Wayanad – A trip to the God’s own country.Jan 13th – 16th’ 2011.
Naveen and I were discussing about a photography cum vacation trip and after sifting through a few locations, we zeroed in on Wayanad. Later Shivaram and family decided to join us as well…So on Jan 13th, we set out on the three day trip. Our plan was to stop over at Mysore on 13th night and proceed to Wayanad on 14th morning.
Meera, Naveen and Divya met at Shivaram’s house and they started at about 3.30pm. I joined them later on the way at Kamat, Mysore Road. We reached Mysore at about 7pm. Our stay was booked in Ginger. The room was good and our stay was comfortable.
Our dinner was already booked at Pai Vista…had some good food and drinks and retired for the day.
The next morning – 14th Jan, we started to Wayanad at about 10am after breakfast and reached there by 1pm. Our stay was at Haritagiri Hotel and Ayurvedic Spa. This is situated in Kalpetta. Though this place would not ideally qualify as a resort, it is well maintained and since it is situated with in the town itself, it is easily accessible. The food was average, although the complementary breakfast was excellent. As it was already 3pm by the time we finished lunch, we decided to relax for the day. The kids had a good time at the swimming pool and we all had an Ayurvedic massage. A word about the massage, few of us found the massage excellent while some of us were disappointed….so I think it will depend upon the condition of the person who massages….!
We started early next morning and our first stop was at Karlad Lake. The drive was through some small village roads which were still being laid and when we reached, we were the first set of tourists to arrive…took some good photographs of the lake and we went for boating. The lake was very small, so the boating lasted for about 20 min and the kids enjoyed it thoroughly.
Our next stop was at Banasura dam. Well, not much to watch here. We took a jeep from below to reach the dam. As it was midday, it was quite hot and we relaxed a bit in the shade there. After about an hour, it was time for the next spot.
Next, we went to Kuruwa dweep. This is basically a collection of small islands and the fun part is to hop on to each island and spend some time there. It was already 4 pm by the time we reached and as this place closed at 5 pm , we were reconsidering to come the next morning. Finally, on Brinda’s insistence, we decided to take the plunge and finally took the boat to the dweep. As we were late, we decided not to go on to all the small islands and had some fun in the water on the first island.
This place was a nice experience, taking us back to a different age of life in jungles and in between trees and water. It was really unfortunate we could spend only about an hour here. Next time, we thought if we ever come here will come to the island first thing morning.
Finally before calling it a day, we went to Tirunelli temple to offer our prayers to God. It was about 45min drive from Kuruwa dweep.
We started back to the hotel at about 6 30pm and the drive was for 60kms. It was a terrific drive through the ghats and thoroughly enjoyed it…although the co-passengers wouldn’t agree…. Reached hotel in an hour and cancelled our trip to water falls the next day as we thought we need a day of relaxation before returning to Bangalore.
Next day was relaxed and we enjoyed a late breakfast and some drinks by the pool. The ladies went for a second round of Ayurvedic massage and after lunch it was time to start back home…. We had a brief halt in Kamat for dinner and reached home by 10 pm.
Wayanad would qualify more as an extended weekend getaway as it would easily take 2 days to visit all the places in and around and a day totally in driving. Our trip was nice and relaxing. As we probably didn’t cover Wayanad fully, would love to go back there for a longer trip.
The trip costed us RS 7000 per head ( inclusive of everything ).
Sharing some captured moments of our trip......
......Please Click here .
