Two days in Wayanad -DAY 1. Review on Wayanad

It was indeed an unforgettable weekend which we spent in Wayanad for two days. We were 11 people and all of us were in the traveler by 10.30 PM on Friday and were out of Bangalore city traffic by 11 O’clock. We crossed Bandipur forest in the night and were lucky enough to see deer crossing the road. Hearing our traveler sound, the deer ran away. We stopped in the Kerala border for sometime to pay the tax and that time we came out of the vehicle.

The chill weather outside was enough to give us the right information about the weather in Wayanad which we are going to experience. By 5.30 we reached Kalpetta, the district headquarters of Wayanad where we have booked the hotel for stay. All of us were very enthusiastic to go out immediately and we left the hotel by 7 O’clock. After the breakfast from a near by restaurant, we started our journey.

Edackkal CavesIt is a cave made up of rocks and is situated on Ambukuthi Hills, 29 kms from Kalpetta. After sometime some of us went to sit above the traveler to feel the nature in a better way. But it was exciting time for the localities who wondered to see guys and gals sitting above a traveler while it is moving. We reached there by 9 O’clock and we ordered our lunch before going to see the caves.

The hills are 1.2 km away from the parking area and we preferred to walk rather than taking jeep to reach there. All of us were feeling the real nature consisting of trees, rocks etc. We took entrance tickets and entered inside the rocks. There were few steps made to facilitate easy climbing and then we reached in front of the caves. There is a wonderful panoramic view of hills and thick forests. We were able to see Phantom rock clearly from there.

There is a telescope from which we observed the nature in a better way. Then we entered in side the caves. There are two stones on both sides and a third stone is stuck in between these two and hence the name Edackkal. (“Eda” in Malayalam means “between” and “kal” means “stone or rock”.). There were lots of stone carvings on the rocks and those were carved by people who lived over there during BC 4000. (Around 6000 years ago). We will be able to observe pictures of a man (both front view and back view), a woman and a kid with feather crown on their head. Also there are pictures of elephant, peacock and flower. Many other pictures are yet to be identified by the historians.

There are also written scripts in the languages Pali, Old Tamil etc. There is one such script written by the then Tamil Brahmins, “A king called Nandu who killed many tigers came here”. These all things were explained by a Government guide. This hill is situated 4000 ft above sea level. You can also see the valley of the hill through a small space between those two mammoth rocks.

Then we started the 1000ft trekking to the top of the Ambukuthi hills. It was an amazing experience for all of us. We have to go through a small space between some rocks in one place and then we will reach a flat area where we can see two hills and most people is going to the bigger hill over there. So naturally we also decided to go to the bigger rock. That was a nice experience with a mix of anxiety, enthusiasm, fear and thrill. We have to use rope for crossing a steep rock on the way and after that we have to climb even some big rocks. From the hill, we can see Karnataka’s Chamrajnagar on one side, Tamil Nadu’s Nilgiri hills on another side and Kerala’s Wayanad on third side. That was really a nice experience. We started climbing down the hill and were managed to reach the bottom by 1.30 PM. There we had some snacks and saw few monkeys taking food from the food waste thrown by people. It was a nice time to see a monkey family over there with the mother holding its kid firmly on its body using its tail and hands. We had our lunch on the bottom of the caves near parking are and left the place by 3 O’clock.

Karappuzha Dam

As we were running short of time, we decided to skip Meenmutty water falls which requires a 2 km steep jungle trek through thick forest and requires a minimum of 4 hours for the same. It is also advised to go there only with a local guide as it is a very dangerous trekking. The water falls down 300 meters and the rocks are very slippery. So we decided to cover some other tourist spots. There is an archeological museum and a farm house in Ambalavayal, but we skipped them. We reached Karappuzha water reservoir and we spent sometime over there. The water is mainly used for irrigation purposes and also to facilitate the water flow in Kabini River during hot summer. From there, we left after half an hour.

*Pookotte Lake, Chain tree, Lakkidi viewpoint

Then we crossed Kalpetta and Vythiri to reach Pookotte Lake which consists of boating in the lake, horse riding, children’s park, aquarium etc. It is a natural fresh water lake surrounded by evergreen forest and rolling hills. This lake is around 11 km from Kalpetta towards the Kozhikode highway. It is basically meant for children’s pleasure. By around 5.50 PM, we left towards Chain tree which is just 2 km away from there. There is a story behind this tree. A tribal man showed a British this Tamarassery pass as a way to reach Mysore easily and the British killed this man to get the full credit to him. Then lots of accidents happed on that road and later on understood that, the soul of the tribal man is responsible for these accidents. So the soul is now tied in that tree by a chain and then it is believed that the accidents are reduced on that route. From there starts the Tamarassery pass. Its starting point is Lakkidi which is one of the highest locations of Wayanad. It gives picturesque scenery.

It is about 2 km south of Chain Tree and is the gateway of Wayanad. It is a ghat pass at an elevation of 700m above sea level. The lofty mountain peaks, the gurgling stream, luxuriant vegetation and the bird’s eye view of the deep valley on the south, with its winding roads are breath taking. By 6.30-6.45, the view became more attractive with the sky being red in color. Then we came back to our lodge and stayed that night there.

Second part is:

https://mouthshut.com/review/Wayanad_Hotels-119086-1.html