Home-made chocolates, and aromatic oils, beautiful mountains amidst lakes, lush green forests and refreshing tea gardens, all make up for the beauty of one of the most famous hill stations of India. Ooty, also known as Udhagamandalam, was my next destination on my bucket-list of hill stations in India.
Travel:
We booked flights to & fro coimbatore from Mumbai and travelled by road from there, covering a distance of roughly 85 kms.
Ooty by road can be reached via 2 routes:
*Coimbatore-Mettupalayam-Kallar-Burliar-Coonoor-Ooty
(Winding roads with 15 hair-pin bends. Traffic tends to be a turn-off on this route during peak seasons)
*Coimbatore – Mettupalayam-Aravenu-Kotagiri-Ooty
(Less winding roads, with no hair-pin bends, a little longer route and relatively less traffic. During peak seasons, traffic towards Ooty is diverted on this route)
Another option is train travel:
A train leaves from Mettupalayam daily at 7.10 am reaches 12 noon, but tickets are to be booked way in advance through IRCTC. The scenic route while traveling on the Mettupalayam – Udagamandalam Passenger and a first-time visitors to the Nilgiris should usually look forward to the train ride. If you really want a train ride, the route from Udagamandalam to Coonoor, a one hour ride is alluring enough.
Dates:
Jan 03rd to Jan 06th, peak winters for the hill station.
Temperatures at night would fall to 6 degrees and days were pleasant with a cold wind blowing most of the time.
Stay: Taj Savoy
We had a choice between Fernhills Royal Palace or the Savoy Hotel owned by Taj. The heritage rooms and beautiful architecture enticed me and I was already hooked on to this place, but trip advisor made my decision difficult. With very little reviews and not very positive ones too, I opted for the Savoy at Sylks road in Ooty.
The colonial architecture of the hotel lent an atmosphere of calm and serenity amidst the verdant Nilgiris. Our stay was pleasant in one of the villa-type rooms with decor that exuded a refined old-world English charm. Bright mahogany coloured furniture with a fireplace to keep you warm and a sprawling bed was what I found most interesting. The gardens were manicured, well maintained and stretched with vibrant sunflowers. Although the dining hall, lobby, spa & banquet hall were undergoing some renovation the pleasing & very courteous staff made all the necessary arrangements to make our stay most comfortable.
Ooty:
This was my second visit to the queen of the hills after 12 years and I must say, there was a bit of nostalgia, although most places were commercialized. We visited Ooty in the non-peak season, yet the city was brimming with tourists from across India, with many of them touring from the closest state Kerala. This laid-back hill station comes alive in the evenings and yet maintains a slow lifestyle with most shops shut in the afternoon and after 8.00 pm. Traffic is unbeatable even during non-peak seasons, yet we were lucky not to have a crabby encounter. Our road journey led us from a limping highway into dense forests, amidst tall pines trees and among a string of tea estates, with monkeys present everywhere.
Day 1:
After our adventures at the airport, where we reached just 40 min before the flight took-off, we reached Ooty in about 3 hours from Coimbatore. Coimbatore is famous for its Adyar Ananda Bhavan restaurants & that’s exactly what we planned for breakfast before heading on to the ghats. The ghats start after Mettupalayam and as I had expected the winding roads took away my breath, literally due to 2 reasons; I usually feel road sick and the mountainous terrain had enthralling views. Coconut water was available across & was a great way to beat the heat which had built up in the early afternoon. Our route was via Coonoor. My memories of Ooty 12 years ago, were pictures of Main Bazaar located at Upper Bazaar Road, famous for its spice markets and Nilgiri shops, filled with honeymooners walking on the road hand-in-hand, happy to start a new chapter of their lives. This time around, since it was an off-season, I was hoping to see a difference and I did see, that efforts on conservation of the hill station & a plastic-free state had resulted in green gaining on the brown mountainous patches. I had decided I would cover the main attractions the city was famous for, yet I wanted to explore a bit of new unexplored places. Our driver who we had hired from Coimbatore through a friend, knew Ooty on the back of his palm and I was more than enthused, as he showed us around beautiful locations, most tourists wouldn’t know. We were hungry from the journey and treated ourselves to a slow lunch, and literally, since the hotel was known to prepare slow simmered & delicious organic food. “Place to Bee” was originally a bee museum now converted into a restaurant and also had an organic food shop below it. We treated ourselves to a veggie pizza loaded with freshly sun dried tomatoes, jalapeños & onions with honey grazed ginger chicken breast along with some hot tomato soup.
