[SUBRU]

Meghamalai has been on the bucket list for a while. The plan came to fruition finally during the navarathri long holiday weekend.
Overall trip was finalized as
Day 1: Thrissur-Udumalpet-Marayoor-Munnar-Theni
Day2: Theni-Meghamalai- Thrissur

Day 1: Thrissur-Udumalpet-Marayoor-Munnar-Theni


Started from home around 5 AM and drove through Kuthiran all the way to Alathur on NH and took the route through Kollengode onwards to Pollachi. We were passing through the typical Village landscape with ready to harvest paddy fields. Due to the continuous rains earlier in the week, the backdrop of Nelliyampathy hills were dotted with lot of waterfalls. We had our breakfast break around suburbs of Pollachi.


Ready to harvest paddy fields with a backdrop of Nelliyampathy hills

After a sumptuous breakfast continued towards Marayaoor. Stopped for a photo session at Thoovanam waterfalls view point. The view point is right on the road. There is also a possibility to go for trekking to the falls. Did not enquire but saw an advertisement in the Chinnar wildlife sanctuary eco shop.





View of Thoovanam falls from the road

Continued further on the Udumalpet-Munnar highway till Marayaoor. Since we wanted to visit Muniyara dolmens, took the route towards Kanthaloor. Visited the dolmens inside Anakottapara park which is just after Kovilkadavu. The location of the park is beautiful with a panoramic view of the hills all around. Spent some time walking around the park. You can see a lot of dolmens all around on the adjacent hills as well but what was told is that entry is restricted to some of them.



Dolmens


Interior of a dolmen (Seems to have had some painting or carving)


Panoramic view around park

Drove towards Kanthaloor just to soak in the beautiful landscape. Drove back to Marayoor and had lunch at Marayoor. Spent some time at Lakkom waterfalls and decided to move on. As there was enough rain the days prior to this trip, all the waterfalls were in full glory. Here also there is a trekking option to the falls above Lakkom.



Lakkom falls

We also stopped in between for some photo session at some of the scenic spots enroute. Traffic started increasing tremendously as we got close to Munnar. Also the road between Eravikulam entrance and Munnar had some construction activity going on.




Took a lot of time to cross Munnar and get onto the Munnar-Poopara road. Road widening is still in progress and was full of slush at some places. Gmaps suggested us to take the route via Suryanelli to Bodimettu instead of the long route via Poopara. Road quality ranges from bad to worse between Chinnakanal and Suryanelli. After Suryanelli it was relatively better for a while. Last 2-3 kms before you join back on the highway at Bodimettu had no roads in fact as there was some digging and relaying activity. Joined the highway at Bodimettu and the ghat roads are in pristine condition. Reached Hotel Western Gatz in Theni by 7.30 or so where we had made prior booking. Had dinner at the restaurant and called it a day.


Periyakanal waterfalls




Sunset in the valley (View around chinnakanal)

Day 2 Theni-Meghamalai-Thrissur


Meghamalai

We were on the road towards Meghamalai by 6AM itself. Since we were very skeptical about food enroute and in Meghamalai, got a lot of bakery items to satiate hunger atleast till we would get back to Chinnamanur. Plan was to see around Meghamalai and return to Chinnamanur by lunch and then drive back to Thrissur. If time permits we also wanted to see Kalavari mount as it was bang on the way and we expected to be there around sunset.

Reached the check post by 7AM. We were the second in the list. You have to enter the vehicle details, number of passengers etc. Roads all the way to Highwavys dam is fully done and it is buttersmooth tarmac. It was a real pleasure to drive on that the road. It is quite a climb up all the way to Highwavys. The early morning weather with absolutely no traffic made it a very pleasurable drive. There were few vehicles coming down. Stopped enroute at some of the locations to soak in the mesmerizing views. It looks like there are couple of estates and a small settlement few kilometers before Highwavys where there are home stays.







View en route highwavys (Meghamalai)

Stay at Highwavys is limited to a Govt guest house and there are some tea estate bungalow which can be booked online. Since the tarred road ends at Highwavys decided to park the car and hired a Sumo to travel through the tea estates. It was a proper off road of about 14 km one way. There seems to be a TNSTC and private bus service all the way to Iravangalar dam which is the last point.

The route kept meandering through the tea estates. Sumo driver was born and brought up there and hence knew every nook and corner. Road passes through Manalar tea estate and reservoir. There is a tea factory inside Venniar estate. Driver dropped us at bottom of Maharajamedu. A climb of about 400m or so takes you up to the top of mountain. The spot is maintained by TN forest department. They have a ticket to enter the view point. View of the plains interspersed with clouds and mist was spell binding. There was also a surprise in store for us in the form of a wild elephant in the adjacent hill. Could see only the top of the elephant as it was behind some bushes. After climbing down we went to Iravangalar dam which was the last drivable point on this route. Dam is maintained by Tamilnadu electricity board. Beyond that it is Kerala.







