PAYANIGA » Kerala

Wayanad Beckons

Prashanth — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 05:28:48 +0000

Last time I visited Wayanad was in December 2006. It was a 3 day errand around Kalpetta, the district head quarters Wayanad. First two days were spent in visiting the lakes, dams and also safaris at Muthanga wildlife sanctuary & Tholpetty wildlife sanctuary, reserving the last day for trekking up Chembra peak.

Now after three and half years, I am visiting Wayanad this weekend. A two day visit – cycling around the tea estates, passing by the Chembra peak and visit to Meenmutty & Suchipara falls.

Read about the event organised by “Cycling and More” – here

I Was Here: Chembra Peak

Prashanth — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 06:38:46 +0000

Lean period continues for me. Not much options other than armchair travelling, pondering over my good old travel days and browsing through my photo archive.

Photo: En route Chembra peak, Wayanad captured during my visit in Dec 2006.

I Was Here: Manjeshwara

Prashanth — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 17:11:39 +0000

I was there at Manjeshwara in March 2008. This photo was taken at Sri Anantha Padmanabha temple.

PS: I’ve moved from Blogger to Wordpress. Migration is still in progress. If you stumble up on any broken links or missing images, please bring it to my notice. Thanks :)

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On Clay: Wayanad & Elephants

Prashanth — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 17:59:00 +0000

We had completed almost three fourth of the safari and had to stop because of a traffic jam. It took us few seconds to understand what was happening. There was a herd of wild elephants which were crossing our path. Or to put it in a correct way, we were crossing their path and had to wait for our turn.

Read the full story on Clay – A Tryst with the Pachyderms.

A small write-up on my experience with the wild elephants in Wayanad is published on Clay (an acronym for Club Mahindra And You!).

Thanks Lakshmi for publishing the write-up.

Manjeshwara & Someshwara

Prashanth — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 18:33:00 +0000

We stopped at Kasaragodu for lunch. From there we went to Manjeshwara, the birth place of Govinda Pai, one of the well known poets of Kannada literature. It was around 3.30PM & Sri Ananthapadmanabha swamy temple was closed. We had to be content looking at the sculptures outside the temple. There were lots of sculptures of snake god (Nagarakallu, in Kannada) – of different sizes & shapes. We were told that the place is well known for ‘Nagamandala’, worshipping the serpent god which is an all-night ritual.

Our next destination was Someshwara. Sun was drifting down, while we sat on the beach looking at the endless waves & munching some snacks. The beach was not much crowded as it was a weekday. While few roamed around, some more sat like us getting mesmerized by the play of the Sun & the Sea.

After Someshwara before reaching Surathkal, we visited couple of more temples – Kudupu, again a temple of Ananthapadmanabha Swamy & Polali, temple of Goddess Rajarajeshwari. Kudupu is approximately 10 KMs from Mangalore on Mangalore-Moodabidri route. Polali is around 20 KMs from Mangalore and can be reached by taking a left turn at Kaikamba (when coming from Mangalore).

Day four, we were back on our saddles for our return journey. We started from Surthkal at 6.30 in the morning and decided to reach Mangalore & then take NH48 all the way till Bangalore. First of of the journey was wonderful, riding through the twisty roads – the wonderful mountains Western ghats – Shiradi ghat. Once we crossed Sakaleshpur the road became straighter & straighter, boring & more boring. Somewhere near Sakaleshpur, Srik got a call from his office asking him to reach office as early as possible. We dropped plans of visiting couple of places on the way & rode down straight to Bangalore.

That’s the end of our 4 day ride to West Coast.

PS: And this is my 100th post :)

Bekal Fort

Prashanth — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 06:17:00 +0000

It was noon when we reached Bekal fort. Wrong time & season – noon & summer – to visit Bekal. The place was almost deserted, with few people here and there. After roaming around the fort – peeping into the (now closed) tunnel, observation tower – we went down to the beach. Sea in this part is a bit rough & not safe for getting into water as lot of rocks are there in the beach.

The fort – the biggest in Kerala, is close to 450 years old & spear over forty acres. Bekal fort was built by Keladi Nayakas post Battle of Taalikote. And main intention of building the fort was for fulfilling defense requirements. And in our era Bekal shot into fame again after a song sequence from the movie Bombay was shot here, so much that when one hears the word Bekal, next word which comes to mind will be Bombay.

Heat & the humidity was brutal. To add to the misery, I forgot to carry my hat that day. Just as we climbed our way back to the fort from beach, those two ladies selling cool drinks & soda appeared to us as angels. Gulped down couple of masala sodas & then headed towards our vehicle.

Continuation of my West Coast ride story.

Exploring Kasaragod

Prashanth — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 06:09:00 +0000

On day three we gave rest to our steeds & hired a car as Srik’s aunt & cousin accompanied us for the trip. And third day turned out be more of a pilgrimage with visits to plenty of temples – most of them in Kasaragod district. Our first stop was Ananthapura. Few weeks before our ride plan, there was a news article about the place & it’s uniqueness.

