My second trip to Wayanad- Edakkal caves.

Punchiri club of Calicut has provided me an opportunity to visit Wayanad again after 3 years. This time I am not alone, with a horde of people with different ages. We started our day out from Calicut. The bus was full of delight. Kids are really enjoying the trip. I sat beside the window and started memorizing my last Wayanad trip. Many things came to my mind. In this trip I will be covering a new destination which I never been to. Edakkal caves. I have heard a lot about this beautiful place from my childhood. I was a bit excited to see those remnants of a medieval age. First destination of any Wayanad endeavor will start with Pookkode Lake. We are following the same path. I was excited to see Pookkode Lake after long time. The main reason is the quietude of the place. Calm water with calm forest and mountains.

Pookkode Lake
Another view
After boating I went for a walk with my co-travelers. On the way we saw a Malabar giant squirrel on a tree. I took my camera and clicked a snap before it eluded into the deep jungle. I was happy because I had never seen a single animal on my last visit. Time has changed a lot in me and nothing to this serene place. It appeared quiet palatial to me.

Malabar giant squirrel

After our breakfast we headed over to the very unique Soochippara waterfalls. On the way to the cascade one of the localities showed me a spectacular creation of nature on the mountains. I was amazed to see that. I am not explaining that more. You can look at the picture below. I am leaving this to your imagination.

This unexpected discovery boosted my thrill to a great extent. This fact is very much true about travelling. I believe the thrill of travelling lies in these types of unexpected moments. So don’t plan a lot before travelling, just be there and decide the rest. J Finally we have reached the falls. The force of water is less when compared to my last visit, but the beauty of the twin falls remained the same.

Soochippara Twin falls

Main falls
This time I spend a lot of time in exploring the places near the falls. I started walking through the forest and explored another similar falls nearby. We waded and bustled for a couple of hours in the pool near the falls. Everybody was hungry after playing in the water and we left the place soon. We hit a restaurant very soon and had a delicious lunch. Then we prepared for our last and most awaiting part of the trip.
Edakkal caves
Edakkal cave is situated in Ambukuthi mala. No other transportation is available to the caves from the foot of mountain other than the Jeeps provided by kerala tourism board. If you are healthy enough you can prefer walking. It will take 3-4 hrs to reach the top. We were told that the entry to the caves is restricted after 4 PM. So we planned to go by Jeep. The journey through the winding roads was a mere adventure. In some places road was so steep. Nothing desist me for holding my breath at such places. It took nearly half an hour to reach at the top.
Inside the caves are writings believed to be from Neolithic men. And Edakkal caves are the only evidence present in south India describing about the pre historian civilization. We took the pass and entered inside. Most of the places inside the cave are not visible due to the poor lighting. I can hear the sound of water droplets falling from the roof. I stood contemplated watching the petro glyphs created by ancient man dating back to about 6000 BC. Not describing more about this spectacle, the snaps can speak to you more than what I can. The etching was not clearly visible at some places. Time and climate has erased a part of that. The oldest one may date back over 8000 years.

Ambukuthi mala

This cave was discovered by a British way back in 1890. He realized the importance and made a study on those rock carvings. The outside view of land from the caves was even more beautiful. We can see major part of Wayanad from here. Mostly youngsters come here for trekking. People used to trek to the top of the mountain to experience the bird eye view of Wayanad.

View from the top
I was thinking about the people who lived here in the pre historic times. But one thing was sure that they were good artists and little civilized too. My mind was full of Neolithic men and the beautiful etchings they created for the highly civilized world of today. One thing I missed this time was the trek to the Chembra peak. It is situated near Vellerimala which is considered as the second highest peak after Anamudi. Hope that will happen soon on my next Wayanad trail.

Sunset in a Tea estate