Tower Hill, Wayanad

 Tower Hill is located in the heart of the hills of Wayanad. Narrow road with eight hairpin curves, reach you to the resort. They offer exquisitely furnished villas, dormitories and tents as option of stay. The resort houses a kitchen and the food is prepared fresh on order or you can as well cook your own food. The resort gives almost 300deg view of the mountains of Wayanad and morning mist makes the view even serene. They offer indoor, outdoor games along with trekking option to Kurumbalakotta peak. 

Do checkout the itinerary of 4 days travel from Bengaluru to Wayanad on our Wayanad Chronicles series. 

Wayanad Chronicles - Day 4 - Kuruva Dweepa and Nagarahole

Continued from Wayanad Chronicles - Day 3

This was the last day of our trip and we wanted to cover Kuruva Dweepa, before we could head back to Hassan Via Nagarahole. On the Kuruva Dweepa road, is this Valmeekam Tribal Museum which has the personal collection of Mr. Georgekutty which includes mud sculptures and his art gallery on the first floor. His paintings are available for sale too.

Kuruva is a small island(Dweep) formed on Kabini river. While the island is open to public, but after the recent Kerala floods, the island was mostly destroyed and the authorities have stopped tourist from entering the island, though they still offer the boat ride till the island. The boat rides offered here is a must to experience. There are many ropes tied between the two banks of the river and a person rows the boat by pulling the rope.

Since we were not lucky enough to spot any wild during our drive to Wayand through Bandipur, we thought of trying our luck and planned to drive back through Nagarahole. Yet another reason for us to drive through Nagarahole was the spotting of elephants which participate in Mysore Dasara. When checked with the forest officials, we were told the elephants were brought to Balle a check post next to Kabini river everyday by 4 in the evening for giving bath and food. If you are planning to drive through Nagarahole and want to spot these Dasara elephants, plan accordingly. The balle check post is just after a small tributary of Kabini river and can easily be traced, it also has a temple and forest officer quarters. Many people gather here everyday by 4, to catch a glimpse of these elephants. The drive through Nagarahole turned out to be really lucky, were we spotted wild elephants grazing in the woods.

The 4 day trip to Wayanad ended with the lovely memories of wild, nature, art forms, good food. 

Wayanad Chronicles - Day 3 - Kurumbalakotta and Banasura

Continued from Wayanad Chronicles - Day 2

Our day 3 was for Kurumbalakotta view peak and few places around Venniyod. Kurumbalakotta is at the confluence of Western and Eastern ghat and offers beautiful sunrise view. The trek was really steep and tough for a first timer like me. There was not fixed rout and you definitely need to be accompanied by a local.  We started trekking through the coffee plantation with our mobile torch on. Around half way through, the trek really gets steeper, I literally gave up, but hubby and cousin gave all the motivation and I had no option as well to get back without them. I guess, I was the last to reach the peak. You should be lucky enough to get the sun rise view, as most of the winter mornings are foggy. Though we missed the sun rise, the view of the mountain range from above the clouds made up to all the efforts. There is enough place for campers, and few trek up the hill in the evening, camp there, enjoy the sun rise and trek back in the morning. With the number of tourists visiting the place, there are small tea stalls set up by the local at the peak, which will refresh you after the tiring trek. The down hill is still more scary, for we get to view the steep cliff, while walking on the edge on the hill. 

After relaxing and done with brunch we started off for the places around Venniyod. Few minutes drive gave us the beautiful view of Banasura hill range and we headed to Banasura Dam. Built on river kabini, this is largest earth dam in India and second largest dam of Asia. There are water games at the reservoir backwaters and adventure activities like zip line. You can find zip line at many places around Vythiri, where tea estates offer zip line through the tea plantations, but this at Banasura Dam is one of the longest. You can plan your visit in the evening, if you wish to take up water games. It was too hot in the afternoon for water games, we just did zip line and drove to Meenmutty waterfall. 

Reservoir backwaters

Reservoir backwaters

The water fall is amidst Banasura hill range, and you need to trek around half a km to reach the water fall. There are different views of the fall from different points on the Banasura range. Depending on your trekking ability you can get on with different view points. The dense forest, with chilled fresh water stream is very relaxing and the trek too doesn't tire you at all. There are many souvenir and medicinal herbs stalls put up on the way to the fall. Fresh raw turmeric and vinegar pickles are something you can pick from here. You can easily spend time and relax in water.