Ananthapura, the place is well known for the temple of Lord Anantha Padmanabha. There are two specialties of this place – one, the idols of Lord Anantha Padmanabha, Goddesses Sridevi & Bhudevi are not made of stone/wood/metal, but are made of a mixture of more than 60 extracts from herbs/plants & other natural materials. The temple is built in the middle of a small pond & there is no external source of water to the pond except rain.

Second unique/strange thing of the place is, a crocodile lives in this pond where temple is constructed. It’s said that the crocodile is living there for years. During lunch time when called by priest, the crocodile comes out of the water & receives the ‘prasada’ from the priest. The legend says that – In 1942, the crocodile was shot dead by a British soldier. And the very next day appeared another crocodile which is present now. It’s said that the same crocodile is living in the temple pond since then. It was truly a ‘Believe it or not’ moment for us.

How to reach Ananthapura:

From Mangalore travel south towards Kasaragod to reach Kumbala (39KMs). Turn left & after 4 KMs you will be at Naikap. Turn right to reach the temple.

Our next stop was Madhur – temple of Srimadanantheshwara & Ganapati (siddi Vinayaka). Though the main deity here is Lord Shiva, his son Ganapati gets more importance/devotees. Our visit was brief compared to Ananthapura. From Madhur we started towards Bekal fort.

The Story so far:

Bangalore – Kunigal – Hassan – Belur – Yagachi – Chikkamagalur – Balehonnur – Jayapura – Sringeri – Agumbe – Hebri – Udupi – Malpe – Bengre – Udupi – Udyavara – Kunjarugiri – Pajaka – Kaup – Surthkal – Mangalore – Ananthapura – Madhur

Digest: Trip to Wayanad – 2006

Prashanth — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 09:31:00 +0000

Journey to Kerala – Bangalore to Guruvayur and back to Wayanad
Day 1 in Wayanad – Lakkidi view point, Pookoot lake, Karapuzha dam, Edakkal caves (Ambukuthimala) and safari & night halt at Muthanga wildlife santuary
Day 2 in Wayanad – Second round of safari at Muthanga, Sulthan Batheri, Banasura dam, Tholpetty wildlife sanctuary & back to Kalpetta
Final Day in Wayanad – Trek to Chembra peak, Soochippara falls.

Falling in love with Waterfalls

Prashanth — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 14:58:00 +0000

Best thing to beat the heat in summer, is to just sit under a waterfall. This summer I got chance to visit & sit under 5 falls in a span of two months and all of them situated in western ghats. Here goes the list of them -

#1 Mookana mane Abbi fallsFirst dip of the year during our weekend bike trip around Sakaleshpur. Falls is not too high & water is not too deep. Just perfect. Perfect to get a free body massage. And my personal favorite.

#2 Bheemeshwara falls

We were there at the wrong time. Water was coming down as if someone forgot to stop the kitchen tap. Still to beat the heat, we sat under falls with water falling on us drop by drop. By the explanations from others who had visited earlier, I plan to visit it post monsoon.

#3 Dabbe falls An amazing falls, water jumping from a height of 300 ft. And only one & difficult path to reach it. Totally different experience when compared to Mookana mane falls. There it was body massage session and here it was acupuncture session. :)

#4 Jog FallsHighest water falls in India, falling from a height of 900ft. Again here also water was less when we visited, which gave us an option to sit under the falls. Arun has a beautiful picture of Jog captured in monsoon

#5 Somavathi fallsSmallest in the list & the place where we had more fun. The falls was just 8-10ft height, but slippery. Everyone who got into water fell down at least once. Step ahead, slip down, have a good laugh and wait for others to step ahead & fall. This cycle went on for whole time we were in water. This falls is near Mullodi village, on the trek path to Kuduremukha peak starting from Basurikallu gate.

Let me add a last one to the list, the one which I visited in December 2006 – Soochippara falls in Wayanad, Kerala.

Monsoon is in its full fury. Most of the water falls are going to be full and wild in few days. It’s time to sit at a far & safe distance and watch them roaring.

Wayanad – Day 3

Prashanth — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 19:11:00 +0000

Journey to Kerala | Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 @ Wayanad

We got up a little bit late on Sunday. Got ready and headed towards Meppadi. Our first destination – Chembra peak, which is the highest peak in Wayanad, at 2100m above sea level. Trekking to the top takes 3-5 hours depending on the trekker. We took 4 hours to reach the top, including an hours break for photo-shoot & resting.

Initial 25% of the trek is very steep. And we have to walk through the bushes. Luckily we were there just 2 weeks after the rainy seasons & were spared by leeches. We stopped at half way mark, the Heart shaped lake & spent more than half an hour. It was a very clear sky, with scaattered clouds here & there. Chembra was giving us chance to enjoy the view from up above.

