Chembra Peak

                                                             Heaven on Earth

                                                             Nature's Heart

Chembra peak is located in Waynad district ,Kerala state. Chembra is the highest peak in waynad and it is part of western ghats. Best place for nature lovers and trekkers.

(Image source : Google)

How to reach : 

Chembra is around 300 kms from Bangalore , if you are going by bike or car then the route is reach Gundlupet(karnataka) take a right after that which leads to Kerala. Remember you will enter the forest area which will be closed from 9 pm to 6 am , so plan your journey according to this. Then reach kalpetta (Kerala) from there chembra is around 20 kms.

Here are the details for the travellers who want to use public transport like me and my friends did..

Direct buses are available till Kalpetta(Kerala) from Bangalore, both Karnataka and Kerala transport services ply to this route. As we did not booked any tickets and as it was a peak season we where not able to get into those buses. Alternate thing is via Mysore.

From Bangalore we started to Mysore from Satellite busstand there are hell lot of buses to Mysore throughout day and night and almost all buses start from Satellite bus stand.We started around 12 am and reached Mysore around 3 am. From Mysore first bus to Kalpetta starts around 4:30 am and it takes around 3 hrs to reach Kalpetta ( Kerala). So my suggestion is start little late from Bangalore to Mysore. From Kalpetta there will be frequent buses to Mapad town (Kerala) which is around 12 kms take that bus.  You can have breakfast , pack snacks and water bottles from there. From Mapad you can hier a jeep or auto to chembra peak (8 kms) . Auto guy charged us 200 Rs one way. We took his number and while returning we called the same guy as there is no public transport facility available to the Chembra.

** Blog is under construction please visit again.

 

Kodaikanal

                                                 Kodaikanal 
                                                            * A paradise for nature lovers...

Kodaikanal is around 430 kms from Bangalore.

Transportation:

By Bus:

There are private,KSRTC(Karnataka) and SETC(Tamilnadu) buses available to the hill station.
Prior booking is required for all these buses as number of buses servicing are very less.

Ticket price:
*For private buses it may vary from Rs 500 - Rs 800 and for government running buses
 it may vary from Rs 400 - Rs 600.

Timing:
The buses usually start at night post 9:00 p.m and reach Kodaikanal around 8:00 a.m....

By train:

Other option is by train.
Note: There is only one train running on this route,which starts from Mysore and goes to tuticorn.

You should get down at Kodai road junction,which is around 80 kms from Kodaikanal.

Timing:
The train leaves Bangalore around 9:30 pm and reaches kodai road around 6:30 a.m....

Ticket price:
* Ticket price for sleeper class is around Rs 200.

From kodai road to Kodaikanal there are government running buses ocassionally(6:30 a.m,8:30 a.m and so on)
which will take around 3 1/2 hrs to climb the hill (around Rs 40).

If you are 3 or more ppl it is better to opt an taxi which will take u within 2 hrs.
Taxi will charge you around Rs 1300 but u can bargain till Rs 1000 if you are lucky:)
He will stop in between few of the view points which makes taxi option worth.

Tourist Places in Kodaikanal...

Note: I had been to kodaikanal only for 2 days so leftout many places :( .. I suggest if anyone  planning for 2 days make it atleast min 3 days:) You can explore the nature very well without hurry...


Rat tail Falls and view point :

Rat Tail Falls during On season.

                                                 It is on the way to kodaikanal from kodai road. People travelling by bus will miss this. Here is a scenic view of hills , a falls and a dam bellow the hills.This is an worth to watch place.I suggest you to go during season time to explore the beauty of the false or else you will end up with dried falls like me:(

Rat tail falls during off season

 

 

view of a dam

Silver cascade falls :


             Even this is on the way to kodaikanal.This is a beautiful falls worth watching. Nearby to the falls there are local shops with fruits,flowers and other stuffs..You can start filling your shopping bags from here:) 

Silver cascade falls during season time.

