nice travelogue amit. waiting for the rest.
Travelogue: Bangalore -> BR Hills -> Munnar -> KodaiKanal -> Bangalore
- Thread Starter pahujaamit
- Start date
Thread Starter
#17
Part 2: Travelogue: Bangalore -> BR Hills -> Munnar -> KodaiKanal -> Bangalore
Part 2 :: Wildlife at its best: A trip to the wild nature resort at BR Hills
Next morning, I woke up at 5am to catch the sunrise and headed out for photo-shoot inside the resort. Spent around an Hour for the photo-shoot and early morning walk and then returned to the cottage to wake-up the kids. As usual it was a Herculean task to wake them up but the moment I told them we're going for boating, they woke up in a second :) and of-course I lied :)). Anyway so we got ready and then we headed for a good breakfast after a round of the resort by the kids and little bit of photo-shoot.
Part 2 :: Wildlife at its best: A trip to the wild nature resort at BR Hills
Next morning, I woke up at 5am to catch the sunrise and headed out for photo-shoot inside the resort. Spent around an Hour for the photo-shoot and early morning walk and then returned to the cottage to wake-up the kids. As usual it was a Herculean task to wake them up but the moment I told them we're going for boating, they woke up in a second :) and of-course I lied :)). Anyway so we got ready and then we headed for a good breakfast after a round of the resort by the kids and little bit of photo-shoot.
Thread Starter
#18
Day 2: Travelogue: Bangalore -> BR Hills -> Munnar -> KodaiKanal -> Bangalore
Continued ...
We quickly grabbed the breakfast tea and kids had their milk and then we proceeded further for tracking and bird watching. Our naturalist was ready for the journey as so we were. So we took our vehicle and drove to the spot from where we had to start the tracking.
Birds spotted on the way to K.Gudi Road from Gorukana road
Indian Maina birds spotted on the way to K.Gudi Road from Gorukana road
Pigeon spotted on the way to K.Gudi Road from Gorukana road
Birds spotted on the way to K.Gudi Road from Gorukana road
Birds spotted on the way to K.Gudi Road from Gorukana road
Birds spotted on the way to K.Gudi Road from Gorukana road
Parrot spotted on the way to K.Gudi Road from Gorukana road
Parrot spotted on the way to K.Gudi Road from Gorukana road
Parrot spotted on the way to K.Gudi Road from Gorukana road
Parrot spotted on the way to K.Gudi Road from Gorukana road
Parrot spotted on the way to K.Gudi Road from Gorukana road
Birds spotted on the way to K.Gudi Road from Gorukana road
Birds spotted on the way to K.Gudi Road from Gorukana road
Birds spotted on the way to K.Gudi Road from Gorukana road
Birds spotted on the way to K.Gudi Road from Gorukana road
to be continued....
Continued ...
We quickly grabbed the breakfast tea and kids had their milk and then we proceeded further for tracking and bird watching. Our naturalist was ready for the journey as so we were. So we took our vehicle and drove to the spot from where we had to start the tracking.
Birds spotted on the way to K.Gudi Road from Gorukana road
Indian Maina birds spotted on the way to K.Gudi Road from Gorukana road
Pigeon spotted on the way to K.Gudi Road from Gorukana road
Birds spotted on the way to K.Gudi Road from Gorukana road
Birds spotted on the way to K.Gudi Road from Gorukana road
Birds spotted on the way to K.Gudi Road from Gorukana road
Parrot spotted on the way to K.Gudi Road from Gorukana road
Parrot spotted on the way to K.Gudi Road from Gorukana road
Parrot spotted on the way to K.Gudi Road from Gorukana road
Parrot spotted on the way to K.Gudi Road from Gorukana road
Parrot spotted on the way to K.Gudi Road from Gorukana road
Birds spotted on the way to K.Gudi Road from Gorukana road
Birds spotted on the way to K.Gudi Road from Gorukana road
Birds spotted on the way to K.Gudi Road from Gorukana road
Birds spotted on the way to K.Gudi Road from Gorukana road
to be continued....
Thread Starter
#19
Day 2: Travelogue: Bangalore -> BR Hills -> Munnar -> KodaiKanal -> Bangalore
...continued
Trekking track
Trekking track
View of the valley from the trekking track
Our naturaist looking for birds etc
On the Top of the hill
On the Top of the hill
Me and my naturalist on the Top of the hill
The decend
Restaurant at the resort
This was time to have breakfast and it was served when we returned. Needless to say it was not good but very very good. Anyway so we had breakfast, went to our cottage and started packing ourselves for departure from this heavenly place.
yummy paranthas at the restaurant @ the resort
Omlette at the restaurant @ the resort
Kids on a boat ride at the resort
Kids on a boat ride at the resort
to be continued .....