We put on our backpacks and headed towards the top. the fonal stretch of about 20-25% is also bit steep. And we reached the summit around 1PM. We stayed there for almost an hour – Shashank got busy clicking & I took a short nap :D. View from the top was awesome. It was almost 2PM and we were hungry as we had a light breakfast in the morning and few bread slices while trekking.

Descent was very quick we took less than 2 hours to come down. We had a late lunch @ Meppadi and headed towards Soochippara falls. In this place, one has to walk down for a kilometer to reach the falls. Though we were tired, we went down to the falls. Sat there in silence watching the water flowing down. It was a refreshing thing to do, just sit and watch.

From there, returned to our base-camp, Shashi’s place. Packed our luggage, bid Shashi & his family adieu. Caught an overnight Kerala transport bus to Bangalore.

Still there are plenty of places which we didn’t visit like Kuruva dweep, Pakshi patalam, Meenmutty falls. But with a good experienced driver Sathish, we were able to visit lot of places in three days. He knows Wayanad region like back of his hand, he took us through lot of short-cuts which saved us a lot of traveling time. If you happen to visit Wayanad in future & plan to hire a jeep, then let me know Sathish is the best person for that. I can give you his contact details.

Kerala, I’ll be back soon. thats for sure :)

Wayanad – Day 2

Prashanth — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 00:30:00 +0000

Journey to Kerala | Day 1 | Day 2 @ Wayanad | Day 3
The night was cold. We got up early and were ready for another safari. It was misty & visibility was very less. Soon mist cleared away and made way for Sun rays. Sighted same species of animals – Deers, wild elephants, and plenty of peafowl. We were not lucky enough to see a tiger. A group who started 15 minutes before us the previous day had seen a tiger.

From there we started towards Banasura dam. We stopeed at Sulthan Batheri & paid a visit to a ruined Jain temple in the middle of the city. We had lunch in Batheri and proceeded towards Banasura dam. This is also another tourist place being promoted by Kerala Tourism Dept. They have recently started speed-boating in the back-waters. But no photography allowed :(

We spent almost an hour at Banasura dam. We got extra boating as not many tourists were there at that time. From there we headed towards Kuruva dweep. But we were late to reach there. Kuruva dweep closed by 5.15-5.30 PM. And we reached there by 4.15PM. One hour is nit sufficient for the island. Hence we kept that place for our next visit and changed our plan to go on a safari in Tholpetty wildlife sanctuary.

Change of plans to go on a safari in Tholpetty wildlife sanctuary turned out to be a wise idea. I happened to have a life-time experience. We got mock-charged by a wild elephant. We saw a herd of Indian Bison, a herd of wild elephants – 11 in size. They got disturbed by our presence on that pleasant evening and an elephant mocked to chase us.

After the exciting safari we started back towards our base camp, Kalpetta. It was a roller-coster day. Wild safari, visit to a temple, speed-boating and another wild safari, getting mock-charged by an angry wild elephant.Reached Kalpetta in time for dinner. Discussed next plan with Sathish, gulped down the food and hit the bed.

Wayanad – Day 1

Prashanth — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 00:31:00 +0000

Journey to Kerala | Day 1 @ Wayanad | Day 2 | Day 3

We woke up to chirping sound of birds. It was a welcome break from the busy day schedule. Went for a small walk with cameras dangling around our neck. There were plenty of birds around us.

When we came back, Sathish (our jeep driver for the next three days) was waiting for us. We told him all the places that we wish to visit, and he promised us to show maximum number of places with enough time for us to spend in those places.

In Wayanad region, all the tourist places are scattered acroos the district. Hence one has to travel a lot, its more like a chicken run. And better suited vehicle for that area is a Jeep. Out first stop was Vythri view point. From Kalpetta town, after 10-12 KMs starts ghat section which takes one to Calicut. View from this place is awesome. One can see the twisty roads down below & vehicles crawling like ants one behind the other.

From there we went to Pookoot lake. We decided to walk around the lake instead of boating and spent more than 2 hours. Shashank got busy shooting birds and I took photos of water lilies. From there we startedtowards Edakkal caves. En route Edakkal, we visited Karapuzha dam. It is still under construction. But still there was some water to attract some birds. After a short photoshoot there, we started towards Edakkal.

Edakkal is the place where prehistoric rock etchings are found on the walls of these caves. The Petroglyphs in Edakkal caves dates back to 1000BC. The caves are some where in the middle of the Ambukuthimala. One has to doa bit of hiking to reach the caves. And the Ambukuthimala peak is further high ad steep. Since we were running out of time for the safari in Muthanga wildlife santuary, we decided against going to peak & headed towards Muthanga.

We reached Muthanga wildlife santuary in time for the safari. We dumped our luggages in the wood-house and plunged in to the forest to have look at the wildlife. We spotted plenty of deers, a herd wild boars, and a lone tusker munching supper. We watched him having food for more than 10 minutes. He got bored and went inside. We returned to our rented wood-house. Retired to bed early after a quick dinner. Day was great, I was enjoying every second of it.