[rohittunga]

Its been a long time since we've been on a long trip. So we decided to head out of Bangalore on 22st October as we have an extended weekend. After much research I arrived at the conclusion of Wayanad ( I am the only person who has been to Wayanad before, that too as a college trip. So I liked the place very much.). My mom wanted to go to Munnar, but somehow convinced her to go to Wayanad. So the next process involved looking at homestays. There are thousands of them all over wayanad, but thanks to Team-BHP, we were able to finalize on the "Four Seasons Homestay". Quickly inquired and to our luck, the place was available.

Next we decided to leave Bangalore around 2 pm on 22st October itself and reach our homestay by nightfall. That morning (stupidly) I realized that I need some memory cards and chargers so I headed to SP Road at 11 30 am to get those stuff. Shopping all over and was heading back home when I reached the mother of all traffic jams in Bangalore. There was hell lot of traffic on that day (probably because of the weekend ) and believe it or not, it took me 3.5 hrs to reach from SP Road to Sahakarnagar via Mantri mall (a distance of just 16 km and takes 45 min on normal days). By the time I got back home, I was so tired and exhausted that I just couldn't drive

Let me give you an indication of how much traffic I encountered. Normally I get around 14-16kmpl in my Linea no matter how bad the traffic is. However on that fateful day, believe it or not, the Avg Consumption was 8.3 kmpl. I've never got such low FE in my car before. We were all just too exhausted to leave Bangalore that day. So finally made the decision to leave Bangalore the following morning.

Everyone was so fed up with Bangalore traffic that we all woke up at 2 45 am the next morning to beat the traffic and get to Wayanad ASAP. We played it safe and simple and chose a familiar route to get there i.e Bangalore-Mysore-Gundlupet-SulthanBathery-Wayanad.

Enough talking, now let me post some pictures. We were at Kengeri by 4 45 am and were heading towards Mysore. We were travelling with 5 people on board. Somewhere just before Srirangapattana when the sun rose we stopped for our morning coffee.

The sun had just risen near Srirangapattana


We deviated a little from the highway so that there is some privacy. A good decision made


After feeling fresh and energetic we headed towards mysore for breakfast. My dad who lived and studied in Mysore for over 10 years knew the place like the back of his hand. We had breakfast at Hotel Siddhartha. The ambiance and food were good but a little overpriced.
After breakfast we left mysore and were going towards Nanjangud. The traffic was present till Nanjangud but beyond that the traffic thinned out.
One very good suggestion to everyone travelling around this region. The tender coconut is a definite must have. The size of these things are HUGE and it costs just Rs 12. In Bangalore we wet coconuts that are one fourth this size and costs 15 rupees. We had plenty of tender coconuts throughout our journey and kept us all energetic.
The roads were surprisingly good till Gundlupet. But the torture started when we took a left at Gundlupet towards Sulthan Bathery. The initial kew kms were decent but after that the craters began to unruffle my poor Linea. The pleasant weather and beautiful scenery sort of compensated for the poor roads until a few km before we hit the Kerala border.
Once we hit the Kerala border the roads improved dramatically and we started to make some good progress.

Was doing a steady 60 kmph around these roads


Good roads before Kerala border.


Just after us entering Kerala we stopped at Muthanga ( not for a Safari ride. That's a time and money waste) for tea and bio breaks.

A customary picture of the Wayanad tourist map


Breaks over, now we were going towards our homestay which is near Kalpetta. The Bangalore-Calicut highway which we were on was ok-ok at some places and downright awful at some others. Didn't expect that.
Finally after 5 hour drive from Bangalore we reached our homestay .
That place is just awesome and the people there were even better. Its definitely the best homestay that I've been to.The owners were very warm and kind in welcoming us. This place is spectacular. Let the pictures talk now.



Isn't that pretty ???






Honestly the place was so good that we didn't want to leave the place at all. We spent a good hour just looking around at this place. The owner's name was Mary who is one of the kindest and most humble person that I ever met. She even offered to cook us lunch but had to cancel that as she was preparing fish curry and we all were vegetarians. So instead we had lunch at a nearby Udupi hotel who server us unlimited South Indian meals on a banana leaf for 60 bucks per person.
Now we wanted to explore this place with one criteria which was less people. Nobody likes crowded places so after much discussions we decided to head to Kanthanpara falls which was quite remote, thereby ruling out those humongous buses we often see at Soochipara falls and Edkkal caves. What a good decision it turned out to be. The approach to Kanthanpara falls is so narrow and very scenic. It felt like we were the only ones in the whole region.

One of the spectacular views en route Kanthanpara falls.


Thats how wide the road is and thats how it snakes down the hill


Me inquiring about the directions. The place is so desolate that we didn't meet any people for at least 20-25 kms.




