Weekend Gateway - Wayanad

I would like to share some of the moments we had spent during the Wayanad Trip on August 4th and 5th.

It was a very cold Friday night. Though the whole Bangalore city was silent after the late night pubs, we guys (8 in number) stayed awake, to head towards the God’s Own Country, Kerala’s Green Paradise, Wayanad district. It was 1.15 am, when we started the journey on a hired Qualis. We took the Mysore Road. The road was very clear and was a very comfortable drive for we reached Mysore in just 2 hours. By then all our eyes started to roll in and we were all disturbed again when our vehicle stopped. It was 5 am, when we reached Gundlurpet. Our driver was fully exhausted, so he had stopped for tea. We all took tea and started our journey again. All guys were awake by now and we all witnessed some deer on the jungle roads which led to Kerala. There had been very frequent showers as we entered Kerala. As time rolls, we were able to see the natural beauty of the greeneries with the mist playing an apt role. We reached Kalpetta around 6.45 am, the place where we intended to stay. This place is 270 kms away from Bangalore. We booked three rooms in a lodge, where in we refreshed ourselves.

Day 1

We were all ready for the excitement, by 8.30 itself. We decided to hire a guide from the Department of Tourism, so that life would not be complex on the roads less traveled by us. We had our breakfast and were waiting patiently for the guide, who is expected to arrive office around 10 am (Government job naa !!!). The charges for the guide is 350/- per day. When the guide came and introduced himself, we were surprised to see him, as he was very formally dressed and looked like a techie with a French beard. I was mislead by the way the guides in Tamil Nadu look.

We had a seat vacant in our qualis, as if we had anticipated the guide in advance. We all took our seats and we started our day trip. The first place, our guide insisted to visit was Edakkal Caves. This place was approximately 25 kms from Kalpetta. We reached the scenic point in another 40 minutes. We had to go to the trekking point through a government aided jeep service. It was 50/- for eight persons for upward journey. We all got to the jeep and in another 10 minutes, we reached the place. From this point, we had to trek on the hill. It was an amazing trekking experience. It is advisable not to take kids or old people as the path is so steep. When we reached the top of the hill, the guide directed towards the cave. Man, it was an amazing scene inside the cave. Edakkal in its own words means a rock which is in between two mountains. The local guide says this place had been formed due to the earthquake, some thousand years ago. He also says there had been inhabitants living here. And all those were parts of history. We were also able to witness some of the carvings on the rock. The toughest part of the trip was to get down the hill. God, it was a tough task as the rocks were slippery due to the frequent showers. We had our refreshments when we returned down and we were all more excited as our next place is a waterfall. The guide directed the driver towards Soochipara Waterfalls, which was approximately 28 kms from Edakkal Caves.

It was a rainy day throughout and whatever we looked all appeared green and that is indeed Kerala! There were tea plantations all way, as we headed towards Soochipara.
We reached the place around 1 pm. We had to walk around 1 km flat and another 1 km down the hill to reach the falls. It was again a trekking adventure. The paths were very slippery and it was mist all over. We could here the sound of the falls as we head towards it. No words to describe the falls, it was breath-taking. The waterfall was so forceful that one could hardly take a bath. One should be very careful while walking, as there are leeches all around this place. It was heavily raining when we returned back. This was really a tougher one as we had to climb up the hill to reach our way back. In spite of the heavy rain, cool climate, all of us were drenched in sweat. That was indeed a good exercise for us!!

It was 2.30 pm and all of us were very hungry. We stopped in a town to have our lunch. It was already 4 pm after our lunch and we headed to Pookot Lake, which is another 15 km from that place. We had to rush because the boating tickets are given only till 5pm. We managed to reach the place by 4.45 pm and got our tickets. The Lake was a small one surrounded by mountains. It is indeed a must visit location. We went for a rowing boat as all of us were very tired by now. The boating time was around 20 minutes, after which we decided to comeback to our lodge.

We had dropped the guide on the way, where he intended to get down and reached Kalpetta by 6.30 pm and our one day excitement had come to an end.

Day 2

We decided to return to Bangalore as early as possible, as we had our friends from Chennai, who had to catch the Chennai Mail. We had to check out the lodges early by 7.30 am to avoid the rent to be paid for the second day too. Life cannot be that easy. Yes, one of the vehicle tyres had a puncture and it took an hour to get ready. We were all waiting outside the lodge. It was raining on this day too. After everything is set, we headed towards Karapuzha Dam, which is approximately 15 kms from Kalpetta.

This dam is an earthen dam, which is an ideal picnic spot. After spending some time there, we decided to return back to Bangalore.
Karapuzha Dam

On the way back to Bangalore, it was after Gundlurpet and before Mysore, we could see those sunflowers and other flowers along the sides of the road. It was a perfect landscape.

In Mysore, we made a visit to the palace. We had our lunch in Mysore and we went to Sangam, SriRangapatna. There we spent the afternoon playing in the river bank. After an hour of bath n fun in the river, we rode our way back to Bangalore. It was around 7pm in the evening we reached Bangalore. Thanks to NICE Road, as we could avoid the heavy traffic on the Mysore Road.

Two days of fun n excitement had come to an end, but those memories remain in our heart forever which can be cherished always.