Ooty was known for its Botanical gardens & flowers-beds maintained by the Government and after our check-in at the hotel, we wanted to see just that. Although the 20000 varieties of roses weren’t in full bloom during winters as it is during the summer season, the lush green fields of the Rose garden perched on the slope of Elk hill, was a wonderful place to spend a relaxing afternoon. It had canopies & props created for photography and was an ideal place to relax.
The Doddabetta peak at a summit of 2637 meters was the highest mountain in the Nilgiris and was something where we wanted to be during the sunset. At a distance of 9 kms from Ooty, as we drove through the forest, the sun glinted through the trees, illuminating the flame-of-the-forest, a star burst. A 360-degree view of the lush mountains treated our eyes and a 20-million-year-old fossilised tree intrigued us. The trek to the mountain top, if you choose to take, takes you past cascading waterfalls, dense vegetation and a crystal-clear lake. We waited until the sunset washed the hills in burnt orange and then returned to the hotel.
Day 2:
A quick breakfast and we landed up at the Udhagamandalam train station to catch a train to Coonoor. This was a joy ride and we had tickets booked for first class travel. Tourists looking at last minute bookings find it difficult even after standing for hours for reservations due to the paucity of seats on the train. A few minutes past 9.00 am and our train arrived at the station. Passengers thronged near the engine compartment to stand inside and take pictures like they were the engine drivers. Amid all the chaos, there was a sharp, long whistle from the distance, signalling “All aboard the Nilgiri mountain railway” and we drifted off the station followed by a whistle of the steam engine. The first-class compartment was the last bogey giving us a beautiful 3-sided view & experience of the wonderful scenery and mountains along the way. Extensive tea gardens surrounded the stretch between Ooty and Coonoor and all that fresh cool air took me by surprise. I looked around gleaming in happiness, while curling cold fingers around a cup of blissful warm tea. The journey was full of terrace gardens, streams and ‘blue mountains’. When we finally arrived at Coonoor, people disembarked, but stuck around for a few minutes more taking pictures. Another cup of tea helped warm us as we gazed affectionately at the toy train that gave us a journey that was, strangely, not about the destination at all.
After the train ride we had a few places to visit in Coonoor. Dolphin’s Nose road was a lovely viewpoint, and we also crossed Lamb’s Rock and Lady Cannings Seat viewpoint while on the journey. Filled with verdant tea gardens, Coonoor gave us ample locations to get down and enjoy nature and the spectacular Katherine waterfalls were a feast for the eyes. The Dolphin’s nose rock was a unique rock of tremendous proportions, jutting out of the face of hill side in the formation which its name suggests.
The Highfield tea factory was a paradise for tea lovers, to see the entire tea making process and also buy varieties of tea. The place was drenched with the smell of fresh tea being brewed and we also got to sample some of their brew. This place was better to visit as it was an operational tea factory than the one we visited at Doddabetta.
Day 3:
We hopped on to our cab and drove to the gorgeous countryside outlined with beautiful forest stretches. Our driver knew the way around Ooty, he planned to take us to some unexplored places. Or first stop was the Kalahatti waterfalls, but alas the water there was now being used as drinking water and we were stopped from reaching anywhere near the water source.