Eventually we reached the parking lot of the falls. There were 3 other cars all KA registered. However the falls itself turned out to be a dud. The one thing that I hate about Kerala is that the cops there are over protective. Forget getting in the water, they never allowed to even go 20 feet near the water. If one dares to go beyond then the guard whistles and mutters something in Malayalam which we can't understand. So this falls just turned out to be a photo shoot. At least the surroundings were pretty.

Our family photo at the falls



Thats how far we could reach



Any further advances and the guard which you see in the bottom right of this pic will whistle.


After this photo shoot we decided to head back towards Kalpetta. Getting down to Kanthanpara falls was easy, however getting up is quite challenging because of the terrain. It was so steep that I had to climb most of the part in 1st gear only. It was so steep that if I stopped then I had to offload all passengers or risk getting my clutch burnt. Thats how steep the terrain was.



My car occupied the whole lane. If any other vehicle came in the opposite direction, then ...


However the steep ascent was only for about 6-7 kms after which it leveled out while still being narrow.
Check out the video of me driving in those roads.

MVI_8660.AVI - YouTube

Once we hit the main road, the road was very good and were heading towards Pookat Lake.




The approach till Pookut lake was excellent and by 3 30 pm we were at Pookat Lake. This place is very serene and relaxing. The boating around the lake was quite refreshing. The only irritant being the fact that every thing in Wayanad shuts down by 5 pm max. We actually wanted to walk around the lake as well as go for a boat ride. However only one was possible so we chose boating rather than walking.


While on the boat, the rower said that the Pookat lake is in the form of India map (have to check out that) and that its waters has medicinal properties .I liked this lake very much. Its so much better that Ooty lake which stinks btw. This lake however is very clean . We even drank the lake water (some object drinking stagnant water) and it was good.


PART 2 Coming up...

[rohittunga]

Part 2

We left Pookat lake sharp 5 pm and went to Lakkidi for its famous view points and it didn't disappoint. The views are truly spectacular and breath taking. To an extend it reminds me of the Ratnagiri mountains going towards Ganapatipule in Maharashtra. Spent some quality time admiring the views . The traffic was very high on this route and one could see the jams at one of the hair bends down below. Some pictures of the view point.
I actually wanted to drive down the ghat roads and then climb up again, but 2 people in the car were already car sick. So didn't want to worsen their condition




Snap of the traffic pile up at one of the hair bend curves

MVI 8702 - YouTube

It gets dark very quickly there as by 6 15 pm it was pitch dark. Later we moved on to our homestay stopping briefly at Hotel Woodlands for tea. We spent time at homestay playing cards and speaking with the owners and then hit the bed.


The next morning, we woke up to another spectacular day in wayanad. While reading the newspaper in our front porch, I noticed something. Lets see if you guys can spot something in the next pic

Can you spot a bird ?


Here it is.....

2 min later some more birds arrived.

Their body is so beautifully coloured. Having green top to blend in its surroundings, red beak and tail and having blue coloured underside of its wings. Truly amazing ..


The owner was kind enough to provide us breakfast which included a rice pudding dist with channa. It was nice and something that we Mangaloreans never tasted before. After breakfast it was time to leave the homestay. This place was so nice that I whole heartily recommend this place for anyone visiting Wayanad. The owner was literally in tears while bidding farewell to us.

Here is a group snap of the owners with us. We fondly call her Mother Mary

Our plan for the day was to go to Bhaghamandala and Talakauvery via Kutta and Madikeri. So we headed towards Manthanvady with the roads being as smooth as butter. We took a small deviation towards Thrinelly temple and later joined the road towards Kutta.

One question to you guys . How to you know when you enter Karnataka ?
Ans: You'll hit road humps one after another.

The moment we entered Karnataka, we were greeted with the sharpest of sharp speed breaker and then another and then another. Within the span of 2 km we encountered 5 humps. Its absolutely crazy. Another issue is the roads. Its absolutely pathetic in and around Kutta. We were going towards Goniguppa and the road was 1 lane with literally sheer drops either side of it. And the most irritating part is Jeeps coming the other way and refusing to give side. In many instances I had to put 2 wheels on the mud road while jeeps and gypsys traveled on tarmac.
Was so fed up of the road that once I saw a deviation to Iruppu falls ( 6km) and immediately took it. Had to give the poor Linea a break
This was something that was totally unplanned.


Cable bridge that we crossed to reach the falls


The falls itself




Here is one policy of Karnataka that I do like and its entering the water. Had it been Kerala, they would've cordoned off the whole place and security guards shouting at you. But here, its the opposite. It was such a refreshing change to get in the pool and enjoy.


We spent so much time in Irupu that it seemed too difficult to reach Talacauvery and come back to Bangalore that same day. Instead we cancelled that plan and simply headed back to Bangalore via Nagarahole.
Fortunately the roads in Nagarahole were good apart from humps every 500 meters. We were only able to spot some peacocks some monkey and lots of spotted deer.