...continued
In about 10 mins drive we reached the tracking spot, parked our vehicle and started the climb. On the way we took some good shots of the birds (as above). The trek was not very tough and we could easily climb with the kids leading the way :)) The naturalist guided us on the trek of various plants, creatures, birds etc and was a good informative session. This guy had excellent knowledge of the route, the surroundings and excellent skills on bird spotting. So after about 50mins we climbed to the top of the mountain and sat there to relax a bit and enjoy the view from there which was breathtaking. The air was cool and more importantly very clean. The atmosphere was great for a cup of tea/coffee but there was none available .. So we took some good pictures from top and then started our decline. It didn't take us too much time on our way back. In about 20 mins we were back to the spot where we parked our beloved Scorpio. So we sat in our Scorpio and came back to resort after enjoying the surroundings and lovely birds around us.
Trekking track
Trekking track
View of the valley from the trekking track
Our naturaist looking for birds etc
On the Top of the hill
On the Top of the hill
Me and my naturalist on the Top of the hill
The decend
Restaurant at the resort
yummy paranthas at the restaurant @ the resort
Omlette at the restaurant @ the resort
Kids were taken by the naturalist for boating in the lake inside the resort while we got ready. After kids came back they freshened up and then we were all set for check-out. After check-out, I took some pictures with the Gorukana group who served us and made our stay so memorable and thanked all of them.
Kids on a boat ride at the resort
Kids on a boat ride at the resort
to be continued .....
Thread Starter
#20
Day 2: Travelogue: Bangalore -> BR Hills -> Munnar -> KodaiKanal -> Bangalore
.. continued
Kids at the tribal village near the resort
Kids at the tribal village near the resort
Kids at the tribal village near the resort
Spices
Coffee
Finally we started our onward journey to Munnar which was around 285kms from this place and as per the GPS, it would take us 8.34 hours to reach there if we take the recommended route. So we started on that route happily. The route to Munnar from BR Hills was good overall with only few stretches being average. The GPS guided us all the way accurately with only 2 misses 'coz of road diversions which I guess was not a GPS problem.
Spotted Dear relaxing under the tree shadow. It was pretty sunny otherwise.
On the way to Chamarajnagar from K.Gudi
Forest checkpost on the way to Chamarajnagar from K.Gudi
You will be required to make an entry when you pass this point both sides. While coming and existing from the forest limits.
On the way to Munnar from K.Gudi
On the way to Munnar from K.Gudi
Traffic Jam on the way to Munnar from K.Gudi
On the way to Munnar from K.Gudi
Hair pin bends on the way to Munnar from K.Gudi
Hair pin bends
Police checkpost
Windmills on the way to Munnar
Windmills on the way to Munnar
Windmills on the way to Munnar
.. continued
Kids at the tribal village near the resort
Kids at the tribal village near the resort
Kids at the tribal village near the resort
Spices
Coffee
Finally we started our onward journey to Munnar which was around 285kms from this place and as per the GPS, it would take us 8.34 hours to reach there if we take the recommended route. So we started on that route happily. The route to Munnar from BR Hills was good overall with only few stretches being average. The GPS guided us all the way accurately with only 2 misses 'coz of road diversions which I guess was not a GPS problem.
Spotted Dear relaxing under the tree shadow. It was pretty sunny otherwise.
On the way to Chamarajnagar from K.Gudi
Forest checkpost on the way to Chamarajnagar from K.Gudi
You will be required to make an entry when you pass this point both sides. While coming and existing from the forest limits.
On the way to Munnar from K.Gudi
On the way to Munnar from K.Gudi
Traffic Jam on the way to Munnar from K.Gudi
On the way to Munnar from K.Gudi
Hair pin bends on the way to Munnar from K.Gudi
Hair pin bends
Police checkpost
As I was getting tired after driving for about 2hours we stopped and had Vada Pao's at this place. We only took one first and it was so good that we ordered atleast 4 more with hot tea. Total bill was not more than 60Rs :)
Windmills on the way to Munnar
Windmills on the way to Munnar
Windmills on the way to Munnar
Superb pics man,![[clap]](https://www.theautomotiveindia.com/forums/images/smilies/Clap.gif "Clap [clap]")
The parrot near red flower is a wonderful shot. hard to diffenciate tree & parrot.
