Wayanad

1^st Jan 2010:

What a way to start new year 2010 ..We 4 myself Raseee, megd aka Megha and Ritesh planned for a Wayanad trip and set off as per our plan on the very first day of 2010. This trip was planned so sudden with a short notice period and bookings were almost closed when god just showered some blessings. We managed to get one deluxe room at the beautiful Hotel Mint Flower in Sulthan Battery.

Wayanad is not a town or a city. It is the name of a large district with more than half a dozen towns. In all probability you would be heading to one of its three major towns , Sulthan Bathery , Kalpetta or Mananthavadi

We hit the Mysore highway @ around 9 AM in morning and had our breakfast on highway side hotel ...then straight away the next stop was Wayanad on the way you come across beautiful wild life if you are lucky :) passing through Bandipur wildlife zone, A small river and a short bridge across it marks the Karnataka-Kerala border in the middle of the forest. In a stroke signboards give way to Malayalam. It seems Kerala is in a self imposed competition with other states in who owns the largest number of check posts. You zoom past as battery of check posts as you come out of forest . There is Forest Department check post, commercial tax check post, RTO check post and even a police check post.

The route which we took was Bangalore -Mysore - Gundulpet - Munthanga - Sulthan Battery ( Wayanad)

Somewhere in the end of the forest , you can see the entrance to the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary. As usual tourist vehicle makes a mess around the area. Take it as a cue for you to join the crowd or slip out and drive ahead to Sultan Bathery. Now we were well in the Wayanad heartland. Sultan Bathery to Kalpetta, the district capital, is 10 kilometers. From now onwards it was time to set our itinerary for Wayanad. We stayed in Hotel Mint Flower i must say one of the best hotels available in Wayanad zone.

After getting freshed up and after a good fish fry meal we were all set to our first day post lunch session ...But where?? was the big Q as i had set all planes for next 2 days and we knew almost all places in Wayanad come under forest department and are closed for public after 5 PM. And we had just 3 hrs left so thought to explore nearby areas we visited Karapuzha dam and Fantom Rock on that evening...but we were a bit confused to as to why it was called Fantom Rock and what crap was there in that dam as to be declared a tourist place :) but yes we enjoyed both these spots in our own style..singing and posing for my cam Rasee Megd and Ritesh were a gr8 team to be with.

2^nd Jan 2010:

Well 2^nd day itenary was finalized it was time for Kuruva Island first....i was more curious and so were others as i had read and heard a lot about this place. And one important thing to remember is not a single restaurant opens before 8AM in Sulthan Battery, but we found a mid class restaurant called Friends where we had appam (i am not able to describe the food here sorry !!)
So after breakfast we straight away headed to Kuruva Island.

After taking tickets (you need to buy ticket for camera...raft...parking..guide...and for people....so spend some cash for ticket ticket....it comes around 200 INR for 4 people) we need to cross Kabini river on a bamboo raft and get on a main Island we had hired a guide and thankfully he knew Kannada so that i could communicate with him. Well the best and a must try adventure here is the river crossing ...and our guide knew exactly where and how to cross at first we were a bit..hesitated to get in water but after a couple of crossing we got used to water. It was a amazing experience river walk..never heard of it...but it was gr8 walking in river and trekking in so dense forest.

It was almost lunch time so headed back to Kalpetta had lunch and moved towards Soochipara water falls, All these places have been declared as Eco tourism spots by Kerala government and are well maintained.

3^rd Jan 2010:

The 3^rd day also started up early and we needed to head back home on the same day, so started off with Edakkal caves as usual we had our breakfast @ Friends special hotel, and the menu remains same.

Edakkal caves in the Ambukuthy Mountains are not caves in the right sense. It is only a cleft in reality. It is a cleft of about 96ft. long & 22ft. wide in the rock. There are some interesting carvings of pre-historic age. This location is of breathtaking beauty.

After climbing and little bit of trekking we finally managed to reach Edakkal caves and it was a amazing view of Wayanad from top of these mountains.

Our next destination for the day was Pookot Lake, about 13 k ms from Kalpetta, is undoubtedly the most beautiful tourist spot in the whole of Wayanad. The lake nestles in the lap of mountains surrounding it. Boating in the Pookot Lake is a memorable experience. Tall trees and dense forests that line along the pathway around the lake provide a visual treat. This is a beautiful natural fresh water lake surrounded by evergreen forest and wooded hills. Boating facilities, Children's Park and shopping center for handicrafts and spices of Wayanad are arranged by District Tourism Promotion Council. These provides recreational facilities to the visitors.

It was lunch time we checked out of our rooms after 2 days and it was time to head back to B'lore but on the ways we decided to get in Muthanga wild life sanctuary, we needed to wait for almost an hour to get permit pass to enter the safari in forest apart from elephant view from a far away distance and couple of pug marks the forest seemed to be dry.

This sanctuary is located very near to the Karnataka border. Wild forests covering an area of 345 sq.mts. from Muthunga Wildlife Sanctuary, the biggest abode of wild animals in the entire Malabar region, Elephants, Spotted Deers, Bisons, Tigers, Wild Bears… etc. are all sighted here. But again your luck matters here also..

The total cost of the trip was 4553 INR.

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