3 days and travel to Kodaikanal and stay there for 3
days, and if possible stay in Vagamon for a day.
We booked two hotels one in munnar for a 2 nights and 3
days and Kodaikanal for 4 days and 3
nights through booking .com.
With a sudden change in plans we decided to start a day
earlier to Munnar and stay there for 3 night.
We started around 8.30 in the morning after breakfast from
Bangalore and took the Bangalore –Coimbatore route till Avinashi. From Avinashi
we took diversion to Udumalai road, the drive so far on the Golden Quadrilateral
was as usual good. Around 2 pm we reached Udumalai and hunger caught up with us, we stopped at a road
side vegetarian restaurant for lunch.
From Udumalai to Munnar we took the Chinnar wildlife
sanctuary route. The entire journey through Chinnar was beautiful, with lot of
rivulets, waterfalls and green mountains, we were stopped at couple
of forest check post for making entries.
The first checkpost I had got down for making an entry, the
price to be paid when not driving. But the guard in the check post asked me not
come and said when the driver is these you don’t have to come, I found it quite
odd and funny because we were all just family. Well it turned out that the
checkpost people wanted money, for no specific reason and would have found it
difficult to ask a woman J.
On the way we met a group of elephants, Bisons, deers and
monkey One group of monkeys jumped on to car , when we had stopped near the
forest checkpost.
We stopped by near one of the roadside rivulets so that kids
can have fun, and they enjoyed every moment playing in the cool clean water.
With a small quick
coffee break we headed to Munnar, we crossed the mist covered mountains to
reach munnar the road condition was bad for this stretch but picturesque with
mist covered tea estates. It was around 7 when we reached Munnar and we wanted
to start room hunting, Being a long weekend it was like the entire KA vehicles
were in Munnar we could see lot of KA registrations and KL yellow board vehicles, none of the hotels in Munnar had vcancy and
we were prepared for the worst, with
pillows blankets and food inside the car(our second home). One of the hotel in
Munnar suggested us to check out in Adimali as there are few homestays around
adimali. On the way due to road work we were stuck in an hour long traffic jam,
but thank go to it we found some advertisements on the road side for home stays
from where we got the details of JOJO Cottage in Anachal.
The homestay is little inside, the resort person allowed us
to stay when we had convinced him that we are a family of four travelling and
wanted just an overnight stay. The
resort is well maintained and rooms and was quite comfortable, It had two bed rooms with attached bathrooms a
living room, kitchen and porch. The manager of the resort was also very helpful
and ensured we were well settled. The
villa was available for a charge of Rs 2500 for the night.
Next day morning we noticed how beautiful the surroundings
of the homestay was, amidst cardamom hills, with pepper creepers everywhere and
beautiful stream running by side of the road, this was such a value for money.
Thanking we did not get any rooms in the crowded town of
Munnar, thanking the manager and owner of JOJO cottage we set out to Explore
the tea estates of Munnar. We dropped the Vagamon plan as our guide from
Kanthloor said it would be a long journey from munnar to vagamon and then to
Kanthaloor since both were in different directions.
We reached back to Munnar and were sure that we do not want
to visit any of the tourist places as we were expecting it will be very crowded
with so many people in Munnar. One of Friend has suggested a Lake which was
little aways from tourist eyes but was inside a private property which needed
special permission to visit, anyways we though it was worth a try before we head to Kanthaloor.
 |
| Tea Estate |
After reaching Devikulam we headed further down to Theni on
the way we stopped to ask for the route, apart from knowing that there is a
lake in Devikulam (Sita
Devi Lake) we did not know anything else.
The person to whom we asked knew the place and he said we
can go there and take the car but will have to walk at least for 2-3 km, to
reach the lake.
Engulfed in tea estates the road to the lake was a picnic in
itself, beautifully laid amidst green tea plantation. Covering hills of tea
estates we reached a junction with one lead to Munnar (apparently there is a
shorter route to Munnar), one to Devikulam (estate we came through), and then
two more, confused on which one to take we waited for couple minutes to ask a
family walking down the road, they were going towards the scared Sita devi lake
and were kind to guide us, We parked our vehicle near their home, This was a
small settlement of people working in the tea estates. They showed us the path
to reach the lake.
The settlement was on a plain land beautifully carpeted with
green grass keeping a mental note to rest on the grass on our way back we went
to the lake.
From the tea settlement its was about 1-2 kms walk, the
pathway was quite good, and was well maintained, the local people worship the
Sita Devi lake and the legend says that Sita Devi had bathed in the lake, the lake
also has curative powers in its mineral waters, walking for about 15 mts in the
lush green pathway we got sight of the beautiful lake and its surroundings
unfolding.
 |
| Devikulam lake |
The calmness in the atmosphere, the breathtaking view of mist descending mountains with Occasional sunlight in between was a divine experience. I wished the time would just stop there. The grass around the lake was inviting to take a nap but the leeches around the lake did not allow us.
After the enthralling experience we can back the settlement
and enjoyed the grass carpet while allowing the kids to play in the small
stream that flowed near by. It was almost 3 in the afternoon with no proper
plan for lunch, and long drive in front of us to Kanthaloor we started from
Devikulam. The settlement was quite active by 3pm with lot of woman walking to
the sita devi lake for performing pooja and get her blessings, while we left,
thanking them for allowing us in.
Athirapally falls
Chalakudi river