Munnar-Nelliampathy

We did a Bangalore-Kochi-Bangalore drive during the 2008 December vacation. We had to go to Kochi for a family function, but unavailability of train and availability of 1wk vaction made to a long drive.

The route:

Bangalore-Krishnagiri-Coimbatore. Stay at Coimbatore.
Coimbatore-Pollachi-Udumalpet-Marayoor-Munnar. Stay at Marayoor.
Munnar-Adimali-Kothamangalam-Perumbavoor-Kochi. Stay at Kochi.
Kochi-Nelliyampathy. Stay at Vadakkancheri
Nelliyampathy-Mannarkadu.Stay at Mannarkadu
Mannarkadu-Attapadi-Anakkatti-Coimbatore-Satyamangalam-Mandya-Mysore-Bangalore. Ho! back home after a long-long dirve..:-)

The drive from Bangalore upto Coimbatore was tiring and boring with bad roads and dry surroundings. The Mettur dam and surrounding area was a pleasant change.

The view from Mettur dam bridge

A Village in Mettur

The drive from Coimbatore to Munnar was a pleasure. The road was good and route was scenic with paddy fields, mountains, valleys and wind-mills.

On Udumalpet-Munnar road

Our next stop was at Marayoor. Marayoor is a foresty place in Kerala just few km from Tamilnadu boarder. Munnar is around 1hr drive from Marayoor. We booked at Subha Home stay in Marayoor for stay in the night and proceeded to Munnar. I did not find Munnar so exotic, may be because i have been there so many times. But what i liked most is the Orange Trees in the middle of tea estate. This was the first time i am seeing Orage Tree with oranges. After usual round of places like Echo point in Munnar, we proceeded back to Marayoor for stay. The drive from Munnar to Marayoort in the night around 7pm was exciting as well as adventerous. First of all the road is very small and it goes through ghat sections with tea estates in one side and steep valleys on the other side of the road, on top of it the area was full of mist, no people around, fully dark. Even the fog lamps were not enough to pierce through the mist. At some places we had to stop the vehicle to see what is infront of us! I was enjoying the drive though Shemy was really frightened due to darkness and mist. We reached the Subha Home stay at round 8pm. The Subha Home stay was near a small water falls. This is owned and managed by a very friedly Uncle and Anty. The waterfall was so close to our room that whole night we were hearing the sound of water falling and it felt like a heavy rain is going on thourghout the night. At around Rs.300/- per day, this was a steel. The climate was very cold in the night and morning.

Kanthalloor near Marayoor

Subha Home stay at Marayoor.

From Marayoor, we started around 8AM to Munnar. On the way we went for a safari at Eravikulam National Park. This park is famous for Nilgiri Tahr. The Nilgiri Tahr were roaming around the area coolely without any fear just like our domesting goats or sheeps.

Oranges in the middle of Tea Estate

Some old Chariots laying unnoticed on Aluva-Munnar Road

From there we started our drive to our home town Aluva near Kochi.We stayed in Aluva for two days before starting our next expedtion. When we started from our home in Aluva, we didnt have any idea which route to take. We still have two more days to wander around before reaching Bangalore. Then we decided to go to Nelliyampathy near Palaghat, for that we stayed in Vadakkancheri to start our journey to Nelliyampathy in the morning.

Nelliyampathy is a hill station with good climate and lot of exciting view points. We went to a view point know as Manpara. The journey to Manpara was in a local Jeep, because the path to Manpara is through a "hilly" road and only locals with their special vehicle can drive through such paths. The view was breath taking. Staying in a forest resort in Nelliyampathy is a good idea, but we decided to do it at a later time.

Nelliyampathy

We drove down the hills of Nelliyampathy, and proceeded towards Mannarkadu. From here we can to Bangalore either through Calicut-Wynad route or through Attapadi-Coimbatore route. We stayed in Mannarkadu to continue our journey next day through Attapadi. The drive from Mannarkadu to Coimbatore through attapadi was through ghat sections, forests and villages. We crossed the Tamilnadu boarder at Anakkatti and continued our journey though Sathyamangalam road. The Sathy road was good though not wide enough. We were lucky to see a Bison on the road side inside Sathymangalam forest area. The twisty ghat section there was marred with traffic blocks caused by trucks unable to manoeuver the twisy hair pins.

After Sathyamangalam and Dimbam forests, we crossed Karnataka boarder. The road and surroundings from there to Mandya was pathetic.

Bison on the Sathyamangalam road.

Where to stay:

Subha Home stay near Marayoor.

1hr drive from Munnar: Around Rs.300/day. Ph:04865252327