Silver cascade during off season

Flowers near silver cascade

Berijim lake and view points on the way :
   
                                 You can find lots of scenic spots on the way to Berijim lake.Almost many places will be covered by mist.Berijim is around 20 kms from th city and you need to get permission from forest department to enter the lake premises.It is highly protected area and you should avoid carrying plastic.The lake is beautiful and silent.Water is clear and chilled. Just you can feel the cold breeze and appreciate natures beauty.


Museum :


            This is around 5 kms from the city.There is nothing in it if you studied biology then whatever you have seen in the labs you can find here.I think it is waste of precious time in kodaikanl to visit this place.








**This page is in editing phase look for it later..:) 

Yelagiri

Yelagiri is a small hill station in the state of Tamil Nadu and it is just 150 km from Bangalore.The hill station is not much popular and in this post i will just reveal my experience in the hill station.Nearest railway station is the Jolarpettai junction.


**Our Trip plan**


*June-25-2011 Saturday afternoon my friend text ed that he is damn bored sitting in home and wanted to go somewhere to a silent and green place away from the busy city.As i'm a travel lover always waited for such kind of opportunity and even i wanted a break from the office life so i agreed.Now we had just 1 1/2 day of our weekend left and we should plan for the same.So the big question was Where To GO? We Googled and got few places but for them to visit we needed at-least 3 days as we where suppose to get back to work so we didn't think about that option.So finally we ended up with Yelagiri,as we heard that this is a hill station so our expectations from this place was quite large.As we googled we didn't got clear information about this place.


   We decided to leave Bangalore on the same night and planned to travel by train as this was our last minute plan so we where suppose to travel in a general compartment.We decided to go by Cauvery express and the ticket price for both was Rs 74 :)  we boarded the train at around 11:30 pm and reached Jolarpettai station around 3:00 am.We where suppose to wait till the early morning for the bus,we inquired the locals and came to know that the first bus to Yelagiri is at 5:00 am and the ticket cost for two was just Rs 12 :).  


**All about Yelagiri**

Way top to the hill

Top from the hill

The bus started moving through hilly curves and as it was early morning we where able to feel the cold breeze,as we went through we came across Nilgiri trees and every one in the bus felt fresh aroma of nilgiri I felt wow awesome place but after few minutes those trees disappeared and we ended up with a small village.It just took 45 min to travel up the hill. i felt what is this place?It doesn't seems like an hill station:( but what to do we decided to explore the locals about the place and started exploring.

Tourist places

Places in Yelagiri :


* Telescopic point  -- It is around 2-3 km from the bus stop.Best time to visit is early morning as you need to walk through the nilgiri trees you can enjoy the fresh aroma early morning.

Nilgiri plantation

*Youth camp -- It is around 6 - 7 km from the main bus stop.Buses are available but check for the bus timings. Facilities available here are Boarding,Food,Camping,Fire place.For treckers it is the destiny.

Youth camp treck route

Treck route

*Lotus pond -- This is on the way to youth center and it is just a waste to visit this place.

Lotus pond

Tree at lotus pond

****Though they say Yelagiri is a hill station but the climate is normal and sunny.


*Lake -- It is in the center of the village. It has an park which is quite old and an artificial lake with some boats.There is an entry ticket to the lake which is Rs 3.There is nothing to say about this place if you want to go for a boat ride be ready to stand and wait in long queues as they wont have much boats.

Lake

Lake

*Nature Park -- This is one of the best place in Yelagiri.This is a beautiful park located just opposite to the lake.The entry ticket is Rs 15 for each.Best time to visit is morning or evening not in the afternoon as it will be sunny.

Nature's park

Me in Nature's camp

Things to do in Yelagiri:


Walk through the nilgiri early morning till the telescopic point , treck (2 trecking routes of 3km and 6km are available) and a visit to the natures park.

Random

Temple on the way to youth
camp

Me and My friend