The roads after Nagarahole towards Hunsur was excellent and then the Bangalore-Mysore highway was as usual. We had dinner at Kamat Lokoruchi and were in out homes by 10 45 pm.
Overall the trip was excellent and we saw nature at its best. Now for some vital info and statistics about the journey

Homestay : The Four Seasons Homestay
Homestay Cost : Rs 3000/- for 1 night and 2 days ( tea/coffee, breakfast included)
People : 5
Total KM : 730 km
Overall FE : 17.2 kmpl
Top Speed : 140 kmph ( Hunsur-Mysore road)

Road Conditions :

1. Bangalore-Mysore : Good. Many unmarked humps on the way and too much traffic
2. Mysore-Gundlupet : Excellent with dense traffic
3. Gundlupet-Kerala border : Good for the initial few kms then worsens . However 10 km before the border, the road is excellent.
4. Muthanga-Kalpetta : Average
5. In and around Wayanad : Excellent.
6. Kalpetta-Manvanthanvady : Excellent
7. Kutta-Irupu : Worst Road Ever !!
8. Nagarahole-Hunsur : Good
9. Hunsur- Bangalore-Excellent

[WhiteKnight]

Enjoyed your travelogue!!

Originally Posted by rohittunga

The one thing that I hate about Kerala is that the cops there are over protective. Forget getting in the water, they never allowed to even go 20 feet near the water.

Many of the seemingly benign waterfalls pose very serious dangers. Unless you know the terrain very well, please do not venture.

[rjstyles69]

Nice travelogue there pal. Where near kalpetta is this home-stay, the place looks pretty familiar.

One question to you guys . How to you know when you enter Karnataka ?
Ans: You'll hit road humps one after another.

You forgot to add the gazillion pot holes.

[Soccerfan]

Originally Posted by rohittunga

Part 2

Many of the waterfalls are very dangerous. And if you note at kanthanpara you can go only to the top of the falls which is quite a dangerous place. In soochippara falls you can get very near the falls and enjoy a bath.

[rohittunga]

Originally Posted by rjstyles69

Nice travelogue there pal. Where near kalpetta is this home-stay, the place looks pretty familiar.

Hey thanks a lot. This place is on the lane right opposite to the Kalpetta post office.

[sami316]

Hi Rohit,

That was a nice little travelogue. Enjoyed reading the narration and the pics were amazing. Have never been to Wayanad, it is on my wishlist though. Thanks for sharing mate.

[motomaverick]

Nice short and crisp travelog, Wayanad is one place that has still not been completed, need to plan for this in the winters

[hemanth.anand]

A small and nice travelogue for a small and nice trip.
You are right, The roads are really narrow.
When I took my punto, a school bus came in the opposite direction and both the vehicles squeezed past each other.
It was a good experience I must say.

Originally Posted by rohittunga

....when we took a left at Gundlupet towards Sulthan Bathery.....

I hope you meant right. if you go straight, you go towwards ooty and there is no left in this junction if I'm right

All these days I was thinking that I was the only one who sometimes gets confused between left and right. I have company

Originally Posted by rohittunga

....The one thing that I hate about Kerala is that the cops there are over protective. Forget getting in the water, they never allowed to even go 20 feet near the water. If one dares to go beyond then the guard whistles and mutters something in Malayalam which we can't understand. So this falls just turned out to be a photo shoot. At least the surroundings were pretty.....

When I had been to Wayanad last December, I went to Soochipara falls and people were allowed to enter the water. In fact I was cursing this because I couldn't take a nice photo of the falls because of this

You can see my post on this trip here: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-d...ml#post2166354

[rohittunga]

Originally Posted by hemanth.anand

I hope you meant right. if you go straight, you go towwards ooty and there is no left in this junction if I'm right
All these days I was thinking that I was the only one who sometimes gets confused between left and right. I have company

Yes I meant Right itself. Somehow I need to get rid of this left right syndrome
And yes , I did read your travelogue and its amazing. The pictures that you have taken are superb.

[Night_Hawk]

Originally Posted by rohittunga

Overall the trip was excellent and we saw nature at its best.

Hi Rohit

Excellent crisp TL.

Amazing pictures and details. Pleasure of any trip increases by manyfolds especially if its a family outing.

I am too planning a Hyderabad - Bandipur - Ooty trip soon; and after going through your TL, I am now planning to take a diversion to Waynad also; and include in my itinerary the locations you have referred in your TL

Cheers!
NH

[narayan]

Rohit cud u pls share the phone # of the homestay - thanks

[rohittunga]

Sure.. This is their website and you can also find the number there.

homestay wayanad | stay wayanad | tourism wayanad | tourist locations in kerala

Enjoy your stay