Wayanad Chronicles - Day 4 next on the series

Wayanad Chronicles - Day 2 - Vythiri

Continued from Wayanad Chronicles - Day 1 

Being a week day, whole family was busy with their routine and we planned to start for the day. We were joined by hubby's cousin and we wanted to have Vythiri tour for day 2. Vythiri is known for its tea estates and contribute to most of Wayand's tea market. The plantation is so beautiful that you just want to get down at each estate you come across and go on clicking the pics. Yet HML Tea Museum with estate is some thing you can plan to visit, if you want to get deeper about tea or have a tea tasting session. The museum has a collection of old tea making machines, photographs of tea processing, type of tea and much more. If you have enough time, you can take a tour of the estate as well. Lunch for the day was at Aryabhavan Mess Food. This mess on Wayand - Kozhikode Road serves pure veg sadhya style lunch on banana leaf. One of the very few pure vegetarian homely food to find in Wayand. Don't look for hygiene, but the food is authentic and tasty.

With all their lush green tea estates, this region also houses most of the resorts of Wayanad. Enjoyed the lush green tea estates and headed to Lakkidi view point, the point which gives the beautiful view of the Thamarassery ghat. While returning back we stopped at Chain tree to hear about the monument and the story of Karinthandan. Its said Karinthandan was killed by British officers and chained to the tree. Since then the chain has been growing with the growing tree.

Lakkidi view point

Chain tree

Pookot lake

Just few kms from Chain tree is Pookot lake, which is surrounded by the mountain range and offers boat ride.

Wayanad Chronicles - Day 3 next on the series

Wayanad Chronicles - Day 1- Himavad Gopalswamy Betta, Bandipur and Sulthan Bathery

Mysore - Himavad Gopalswamy Betta - Bandipur - Sulthan Bathery-Venniyode

We had been planing a visit to Wayanad for few years now. Hubby's aunt stays in Wayanad and it used to be his regular summer vacation trip during childhood, and he always shared wonderful memories of Wayanad with me. So during the Diwali long weekend this year we planned our visit to Wayanad. It definitely was to be a leisure trip no much of running around. So we started off from Bangalore by 6 in the evening, halted at Mysore, and started in the morning for Wayanad. We were on Mysore Ooty round by 9 AM, our plan for day 1 was to cover Himavad Gopalswamy betta and Sultan Bathery. We took pit stops on the way to enjoy the paddy fields of Najangudu and reached Himavad Gopalswamy Betta by 11AM. The forest authorities have become strict nowadays and they have stopped allowing private vehicles to the hill. There are KSTRC buses playing from the foot hills to the temple. Himavad Gopalaswamy betta is the highest peak of Bandipur Tiger Reverse and you get the beautiful view of the forest. Dedicated to Gopala, Lord Krishna the temple is well known for being chilled throughout the year, even at the highest temperatures down hill. Its just not the inside of the temple but also the entire plateau with the cool breeze. If you are lucky enough you spot wild life, we were told its common to encounter with elephant herds en-route to the hill or near the temple. Its the smell of the temple prasada(offerings to devotees), which attract these elephants, our bus driver said. By the time we were back at the foot hills it was already 1:30, looking out for decent food joints, we drove back to Gundlupete. Himavad Gopalaswamy bette is on Ooty road, you need to drive back to Gundlupete and take the other deviated rout to Sulthan Bathery. With quick lunch at Gundlupet we started off to Sultan Bathery. One of our reason's to avoid night travel and take the day trip was to enjoy the drive through Bandipur Tiger Reserve. With every rare calls and around the water bodies we looked for the sighting of tiger or elephants, the only animals we could spot were lots on monkeys, deer herds, peacocks and many birds. This rout through Bandipur is closed from 8PM to 6AM, one of the few national parks which closes late, while most of the other parks close by 6 in the evening. We reached Sulthan Bathery by 4PM and drove to Ancient Jain temple. Built in 13th century, the Jain temple served as a place of worship and a ammunition store during the rule of Tippu Sultan, hence the city gets its name Sultan Bathery(Tippu Sultan Battery). From Sultan Bathery we drove to Kainatty Ananthanatha Swamy Jain Temple to join cousins for Mahaveer Swamy Mokshakalyana Mahotsava, a celebration as part of Diwali. We called for the day at cousin's place in Venniyode, which is around 13km from Kainatty.

Paddy Fields of Nanjangudu

Paddy Fields of Nanjangudu

Himavad Gopalaswamy Betta

Himavad Gopalaswamy Betta

Himavad Gopalaswamy Betta

Bandipur Tiger Reserve

Bandipur Tiger Reserve

Bandipur Tiger Reserve

Pic Courtesy http://wayanadtourism.org/explores/jain-temple,-sulthan-bathery

Wayanad Chronicles - Day 2 next on the series