Karthik's Wander: Trio trip - Tenkasi - Thenmala

Trip members: Karthik and family

Trip date: 9 - 11 Dec 2016

Trip Plan : Chennai - Tenkasi - Courtallam - Sankarankoil - Thenmala - Tirunelveli - Chennai

Day-1

We arrived in Tenkasi around 8:45 am. We had booked our cab for 3 days and also the resort in Courtallam for 2 nights. We had breakfast at the famous Vinayaka mess for varieties of Dosa and did check-in at Esakki resorts. Esakki resorts is around 2 kms before Old Courtallam waterfalls. Its a quite comfort stay amidst the mountains and we heard no noise at all, The sleep quality was quite good and the rooms were very clean. The rooms had water heaters, televisions and a small refrigerator. They do not have a running restaurant but need orders to be given 2-3 hours ahead. We never tried food there during the 2 day stay.

We started the trip going to Old Courtallam. It had water enough for 10-15 people to bath in - the day being Friday, we were the only ones to take bath - it was like a private waterfalls. Wow feeling was there as we had never seen this place with no people. Nature and Solitude - great feeling, isn't it! We spent close to 1 hour in the falls and started to Main Falls.

Main falls had very less water, given the drought this year. There was appreciable crowd of Sabarimala and some tourists in the location. We had hot vadais and tea at the main falls and prepared fore the bath. The crowd and less water did not prevent us from getting wet again. As water was very less, we were able to see the rock cut sculptures on the wall of main falls - lingas and goddesses.

We visit the Courtrallanathar Temple after the bath around 12 noon. The temple was open and we had an excellent dharshan. We visited all the sanctums of the temple. The temple is quite old and one can feel the energy as you do your prayers at the temple. Kuzhalvoimozhi Amman is the Goddess in the temple. This temple is Chithirachabai - one of Pancha Sabais of Lord Shiva.

We then had lunch at a hotel - Shree Meenakshi Restaurant - meals for Rs.60 each. The food was hot and simple - quite an average meals. This is just opposite when we reach the Tenkasi road from Main falls parking area. There are very good restaurants and small mess in Tenkasi - which we planned for other foods.

After taking some rest, we went to Sankarankoil. We started around 3 PM from the rooms and reached the temple around 5 PM. We took the route of - Courtallam - Tenkasi - Serndamangalam. The distance was around 55 kms. The temple was not so crowded. About the temple - God : Arulmigu Sankaranaaraayana Swamy and Arulmigu Sankara Linga Swamy and Goddess : Gomathi Amman. The temple is famous for Holy Sand "Puttrumann". It took around more than one hour for us to complete the dharshan of all the sanctums of the temple - the temple is quite old and big and needs patience and time to go around and be satisfied.

Around 6:30 we started back and reached Tenkasi by 7:30. We stopped by at Kasi Viswanathar temple - the most famous destination of Tenkasi. Lord Shiva is in the form of Viswanathar and Amman is Ulagamman. This temple is more than 500 years old and an very important temple in the South of Tamilnadu. It took around 20-25 minutes to have a pleasant dharshan in the temple and we were out of the temple by 8 PM.

We then decided to have food in local joint - Murali's cafe. Hot piping idlies with excellent sambhar and chutneys - no count of idlies can be kept as you gulp down the throat. The NICE dosa was equally good too! Definitely - a must taste place in Tenkasi - just outside the temple.

Day-2

After a good night's sleep at Esakki resorts, we started the day around 7:30 to Thenmala. The most awaited place in my bucket list for some time and was getting stroked off this day !

We had breakfast at Hotel AVM restaurant - Pooris, idlies, vadai and dosas. They were just ok - no complaints. We then started to Thenmala. Our first destination was Ariyankavu. We paid Rs.200 to the driver for the Kerala permit - took 5 minutes to get it.

Aryankavu is one of the important Sastha - Lord Ayappa temples. The temple is on the Ghat road - 28 kms from Courtallam. The Dharmasatha temple is reachable as we climb down around 50 steps from the Ghat main road. Male should remove their shirts to enter the Sanctum and female of age 10 to 50 are restricted to go inside. It took around 20-30 minutes for the dharshan and going around the temple. There are lots of shops along the way for domestic shopping.