Keep it coming.
The parrot near red flower is a wonderful shot. hard to diffenciate tree & parrot.
Keep it coming.
WOW Amit!!!
Very Nicely Written.....Keep On Coming yaar...
Very Nicely Written.....Keep On Coming yaar...
Thread Starter
#24
Mukesh.. it is indeed a parrot only. I'm writing the blog on further journey, once done will post here as well.
Stay tuned..
The beak is straight, which should be pointed backwards.
Here:http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ai9QEkkc9_o/TsTIbvFOqkI/AAAAAAAABM4/QFz-F00fcjQ/s640/DSC_4486a.jpg
Here:http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ai9QEkkc9_o/TsTIbvFOqkI/AAAAAAAABM4/QFz-F00fcjQ/s640/DSC_4486a.jpg
Thread Starter
#26
Alright !! So I'm back with the onward journey travelogue. Sorry folks it took me some good time to process the pictures (Still WIP) but the day 3 is ready so here you go.
A trip to the heavenly hills of Munnar
This is in continuation of my blog post on the Trip from Bangalore -> BR Hills -> Kodai Kanal -> Bangalore
Part 2 of 3 - Onward journey from BR Hills to Munnar and local sight-seeing at Munnar, Kerela
Highlights of Munnar trip
Day 3
I dont know how to start the Munnar experience. I just have few words for it - Heavenly Place, Amazing people, Crazy drive and Lovely food. Hope this will set your expectations :) and believe me it is really a wonderful place for a good holiday.
So after a good drive from BR Hills of about 6Hrs with few halts in between we reached the main security entrance gate to the forest area from where we head to Munnar. I had to get down and make an entry in the register provided by the cops there and pay the toll fee of about 30Rs. I was then allowed to pass through. Drove for about 50mtrs and there was another checkpost. I had to get down again and make another entry and pay some charges. Drove for another 30mtrs and another check post and another one after another 50mtrs. Ooooh... that was a pain. But finally the checkposts were over and I could drive down or call it up towards Munnar. This way was entirely forest area and we were not supposed to get down or stop the vehicle in between for security reasons. So we continuously drove for about 2+ hrs and reached Marayoor town. The entire road to the Marayoor was not very good though not very bad either and since we were in Scorpio which is a great vehicle for these tracks, it was a breeze for us. Anyway so once we reached Marayoor and since we were damn hungry the first thing we wanted to do was "pet-pooja (fill our stomach)" :) So we found one good restaurant and ordered the food immediately. Though the menu was pretty big and exhaustive, they only had few options available including chinese and south indian food. So we opted for Chinese stuff. It was good yummy food but the price to qty ratio was bad. So we had to order more food later as we found out the quantity served was not enough. After a long wait we finally got the repeat order and finished our dinner. In the mean time, the guy there asked me if we would want to carry on to Munnar or wanna stay back there at Marayoor and continue the journey next morning. So since I was also tired we opted for the latter. So we took one AC room and crashed into the bed. Good Night !!
Next morning we woke up at 8am and got ready for onward journey. So first things first we had our breakfast at the same place and then continued towards Munnar after a quick gas top-up and tyre pressure check. The roads to Munnar were fabulous and we were happy that we did not do this last night as we would have missed the scenery around us during night driving.
Police checkpost at Marayoor
Cattle on the road. A usual sight on Indian roads.
Tea plantations started from here
Tea plantations at Munnar
Workers at Tea plantations. These ladies are the ones who pickup the tea leaves and send it to factory. The tea leaves are plucked as per the freshness, size etc and then processed further. The ladies here get merely 100~150Rs per day for a load of 10kg plucked leaves. They need to wear rubber sheets or platic sheets to protect themselves from getting wet in mornings 'coz of dew or in monsoons from rain water on the plants.
One of the workers @ Tea plantations at Munnar
The road to Munnar town
A trip to the heavenly hills of Munnar
This is in continuation of my blog post on the Trip from Bangalore -> BR Hills -> Kodai Kanal -> Bangalore
Part 2 of 3 - Onward journey from BR Hills to Munnar and local sight-seeing at Munnar, Kerela
Highlights of Munnar trip
- Beautiful Heavenly place
- Very soft spoken and lovely people
- Food is good if not very good. Most of the snacks available are good.
