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