This itinerary was now taken from the pages of my personal diary. My first indelible Wayanad trip
We (My friend Jithesh and me) planned for a vacation outing to take a break from our hectic studies. After a lot of discussions we decided to hit the "Land of spicy hills" Wayanad. We started our expedition on one of the coldest morning of December from Calicut. The cold wind was piercing into my skin through the half opened window. The bus is now meandering through the winding roads. There are total 9 hairpin curves in this route. I was told that the view from the 9th hairpin bend will be a magnificent one in the early morning. I started waiting for that. When the bus passed 9th hairpin bend I looked outside and was surprised. It was panting scene. I am now on the top of clouds. Just for a minute the bus stopped and then it started moving again. We got down in Thalippuzha after passing the great entrance of Wayanad. Our first destination was Pookkode Lake.
We started strolling towards Pookkode Lake. As we hither towards the lake we saw many macaques frolicking on trees around. I was shivering in the extreme cool climate, but the brisk walk made me feel better. I took the pass for 5 Rs and started walking on the road beside the lake. One man named Ansar approached us and offered a horse ride around the lake. We politely discarded the offer because we prized the walk through the dense forest. The walk was nourishing and the verdant landscape remained tranquil. After the walk I decided to go for a ride in pedal boat. It was a great experience of boating between the green hills around. Our next target was Soochippara water falls. We headed over to kalppetta.
Soochippara water falls was 20Kms far from kalppetta. We boarded a Govt. bus from kalppetta going towards chooral mala. As we moved on we saw a group of tribal people on the road. Wayanad gives a lot of importance to its ethnicity. After a while the scene changed. We started travelling through the tea estates, a plethora of tea estates. This is very common in Wayanad. I saw the silver Oak vegetation planted alternatively in the tea estates on which herbs of pepper was cultivated. We got down in Elavayal and started walking. Soochippara is situated 2 kms deep inside the forest from Elavayal. We started walking and on the way we got a friend, Emmanuel. He gave us a short description about Soochippara falls. We enjoyed the rustle of serene forest and moved on. We heard sounds of unknown birds too. After a long span of time we started hearing the voice of gushing water. We raved towards the sound. The sound is now a bit closer. At last we made it.
We felt this like a serendipity coz there was no signs of humans there. The water fall was gorgeous and the small pond formed by water was adornment to it. We took off our clothes and entered the stream. The water was extremely cold. After some time we got adjusted to that. We started swimming to and fro. After a while we saw a dozen of tourists including two foreigners approaching us. We spend almost 2 hrs enjoying the beauty of water falls. We set back to Meppadi in a Jeep. Now its time to go to my friends abode. By evening we managed reaching there.
We (My friend Jithesh and me) planned for a vacation outing to take a break from our hectic studies. After a lot of discussions we decided to hit the "Land of spicy hills" Wayanad. We started our expedition on one of the coldest morning of December from Calicut. The cold wind was piercing into my skin through the half opened window. The bus is now meandering through the winding roads. There are total 9 hairpin curves in this route. I was told that the view from the 9th hairpin bend will be a magnificent one in the early morning. I started waiting for that. When the bus passed 9th hairpin bend I looked outside and was surprised. It was panting scene. I am now on the top of clouds. Just for a minute the bus stopped and then it started moving again. We got down in Thalippuzha after passing the great entrance of Wayanad. Our first destination was Pookkode Lake.
We started strolling towards Pookkode Lake. As we hither towards the lake we saw many macaques frolicking on trees around. I was shivering in the extreme cool climate, but the brisk walk made me feel better. I took the pass for 5 Rs and started walking on the road beside the lake. One man named Ansar approached us and offered a horse ride around the lake. We politely discarded the offer because we prized the walk through the dense forest. The walk was nourishing and the verdant landscape remained tranquil. After the walk I decided to go for a ride in pedal boat. It was a great experience of boating between the green hills around. Our next target was Soochippara water falls. We headed over to kalppetta.
Soochippara water falls was 20Kms far from kalppetta. We boarded a Govt. bus from kalppetta going towards chooral mala. As we moved on we saw a group of tribal people on the road. Wayanad gives a lot of importance to its ethnicity. After a while the scene changed. We started travelling through the tea estates, a plethora of tea estates. This is very common in Wayanad. I saw the silver Oak vegetation planted alternatively in the tea estates on which herbs of pepper was cultivated. We got down in Elavayal and started walking. Soochippara is situated 2 kms deep inside the forest from Elavayal. We started walking and on the way we got a friend, Emmanuel. He gave us a short description about Soochippara falls. We enjoyed the rustle of serene forest and moved on. We heard sounds of unknown birds too. After a long span of time we started hearing the voice of gushing water. We raved towards the sound. The sound is now a bit closer. At last we made it.
We felt this like a serendipity coz there was no signs of humans there. The water fall was gorgeous and the small pond formed by water was adornment to it. We took off our clothes and entered the stream. The water was extremely cold. After some time we got adjusted to that. We started swimming to and fro. After a while we saw a dozen of tourists including two foreigners approaching us. We spend almost 2 hrs enjoying the beauty of water falls. We set back to Meppadi in a Jeep. Now its time to go to my friends abode. By evening we managed reaching there.
Home stay-My friends Estate home
It was a beautiful place with full of coffee, banana plantations and small streams. We had a special Wayanad coffee in the evening. This coffee is very different from the common one. To experience fresh coffee you have to go to the villages of Wayanad. After coffee we started walking through the coffee plantations behind his house. The sunrays are hardly coming inside the plantation as it is thickly inhabited. We saw a small stream inside the plantation. We started ascending to the top of a hillock. The view from the top was just amazing. The red sun was escaping behind the mountains in a great hurry. We watched the sunset for some time and experienced magic of dusk making pictures with trees and mountains.
View from the hill
SunsetI saw coffee beans paved In front of the small house like a carpet. The quietude of the place was mesmerizing. My mind started singing a melancholy song. I don’t remember when I went to bed. Next day morning we went for a walk as planned. I saw several gleaming rays of sun pervading slowly between trees.
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December morningFog was omnipresent. Fallen leaves on the road reminded me about the seasons. We reached near the Karlad Lake. I saw the board of kerala tourism. After a while we started walking back to the home.
Our next plan was a walk to 10th mile. This plan was mainly to see the tribal people and elephants if lucky. We saw many tribal people there, but not a single elephant. My friend’s grandma has prepared a delicious lunch for us. After lunch went to the stream and took a refreshing long bath. By around 3 PM we backpacked our luggage and told goodbye to grandma and the lovely village.
2 comments:
Shijoy, my trip to wayanad was equaly great.
you recollected me the homestay where we did stay on our first day. it was http://www.tropicalforrest.in/ I can think it is a perfect place for those who are eco conscious.
Nice 😍😍
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