- Weather was pleasant and was raining on 1 of the days during our stay
- Munnar lake is as beautiful as it can be
- It was an unbelievable experience
Day 3
I dont know how to start the Munnar experience. I just have few words for it - Heavenly Place, Amazing people, Crazy drive and Lovely food. Hope this will set your expectations :) and believe me it is really a wonderful place for a good holiday.
So after a good drive from BR Hills of about 6Hrs with few halts in between we reached the main security entrance gate to the forest area from where we head to Munnar. I had to get down and make an entry in the register provided by the cops there and pay the toll fee of about 30Rs. I was then allowed to pass through. Drove for about 50mtrs and there was another checkpost. I had to get down again and make another entry and pay some charges. Drove for another 30mtrs and another check post and another one after another 50mtrs. Ooooh... that was a pain. But finally the checkposts were over and I could drive down or call it up towards Munnar. This way was entirely forest area and we were not supposed to get down or stop the vehicle in between for security reasons. So we continuously drove for about 2+ hrs and reached Marayoor town. The entire road to the Marayoor was not very good though not very bad either and since we were in Scorpio which is a great vehicle for these tracks, it was a breeze for us. Anyway so once we reached Marayoor and since we were damn hungry the first thing we wanted to do was "pet-pooja (fill our stomach)" :) So we found one good restaurant and ordered the food immediately. Though the menu was pretty big and exhaustive, they only had few options available including chinese and south indian food. So we opted for Chinese stuff. It was good yummy food but the price to qty ratio was bad. So we had to order more food later as we found out the quantity served was not enough. After a long wait we finally got the repeat order and finished our dinner. In the mean time, the guy there asked me if we would want to carry on to Munnar or wanna stay back there at Marayoor and continue the journey next morning. So since I was also tired we opted for the latter. So we took one AC room and crashed into the bed. Good Night !!
Next morning we woke up at 8am and got ready for onward journey. So first things first we had our breakfast at the same place and then continued towards Munnar after a quick gas top-up and tyre pressure check. The roads to Munnar were fabulous and we were happy that we did not do this last night as we would have missed the scenery around us during night driving.
Police checkpost at Marayoor
Cattle on the road. A usual sight on Indian roads.
Tea plantations started from here
Tea plantations at Munnar
Workers at Tea plantations. These ladies are the ones who pickup the tea leaves and send it to factory. The tea leaves are plucked as per the freshness, size etc and then processed further. The ladies here get merely 100~150Rs per day for a load of 10kg plucked leaves. They need to wear rubber sheets or platic sheets to protect themselves from getting wet in mornings 'coz of dew or in monsoons from rain water on the plants.
One of the workers @ Tea plantations at Munnar
The road to Munnar town
The road to Munnar town
The road to Munnar town
The road to Munnar town
The great views
The great view of the waterfall
The great views
We parked ourselves for taking some pictures
My sweety daughter posing for me
Me taking shots
My beast relaxing
The great views of the valley and waterfall
to be continued..
The road to Munnar town
The road to Munnar town
The great views
The great view of the waterfall
The great views
We parked ourselves for taking some pictures
My sweety daughter posing for me
Me taking shots
My beast relaxing
The great views of the valley and waterfall
to be continued..
Thread Starter
#27
..continued from above
So we cherished every moment of the drive, took loads of snaps on the way and kept moving. On the way the first tourist sight seeing place was the Lokkam Waterfalls and we stopped there. The place was good and the approach to waterfall was not very bad and tiring. It was a quick 2mins walk and few steps from where we parked our beast. So we went into the waterfall and enjoyed the ice-chilled water. The water was soooo cold that we could not dip our feet for more than 2mins but again as we are too adventurous, we didn't give up and kept hanging there for a while and took some pictures. After about 30mins we came out of the waterfall and kids sighted the shops selling some chips, maggie etc. So they opted to have Masala Maggie and me the Quail Eggs. The Eggs and Maggie was very well cooked and it was a unique taste. We liked it so much that we ordered one more portion of it immediately. We savored the food and then quickly moved towards Munnar.
Lakkom water-falls
Lakkom water-falls
Lakkom water-falls
Lakkom water-falls
Lakkom water-falls
Lakkom water-falls
Bridge at the Lakkom water-falls
Local shops selling snacks, condiments and soft drinks
We had our all time favorite snack: Maggie and Eggs which was prepared very well
Quail Eggs
To be continued ...