Some pictures from Highwavys




Manalar reservoir


Misty view of plains from Maharajamedu




Iravangalar dam

Came back through the bumpy road and reached Highwavys. After munching on some snacks which we had brought along started our drive back to Chinnamanur. Stopped couple of more times enroute for photos of the valley.

Reached Chinnamanur by around 12.45 or so and had our lunch in one of the hotels on the main road itself. After a quick lunch break started the drive towards Cumbum. Took the road towards Cumbumettu. Roads were very good all the way to Kattapana. Around Kattapana the road were not in great shape. Took the road towards Cheruthoni. After seeing the crowd/vehicles parked on the highway at the base of Kalavari Mount decided to skip it. It was a straight drive through Cheruthoni. Roads were very bad again Cheruthoni. Some of the devastation caused by floods in the last two years was very visible here especially since I had driven on the same route few months before the floods of 2018. Took the route via Karimban, Mundanmudy, Vannapuram, Paingotoor to Muvattupuza. Most of the stretch had decent to good roads. Since we were running late did not stop at some of the recently sprung local attraction enroute such as Kottapara, Kattadikadavu which were all on the way. Ghat section around Vannapuram is really steep and definitely not a preferable route for people not familiar with ghat driving. Reached Muvattupuzha and had a short tea break before entering into the usual evening traffic mess at Perumbavoor, Kalady etc. Reached back at Thrissur by dinner. It was couple of days well spent. Early morning sky and atmosphere around Meghamalai was really worthy of a weekend trip.

[Thermodynamics]

Crisp yet detailed travelogue buddy. Living in Thrissur is a blessing, ghats and magnificent waterfalls are just hours away. This trip, oh boy must have been tiring. How did your car do. Could you please share some pictures with your car.

When I traveled in October this year around Cumbum, I remember noticing Meghamalai. Imposing Prominence from the adjacent plains. Looks pristine from your pictures. I guess there are very limited staying options, how is the tourists flux ?

[blackwasp]

Originally Posted by SUBRU

Meghamalai has been on the bucket list for a while. The plan came to fruition finally during the navarathri long holiday weekend.
Overall trip was finalized as
Day 1: Thrissur-Udumalpet-Marayoor-Munnar-Theni
Day2: Theni-Meghamalai- Thrissur

Wow, lovely pics there. This looks like the perfect way to get out of our daily lives for a short break! I love such 1-2 day trips as you that is possible for many folks given their work schedule.

Driving around with such greenery around is just perfect.

[WhiteKnight]

great pics. Crisp writing. The curse of Munnar, and any hill station is the crowd that far outweighs the capacity of the place.

Few pics of the road would have been great. And it is totally not acceptable not to post pic of your steed

[hserus]

So - a couple of questions.

How many hairpins on the route to highwavy dam, and on the non tarred road beyond it? What is the condition of the non tarred road?

Was food available in the guesthouse / resorts or were you supposed to carry provisions and either cook it or ask the caretakers to cook it there?

[SUBRU]

Originally Posted by hserus

So - a couple of questions.

How many hairpins on the route to highwavy dam, and on the non tarred road beyond it? What is the condition of the non tarred road?

Was food available in the guesthouse / resorts or were you supposed to carry provisions and either cook it or ask the caretakers to cook it there?

It should be about 15 or so. The roads are butter smooth even at hairpins so you dont really feel like you are climbing so fast.

I did not stay there but what the Sumo driver told us was that there are about 10 rooms or so in the Govt guest house at Highwavys. It needs prior booking through phone and I am not sure if it is that straight forward. Might require appropriate contacts I believe. There is a small mess kind of setup there though we did not have anything. Saw people having their breakfast.

For the resort it is online and I guess this is one of themhttp://teabungalows.com/meghamalai/

Non-tarred road is not that bad. You just need to have good ground clearance for the vehicle since there are lot of stones protruding out. There is no other challenge as such in the non-tarred road. Saw an indica trying to negotiate as well as a Santro parked inside the tea factory probably of the manager I guess.

Originally Posted by WhiteKnight

great pics. Crisp writing. The curse of Munnar, and any hill station is the crowd that far outweighs the capacity of the place.

Few pics of the road would have been great. And it is totally not acceptable not to post pic of your steed

Thanks. Will add couple of pictures of the road till Highwavys. This has also started becoming very commercial. We were lucky that we were one of the first to reach there in the morning. It was absolute bliss with all the greenery and stand still water. The reflection of the estates and clouds on the reservoir was a sight to behold. The pictures which I could capture does not do justice.

