Trip around Thekkady

Trip members: Karthik, Viswa, Santhaseelan, Karthikeyan, Sanjeevi and Dhana
Trip date: 02 and 03 July 2016
Trip Plan : Chennai - Cumbum - Kumily - Thekkady - Around Thekkady - Kumily - Cumbum - Chennai

Day-1

We started from Chennai around 10 PM from Tambaram by T.A.T travels and reached Cumbum by 7:30 AM. We refreshed and had nice and tasty breakfast at hotel Sri Gopala Krishna Vilas; very near to the Cumbum bus stand junction. We had booked the Forest Canopy resort at Thekkady; the check-in time was 12 noon and we had the morning to kill at our will.

We planned to go to Suruli falls and took government mini-bus to the water falls, charge is Rs.10 per person from the Gandhi statue near Cumbum bus stand. We reached the falls in 20 minutes time and took the small trek to reach the falls. The water was not less or high but a good one for 10 people to bath. The crowd was also low, and we could enjoy the next 45 minutes at our will.

Suruli Falls

The water was cold and very refreshing. We also had some snacks and tender coconut as we waited for the bus back to Cumbum. We hired an auto for Rs.120 to reach back Cumbum bus stand and boarded a bus that was just waiting for us and started to Kumily by 11:15 AM.

We reached Kumily around 12 noon and hired an auto for Rs.80 to Forest canopy resort. The resort is around 4 kms from Kumily bus stand on the way to Vandi Periyar.

Forest Canopy resort is on a slope of a hill, just on the highway; easily locatable and approachable. The reception and check-in process were very smooth and we got an upgrade from deluxe rooms to premium rooms. The rooms are located on slope of the hill; quite difficult to climb for elders and anyone with luggage. The resort has cars to help movement of customers across the places in resort - though they are located close-by the slope makes it difficult at times. A good service by resort on this front. The swimming pool and restaurant are located on top of the hill and give amazing views. The water was also very good in swimming pool. Overall, a great service at an amazing location.

Yeah .. What a view !!! We were there in the pool !!

We decided to go around for couple of hours in the evening. We hired a jeep for 2 hours - Ottakathalamedu, Pandikuzhi, Chellarkovil being the spots to visit. Ottakathalamedu, Pandikuzhi, Chellarkovil is a view point offering a vast view of the hills all around Kumily.  Pandikuzhi and Chellarkovil offer greats views of the TN valley below and a stream of running water at Chellarkovil. Each of them are very good time killers - the route is typical off road and offering great views. There is a big cross at Ottakathalamedu - 4-5 kms from the resort.

On the way to Ottakathalamedu

Reaching Ottakathalamedu

View from Ottakathalamedu

View from Ottakathalamedu

Ottakathalamedu Watch Tower

View from Ottakathalamedu Watch tower

Pandikuzhi is a steep valley view on the verge of the mountains. Very breezy and nice green views. The route is quite steep and perfect for off-road. It was pleasant in the evening.

Way to Chellarkoil

Chellarkoil

Chellarkoil view - waterfalls

Chellarkoil view - waterfalls

Chellarkoil view - waterfalls

Pandikuzhi view point

We had dinner at a local restaurant - Hotel Vasant Vihar - we had rice, dosas and parottas - they were ok and that made up our end of day.

Day-2

We hired the same driver for the whole of next day - Mr.Babu. He was very informative and definitely did more than what was asked. He showed us places with passion and best views possible! The extra mile on day-1 helped us stick to him for Day-2 - a 5-hour drive towards Sathram and Parunthumpaara.

We had a grand breakfast as a part of the buffet at the resort and started at 09:30 am. We went straight to the Sathram area - a group of green hills - its green, greener and greenest all around. Wow - a definite in this location. The jeep was open top and was the best thing to go around all this place.

The driver took us to various spots in Sathram and then to Parunthumpaara. The first spot was Gavi gate. This is basically a small restaurant with a great view. This is few kms before the diversion for Gavi and Sathram. Sathram is around 31 kms from the resort and one had to take right direction at the Gavi-Vandiperiyar highway (NH183). The whole trip from this diversion is off-road and is amazingly green. Its all grass hills on all sides - full of green mounts. We can site elephants at a distance - so small that you need to really focus and see them.

The driver (Mr.Babu) was so cool and made our trip enjoyable with some steep climb ups and downs across the area. No great camera can capture what the nature shows in our eyes! We spent almost 2 hours around Sathram area; viewing the route to Sabarimala along Pulmeedu and viewing the actual Sathram - stay place for pilgrims going to Sabarimala through this route.

NH To Pulmedu

Sathram - for pilgrims to Sabarimalai through Pulmedu

Panoramic view

Then, we went to Paruthumpara View Point. This is around 14 kms from Sathram - there was road at times and off-road at times. Paruthumpara View Point - is a massive view point; got its name through the Eagle's view. Truly, it stands for the name given; a WOW view point. The view point, if not fenced will definitely not attract tourists for the feat that might create. Time just flies by seeing the nature here.

It was 1 PM and we had the primary plan to come to Thekkady - the boating; still pending. We reached Thekkady around 1:50 PM and had some quick lunch and moved fast to get tickets for the boating. The primary entrance for Periyar wildlife sanctuary is Rs.33 per person and R.100 for vehicles. Local tourist vehicles need not buy tickets. KTDC and TTDC have boat counters and we went on KTDC boats. Each person has to fill his/her own application - with name, address and then sign to get a ticket. Each ticket per adult is Rs.225. The ride is closer to 80-90 minutes.

We boarded Jalaraja - fortunate to get upper deck seats. If you get upper deck, the view would definitely be good. We had the 3:30PM ride. Always, evening rides around sunset would be idle time for wildlife sighting. Across the ride, we sighted lots of deer, bisons and wild boars - all along the banks on either side of the water. It was an apt duration ride and as we return, the place gets dark,

We had earlier bought tickets for Kalaripayattu - They have daily shows for one hour - 6 PM to 7 PM at Kadathanadan Kalari centre. They also host Kathakali dance. These are the Kerala traditional fight and dance. We bought tickets only for Kalari as we had return bus at 08:30 PM from Cumbum. The event was so fascinating with swords, sticks, knifes and fire rings - demonstrating speed, precision, flexibility and fearlessness.

The evening was definitely worth and do try to spend time seeing these. We started back to Cumbum around 07:15 and reached by 8 PM. We had awesome hot idlis as dinner at a small shop near Cumbum G.H and boarded the bus back to Chennai ! Having planned for resort and boating alone in the trip; the great off-road trips around Kumily, Sathram and Paruthumpara were amazing. A 3-day 2-night trip is definitely wanted to cover most of the places around !

Our driver Mr.Babu contact info - call him if you are in Kumily/Thekkady

Videos of Kalari