We hopped in our car and travelled to Pykara, a village and river 19 kilometres from Ooty. The Pykara river is considered very sacred by the Todas, a Dravidian ethnic group who lived in the Nilgiri Mountains. The Toda traditionally lived in settlements called mund, consisting of three to seven small thatched houses, constructed in the shape of half-barrels and located across the slopes of pastures and we were lucky to see one of these settlements used as a ticket counter later in the day. Adventure at Pyakara included a 10-minute ride in a speed boat along the placid lake, giving me an adrenaline spurt and a fearful one too. Only at 22 kms from Ooty, this boat house was less crowded as compared to the one in Ooty. After the ride our driver told us there was a picnic spot not far where many Bollywood movies have been shot. The place was a hill, the climb to the top drawn-out in a zigzag way across the sand. When we reached the top, we found ourselves amid a large wondrous meadow of land, surrounded by mountains far away. There was flat land as far as my eyes could see. A picturesque location, you will find photography buffs swarming along the whole day. You could also take a horse ride here up to the top, but this place is best enjoyed on foot. Another beautiful place close by was the Pykara waterfalls. A small walk of about 10 min, takes you to a picturesque location. The Pykara Falls was a conglomeration of the glistening Pykara Lake streams flowing downstream from the Pykara Dam. A rocky bed, amidst the lush green forest, gives the waterfalls a lovely base. I wondered how beautiful, this place would seem in the rainy season with flowers all around. The place had multiple photogenic spots for a perfect Instagram post.
While driving through the countryside, I had realised that Ooty had plentiful pine forests which would serve as a perfect backdrop to my aerial pictures and I wasn’t going to miss this one. We asked our driver to take us to one of the unexplored places in the woods amidst pine trees. We couldn’t see many tourists around and we realised, this was the perfect spot for us to grab our cameras. After the session, we stopped at one of the other dams in this place called the Kamaraj Dam, where some scenes of the movie Roja was shot. I looked around and realised, there were fishing nets hoisted by men, in their attempt for a fresh catch. Some of them had already collected a few, which attracted a group of monkeys, trying to grab a meal.
Did you know, ‘Sholas’ is a local name in Ooty used for ‘forests’.
Today was a long day along with a cold & windy evening. I knew right away where I wanted to spend my night; right in front of a warm fireplace cuddled in my bedsheets with a cup of brandy to warm my soul.
Day 3:
We were yet to see the largest garden & water space in Ooty and I had no minds to miss this one. The weather was just right; a light drizzle, the right amount of sunshine, and a mist in the air creating a perfect chance of a rainbow. The botanical gardens were laid out on the slopes of Doddabetta. We had to enter from the bottom of the hill and climb our way up to tour the ascending gardens. Bright green lawns, flower beds, manicured garden spaces, trees & flower sculptures and exotic plants filled the place. School children, families & couples were found everywhere relaxing or having a picnic. And after 3 days of running around, my sole objective to visit this place was also to grab a moment of solace amid exotic trees and flowers. The garden was created to supply vegetables and fruits to the locals and was later converted into a tourist centre with the highlight of this place being a large old fossilised tree.
If you plan to visit this garden in the month of May, you will be greeted by a flower show & an exhibition of rare plant species. After an hour & half of drifting around the slopes, we explored the nearby market for some special Moody’s chocolates.
Since we were exploring Ooty in Jan, the weather was simply awesome and that’s what convinced me for a boat ride on the beautiful Ooty Lake. Options for a speed boat, a peddle boat and a larger boat were available & we opted for the peddle boat for the 2 of us. At 4 pm, the weather was perfect, sun was just bright enough to fizzle the cold and the waters were clear. For the more adventurous ones, you can also take a horse-riding lesson in the woods. I instead opted for cotton candy.
Day 4:
We had opted to reach Coimbatore by the Kotagiri route, which was supposedly more scenic as per our driver and he was right. Just a short distance more, less traffic and by far the best tea garden sceneries, this road route was a treat for the sore eyes. On reaching Coimbatore, we picked up some packets from the famous A-One wafers and happily made our way to the airport.
Did you know:
– There are trees called the Silever Hawk planted amidst tea plantations that help to hold the rain water and soil in these mountainous terrains.
– The Nilgiri hills are also called the blue mountains since the kurunji flower blossoms on the hills every 12 years, giving the colour tinge to the landscape. Honey collected from bees that thrive on these flowers is supposed to be very nutritious and is available in the market.
– There are monkeys everywhere in Ooty, be careful with your eatables.
Ooty was commonly used by the Britishers as a summer retreat and hence the English style colonial architecture remains are still found in most parts. The blissful Nilgiris with its charming evergreen beauty, the pleasing tea plantations, forests, culinary delights and the weather, all made up to my wonderful experience in Ooty.
Kreizi_Bawi 