Meenmutty Falls in Wayanad, Kerala

The big sign board on the side of the road announced that we were at Meenmutty falls. Except for a narrow country road there were no other roads from the main road to take us to the falls. Looking at the big gang that we were, the shopkeepers got busy attracting the customers towards their shops. We leaned our cycles against the bamboo sticks supporting the shelters of the shop and got busy with gulping down the masala buttermilk. Soon our packed lunch arrived along with the support vehicle – lunch and another round of gulping down the buttermilk ensued.

We had two options to reach our destination – either cycle down to the falls on the bumpy road or walk down. Considering how much our bottoms had taken the beating, the ride on the uneven road was almost reaching hell and coming back. That meant a slow walk on the country road. The trees on either side was blessing in disguise. They provided the much-needed shade on a summer afternoon. The gurgling sound of the falls increased as we approached the water fall into a big roar. After navigating through the twisty single hiking path, there it was the ‘Meenmutty falls’. I had missed visiting the place during my last visit to Wayanad. Back in 2007, Meenmutty was slightly off the grid from the places that we had planned to visit that time. Finally, here I was!

The last leg of the walk to the falls included going down a steep incline – that also meant one has to climb up again. Though the mind was pushing me towards the water, the shaky knees were not listening to my brain commands. After a lot of deliberation, I decided to stay put and not to venture down to the water (I still regret the decision!). I sat down on one of the rocks taking in the beauty of the falls, soaking in the occasional drifting mist. The extra time off the water meant to play around and experiment with my camera. The decision of not getting into the waterfalls meant breaking the tradition of not taking bath under the waterfall I visit – more compelling reason for me to visit the place again 🙂

PS: The visit to Meenmutty was on day one of the weekend cycling ride I did in Wayanad way back in April 2010.