So we cherished every moment of the drive, took loads of snaps on the way and kept moving. On the way the first tourist sight seeing place was the Lokkam Waterfalls and we stopped there. The place was good and the approach to waterfall was not very bad and tiring. It was a quick 2mins walk and few steps from where we parked our beast. So we went into the waterfall and enjoyed the ice-chilled water. The water was soooo cold that we could not dip our feet for more than 2mins but again as we are too adventurous, we didn't give up and kept hanging there for a while and took some pictures. After about 30mins we came out of the waterfall and kids sighted the shops selling some chips, maggie etc. So they opted to have Masala Maggie and me the Quail Eggs. The Eggs and Maggie was very well cooked and it was a unique taste. We liked it so much that we ordered one more portion of it immediately. We savored the food and then quickly moved towards Munnar.
Lakkom water-falls
Lakkom water-falls
Lakkom water-falls
Lakkom water-falls
Lakkom water-falls
Lakkom water-falls
Bridge at the Lakkom water-falls
Local shops selling snacks, condiments and soft drinks
We had our all time favorite snack: Maggie and Eggs which was prepared very well
Quail Eggs
To be continued ...
Thread Starter
#28
.. continued from above
My beast relaxing
My beast relaxing
Breathtaking views
Breathtaking views
Breathtaking views
Breathtaking views of the valley
The road to heaven
Breathtaking views of the tea plantations
Various places to see at and around Munnar and there distances
Ernakulam National Park entrance. Since we were tired and looking at the queue here we got so scared that we thought we will do this later or skip it.
Long queue at the Ernakulam National Park
On the way to the Munnar town
On the way to the Munnar town
On the way to the Munnar town
On the way to the Munnar town
On the way to the Munnar town
To be continued...
My beast relaxing
My beast relaxing
Breathtaking views
Breathtaking views
Breathtaking views
Breathtaking views of the valley
The road to heaven
Breathtaking views of the tea plantations
Various places to see at and around Munnar and there distances
Ernakulam National Park entrance. Since we were tired and looking at the queue here we got so scared that we thought we will do this later or skip it.
Long queue at the Ernakulam National Park
On the way to the Munnar town
On the way to the Munnar town
On the way to the Munnar town
On the way to the Munnar town
On the way to the Munnar town
To be continued...
Thread Starter
#29
Continued from above ..
Kids Having fun at the garden
The next sightseeing was of a waterfall. I'll let the pictures do the talking :) Enjoy
On the way to the waterfall
On the way to the waterfall
On the way to the waterfall
One of the TATA Tea Estate factories
"the waterfall" sorry folks i forgot the name of this one...
My daughter trying to drink water from the waterfall :))
My beast relaxing while we were enjoying the views
On the way back from the sightseeing place and Munnar garden
River on the way to the sightseeing place and Munnar garden
Breathtaking views of the heavenly valleys of Munnar
One of the resorts on the way
Then we came back to our hotel and crashed into the bed after a bit of chit chat with the other residents at the homestay and a lovely dinner prepared by the Homestay folks.
To be continued...
Day 4 Munnar sightseeing and Part 3 of our journey to the KodaiKanal Hills, Tamil Nadu, India
After about an hours drive with stops in-between for pictures etc, we reached Munnar around 2pm. I then realized that the resort I booked was another 18kms from Munnar town. So we gave it a thought and changed our plans to stay at town rather than at a far away place. So we hired a guide first who could get us some good hotels and after looking at few hotels we decided to stay at a Homestay which was very good. This home-stay (St. Johns Homestay) had 4 rooms and we chose one of that which was good for us. The homestay was clean and with very homely atmosphere which was managed by few people. Overall it was a nice cozy place and the best thing we liked was the garden behind the place which I would say was the main deal maker. SO we immediately took it, After about an hour of relaxing at the homestay we then went out for lunch at a nearby restaurant and then proceeded for sightseeing.
Kids Having fun at the garden
The next sightseeing was of a waterfall. I'll let the pictures do the talking :) Enjoy
On the way to the waterfall
On the way to the waterfall
On the way to the waterfall
One of the TATA Tea Estate factories
"the waterfall" sorry folks i forgot the name of this one...
My daughter trying to drink water from the waterfall :))
My beast relaxing while we were enjoying the views
On the way back from the sightseeing place and Munnar garden
River on the way to the sightseeing place and Munnar garden
Breathtaking views of the heavenly valleys of Munnar
One of the resorts on the way
Then we came back to our hotel and crashed into the bed after a bit of chit chat with the other residents at the homestay and a lovely dinner prepared by the Homestay folks.
To be continued...
Day 4 Munnar sightseeing and Part 3 of our journey to the KodaiKanal Hills, Tamil Nadu, India