Originally Posted by blackwasp

Wow, lovely pics there. This looks like the perfect way to get out of our daily lives for a short break! I love such 1-2 day trips as you that is possible for many folks given their work schedule.

Driving around with such greenery around is just perfect.

It is a nice weekend getaway with less crowd atleast in comparison to the popular ones like Ooty, Munnar, Kodai, Valparai etc. Also I think the season/day was perfect. Just after the rains

Originally Posted by Thermodynamics

Crisp yet detailed travelogue buddy. Living in Thrissur is a blessing, ghats and magnificent waterfalls are just hours away. This trip, oh boy must have been tiring. How did your car do. Could you please share some pictures with your car.

When I traveled in October this year around Cumbum, I remember noticing Meghamalai. Imposing Prominence from the adjacent plains. Looks pristine from your pictures. I guess there are very limited staying options, how is the tourists flux ?

Thanks man. Traveling from Thrissur has its own pros and cons. Car did perfectly fine climbing the ghats of meghamalai. AMT gearbox had some issue in the 2 km off road section before entering Bodimettu from Suryanelli but nothing serious. Just had to switch off and switch it on.

Meghamalai is definitely an imposing prominence. There is a viewpoint called Maharajamedu. It is a sheer vertical drop and the view of plains is amazing. Gudalur which is between Cumbum and Theni was visible from the point. But such vertical drop view points are common in that region I guess. Atleast two others which I remember going to are Ramakkalmedu & Chaturangapara.

We saw that there was a significant inflow of tourists by the time we were coming back. Actually when we went for the off-road trip there was only a single car beside ours. But by the time we came back it was almost full. There was still lot of people going up while we were descending.

[sunsetorange]

Originally Posted by hserus

So - a couple of questions.

How many hairpins on the route to highwavy dam, and on the non tarred road beyond it? What is the condition of the non tarred road?

Was food available in the guesthouse / resorts or were you supposed to carry provisions and either cook it or ask the caretakers to cook it there?

We drove up to meghamalai and stayed at Briar tea bungalows in January for the pongal holidays. The road to Highwavys and Meghamalai town were freshly laid and butter smooth. From there to the Bungalows were worn down to the boulder level. We had travelled in 6 cars- Mitsubishi Pajero & XUV500, Ertiga, i20, Alto and a Honda City. Except for the City, all the other cars made it without scraping the stones. The 5 km took us an hour or so. Was it worth it? A resounding yes!
Wild animals pass by the bungalows and you see quite a few wild elephants.
There is a small waterfall with a dipping pool inside the estate which has deliciously cold water.

A wild elephant in the estate. A malabar giant squirrel

[Flying Shadow]

Meghamalai is a lesser known place than rest of the hills in the Western Ghat range. But a good one.
Now more people are going to Meghamalai.

The highlight is that this single location has a number of dams and reservoir in addition to being a beautiful place. But be warned, a robust tourist infrastructure is yet to be set there. For stay, there is a govt guest house, which is always full. I went there some 9 years back in a riding group unplanned and had to spent night at a temple verandah in the chilling cold.

But the place was worth it all.

Also the tarmac all the way from Bodimettu was pitiful then. Glad to hear the roads are good now. It is a good winding road.

[Ddrive]

Short and sweet travelogue and the photos are beautiful. Did you see any wildlife on your way in Chinnaar wildlife sanctuary?.

[SUBRU]

Originally Posted by Flying Shadow

Meghamalai is a lesser known place than rest of the hills in the Western Ghat range. But a good one.
Now more people are going to Meghamalai.

The highlight is that this single location has a number of dams and reservoir in addition to being a beautiful place. But be warned, a robust tourist infrastructure is yet to be set there. For stay, there is a govt guest house, which is always full. I went there some 9 years back in a riding group unplanned and had to spent night at a temple verandah in the chilling cold.

But the place was worth it all.

Also the tarmac all the way from Bodimettu was pitiful then. Glad to hear the roads are good now. It is a good winding road.

Tarmac is very good. Dams & reservoir were also full since it was just after the monsoon. Everything looked lush green.

Originally Posted by Ddrive

Short and sweet travelogue and the photos are beautiful. Did you see any wildlife on your way in Chinnaar wildlife sanctuary?.

Thanks. Did not see any wildlife as the journey was during mid day almost.

[avimal]

Can i visit meghamalai in day trip from thekaddy?
How will it be in May?

[SUBRU]

Originally Posted by avimal

Can i visit meghamalai in day trip from thekaddy?
How will it be in May?

You can definitely visit Meghamalai in a single day from Thekkady. But May might not be the best time to enjoy the place. I had seen some pictures of Meghamalai from some one who visited in Apr 2019. Looked very dry.