Wayanad, God's own country

It was a loong weekend, and 6 of us decided to go some place. Our list of choices for the place were Hampi, Coorg, Wayanad. Luckily we got 3 rooms in Wayanad and we booked it!

We packed/shopped Friday evening for the trip. Had planned to leave town at 5.30 am, actual time was 6.30am. We took 2 cars - innova and swift, innova had Doss family/maid/driver, we drove the swift along with RR. Our first pit stop was at Maddur Tiffanys where we had maddur vada, thatte idlis, masala dosa and coffee. The drive was very good, roads being great. Next stop was a quick one at Coffee Day near Gundlupet. Till Gundlupet, its just one road from Bangalore. From here we had to take a right to go through Bandipur National Forest, Muthanga forest area and then to Sulthan Bathery. This was the first time we took this route. Its very scenic - green and fresh air :), couldn't resist stopping in the middle of the road in Bandipur for a photo session! Till we reach the Bandipur national park, the sides of the roads are filled with Marygold fields and watermelon sellers.

On Our way

Bandipur National Park

By the time we reached Sulthan Bathery and Kalpetta, it was around 2 pm. So we stopped at Chembra heritage restaurant which is between Kalpetta and Vythiri and had lunch. We reached Vythiri meadows - our resort around 3.30pm. The resort has a beautiful view of the Wayanad mountain ranges. RR and us shared a 2 bedroom house, whereas Doss family had another cottage. After getting refreshed with coffee and some snacks, we headed out to a view point nearby, where we could see the whole valley. We spent about 45 minutes here, and then returned to the resort after shopping for some snacks and drinks.

Vythiri Meadows

View from our resort

The View Point

Had dinner at the resort which was average, and settled down in our living room for drinks and chatting.

Next day was our big day of trekking to Chembra Peak - the tallest peak in Wayanad and 6900 feet above sea level. We left the resort at 7am, after packing 2 loaves of bread/butter/jam and lots of other blore snacks. We reached the foot of the Chembra peak in half an hour, took the permission form the forest department, had tea, and entered the Chembra estate. Our trek started at 8am, initial 3-4 kms were flat land, walking in the middle of the tea estate. Then suddenly our trek became a steep path, walking in the forest, climbing the rocks, crossing the beautiful streams, drinking water from the streams, trying to avoid leeches, stopping in between to catch our breaths and to absorb the amazing scenic views. It was the hardest and the best trek I have done so far. We reached a beautiful small lake, about 3/4th distance before the heart shaped lake. We were the first ones to reach this spot, it was so serene, surrounded by greenary. We just sat there for 20 minutes, taking in the beauty of the place.

Sun Rise

On our way to Chembra Peak

Tea Plantation

Trek starts

One of the many streams

We named this Artery Lake :)

Almost there!

Started climbing again to the last stretch, this stretch is both hard and the most beautiful! We finally reached the heart shaped lake in 3 hours! Its so beautiful, I really dont have words to describe. We finished all the snacks and water and relaxed for sometime. Then we all got fish spa done in the lake :D We stood in the lake with water till our knees and fish cleaning our feet/legs :) It was an amazing experience. We roamed around for some more time. This is just half the distance from the topmost peak. Due to rains it was not safe to trek further to the top. It would have been more than perfect to have camped here that day and continued our trek next day to the top. Next time :)

Heart shaped Lake

Fish Spa

There were too many Moments of the day for Aug 14th. Few that HAVE to be mentioned are here -

Sitting on the edge of a cliff with my legs dangling down and watching - nature just nature. I didn't have any thoughts on my mind. I just wanted to capture the view in my mind forever :) A was also sitting next to me.

On our way back, we stopped at a slightly bigger stream, took off our shoes, put our feet in water and sat there. We were all tired, the water cold and relaxing. I sat there just watching the water flow, and a colorful butterfly flying around in front of me.

Drinking fresh cold water from the streams flowing down the mountain!

Climbing the hill through the small streams, I found it very cool to climb up a stream :)

We had to return, started our trek back the slope, with me falling down right in the beginning. Since it was rainy season, we all slipped and fell many times all along the way as it was very slippery. After sometime, my knees started shaking and it was difficult to keep te foot on the sloping ground. But it was an awesome experience, and we all climbed down safely. It took us about 1 hour 30 minutes to come down.

Exhausted, we had lunch at some restaurant and headed back to the resort. It started raining as soon as we came back. The weather was perfect during our trek! Very pleasant.

We just lazed around at the resort, each one of us doing our own thing. Doss took the kids for fishing at the Pookot lake. I had a cold beer by myself in the balcony which was the ONE thing I wanted at that time :) Took a hot shower, and had 2 cups of tea!! Headed out for a walk near the resort, where we picked up few water bottles and visited a handicraft shop. Retired to the resort to have dinner/drink/talk before we called it a day.

3rd day, we took it easy, woke up, had tea watching the sun-rise, packed, ate bf and left the place around 10am. Took the same route back via NH212, listening to patriotic songs and different versions of Vande Mataram sung by many singers. We spent around 45 minutes in Sulthan Bathery due to a traffic jam, but it was fun seeing all the localites celebrating Independence day. We stopped at one of the Marygold fields after Bandipur for a quick stroll in the field while chatting with the thatha who owned that place. Our next stop was to eat and buy watermelons on the roads. We got a watermelon for 10rs for one whole melon. Lunch at Dreamcatchers after Gundlupet - a nice place where they make pasta/pancakes/omelets/shakes/coffee/tea. We ate pasta with brown sauce which was very yummy, banana pancakes, mushroom omelet and rice with vegetables.

It was a fun trip with friends, had a great time! Thanks S, A, A, A, R, R :)

On our way back - Dreamcatcher Cafe