From Aryankavu, Thenmala dam is around 15 kms - takes around 30 minutes. An either side you have excellent views of the running streams in shallow valleys and gigantic railway bridges. Quite a photogenic site during rainy days and not on sunny days, as was the day. They charge Rs.10 per adult and Rs.5 for children; Rs.10 for the car for entrance. Tourists are allowed to walk almost a km by feet to enter into the dam area - one has to climb around 150 steps to reach the top of the dam. It would be quite demanding for elder people, however can do it with patience. The view from the dam is quite scenic. Small hillocks all around and water in the reservoir. Quite a site! It did not demand a wow as many sites and reviews command for! It was ok.

We looked next towards the Thenmala Ecotourism park. The Adventure zone has lot of activities for the adults - like rope walk, River crossing, Rock climbing, mountain biking and likes. Since we had a mix of all ages, we preferred to slip this and move on to Children's park. This is a small park for kids to play and one can spend around 20 minutes here. Most of them are located within a km from the dam entrance. Adventure zone is 500m before the dam itself and rest of them 500m after the dam on the road to Kollam.

The butterfly park (safari) is at 3 PM only and it was only around 11 AM by the time we visited. We then decided to get back to Tenkasi. Overall, Thenmala on a sunny day was not so interesting and you need to have the right mix of gang to go to Adventure zone.

Lunch - we had at Raj Mess in Tenkasi - the lunch was simple and homely, yet tasty. The lunch was definitely one to remember and better ones in the town. After some rest, we had plan to visit Thirumalai Kovil.

Thirumalai Kovil is around 14 kms from Courtallam via Senkottai-Panpoli. We reached the temple around 5 PM. The main deity is Lord Muruga. There are around 600 steep steps to climb up to the temple. There are well laid roads as well to reach the top by car. The hilltop offers a great view point of the green cover of Senkottai and around. Definitely, one can spend more than 1 hour to enjoy the view - sunset view is more exciting to see from the hill. A place for photographers to kill time!

Around 7 PM, we returned to Courtallam and did some shopping in the small shops all around - which normally are put up during the season of June-July and again during Sabarimalai season. It is a good time killer. We also had yummy hot parottas and dosas at a small shop near the main falls. Almost all shops would be vegetarian only during the Sabarimalai season.

Day-3

The plan was to see Manimutharu dam, Agasthiar falls and Nellaiappar temple before we catch train at Nellai junction. We started the day by 8 AM. We had our breakfast at Hotel Akshaya Bhavan in Courtallam. The tiffin was quite good here as well - pongal, pooris and dosas. The highlight of all these places is that they offer good sambhars and chutneys for all tiffin items.

Manimutharu dam is roughly around 50 kms from Courtallam - enroute - Pottalpudur - Alwarkurichi - Ambasamudram - Kallidaikurichi. One has to go through the railway crossing immediately after Kallidaikurichi railway station - 7 kms from there is Manimutharu dam. The road for this stretch is quite bad. The dam was very dry because of the scarcity of rains this year. We went on to Manimutharu falls - the tickets are Rs.15 for car, Rs.15 per adult and Rs.25 for still camera. This is sanctuary area and you can expect only bad roads here. The drive of around 5 kms is all on the banks of the reservoir - it would have been amazingly scenic if it had water.

There was enough water gushing on one corner of the falls - for 30 people to get wet. We spent around 1 hour enjoying the super cool water. A definitely cannot miss place in South Tamilnadu - for the natural beauty around and water. After drying our clothes and satisfied with the long shower, we started to Agasthiar falls.

We took the route of Kallidakurichi - Ambasamudram for Papansam (Agasthiar falls) as the road would be much better than the internal ones. This highway route is around 28 kms Also, we want to have lunch as it was almost noon when we left Manimutharu falls. We stopped at Hotel Gowrishankar - Ambasamudram. The meals was very good - simple.

We reached Agasthiar falls around 1:30 PM. The place was quite crowded as it was Sunday and during Sabarimalai season, it is expected to be crowded. Water was falling enough for a small crowd and one had to wait to take turns to get into water. We spent around 45 minutes in water and then started to Nellai.

Around 3:45, we reached Nellaiappar temple. The day was a Pradhosham and it was quite crowded. Normally, the temple does not have crowd. We had a quick dharshan before the crowd settles down for the special poojas and we also saw the special abhishekam for some time. Lord Shiva is worshipped as Nellaiappar and Goddess Parvathi as Kanthimathi Amman. It is one of the oldest temples in Tamilnadu and the prakarams as so symmetric that stands as a symbol of excellent architecture. This temple is Thamirachabai - one of the Pancha Sabhais of Lord Shiva. The temple also hosts musical pillars in the main deity mandapam. We spent little more than 1 hour in the temple.