The Wayanad Expedition

Olive Homestay

Wayanad – a trekker’s paradise, haven for all nature lovers and vacationers alike.  We had started making plans to hit Wayanad a month back. With things going from pillar to post, we somehow managed to get our stay and logistics finalized. Biju Thomas was glad to have us at his homestay, Olive Homes in Kalpeta, which we concluded as the closest spot to all prime locations after an half assed research. 

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By Murphy’s, Biju calls us on friday morning informing us of the eminent hartal all over Kerala the next day. When plans started taking a downward death spiral, me and my friends decided to leave Chennai by early evening on Friday at any cost, but ‘where?’ was still a question. I made a quick sketch which would include visiting Gopalaswamy betta, near Bandhipur and taking a tour through Masinagudi, Mudumalai, spending time in Ooty and reach Wayanad by nightfall, everyone agreed and we had our sails set for the getaway.

Mysore Place

Sujesh, our driver was literally romancing the highway, got us to Mysore by early morning around 5 AM. We stopped by the palace to pay our respects to the Wodeyars. From there it was a non-stop drive to Gopalswamy Betta (which is approx. 1400 m high), perched on its top is an ancient Krishna temple built almost 800 years back. The guards at the check post, warn you to make the trip quick, since the betta is not unknown for tiger sightings. As we started to climb our car gave away within 10 minutes, yours truly so determined to reach the top, suggested that we scale it on foot. My last visit was some three years back and that too was in a car, all I remember was fifteen minutes’ drive. We started hiking and left our car far behind, it was almost 2 -2.5 Kms away now, with no sign of life forms except for the occasional vrooming of other cars every 20 mins or so. It went well, till I spotted a huge gigantic pile of elephant dump on the slopes. That’s when my friend got panicky. We started contemplating our actions for worst case scenarios.   Luckily in another 10 mins, our driver joined us fixing the car. We reached the Temple in another 10. 

Gopalaswamy Betta

Panorama from the top of the betta offers a breathtaking view, earlier it was allowed for one to trek beyond the temple into the endless grass spread on the mountains. This time there was a security with a plastic whistle in his mouth, shouting at us to return.  We sat there enjoying the cold breeze and basking in the view that the betta had to offer, before stating to Masinagudi. After a half hour drive, upon entering Bandipur, the gang wanted to go to Wayanad instead. Being a chennaite hartal doesn’t bother you much, we underestimated the Keralites and that cost us big time. Damn, diesel hikes.

Gopalaswamy Betta

On the way to Wayanad, we were stopped in Muthanga for nearly three hours, with rains poring cats and dogs outside. Lucky for us, we had a mini LCD TV in the car, saw ‘thadayara thakka’ which wasn’t bad. Even when we reached the city, they were several gangs on the highway, but this time they respectfully asked us to pullover for 10 minutes, every time we crossed one such gang. We reached Olive Homes by night fall, had quick dinner and slept like a log. 

Edakkal Caves

Edakkal Caves

Early morning, next day we went down, Raji (Biju’s wife) had prepared an excellent breakfast, appams and pooris, we started stuffing our stomachs. Biju gave us some pointers on places to visit. He suggested that we visit Edakkal caves first and Muthanga Sanctuary in the evening. We took his advice and started to Edakkal caves. Before reaching the base of the mountain, one has to hike for about 15 minutes on a manmade pavement. Then from the base it’s a steep climb, very safe with carved rocks and steel steps to enable the climb. On top is the huge cave, more like mammoth boulders stuck together to form the cave. The openings on the top, allowing sunlight to fall inside added to the beauty of the caves. 'Ted's Architectural fun fact' - One can see ancient hieroglyphics on the stone walls on one side followed by a two liner in a medieval script.

Edakkal Caves

From there we started to Muthanga Sanctuary which was on the other side of Wayanad. They start issuing tickets at 3 pm and tokens to get tickets by 2.30 pm. After a couple of hours of waiting, we got our tickets and booked a jeep for the safari. The safari was highly disappointing, we did a spot a deer though and the rest were elephant dumplings and footprints. With our chin down, we started back to Olive homes. Had an amazing dinner on the way, mental note – Kerala parotta is super awesome.

Sunrise from Olive Homestay

Last day here in Wayanad, we packed our things stuffed them in the car. Raji had made, idly and puttu for breakfast, have to say she is an amazing cook. After asking our plans, Biju suggested that we go to soochipara falls first and on our way back hit Chembra peak. Any place of importance in Wayanad, you have to climb or hike a bit before reaching the place. Soochipara was no different. Water was flowing at such a pace that people were allowed only near the shores and the security would blow his whistle if someone ventures towards the falls. Ted’s fun fact – the name soochipara is derived from soochi=needle and para=rock. We headed to Chembra peak, a place I really wanted to see after hearing and reading so much about it. Supposedly there’s a heart shape lake on the top, which we couldn’t see, since we arrived 15 mins late after the permitted time. After 1pm, no visitors are allowed to scale Chembra, but as a consolation, they allow us to hike up to the watch tower providing a wide panaroma of the Western Ghats.

Sunset @ Calicut Beach

We started by around 2.30 PM, made a quick stop in Vythiri for lunch and headed to Calicut. The downhill route from Wayanad to Calicut is a splendid drive. I’m a sucker for sunrises and sunsets, I insisted that we drive to Calicut beach, to catch the sunset. It’s a beautiful beach, except for the canal kind of thing that runs right in the middle. After clicking some shots, we started home, stopping in between to stash our repo with some good old classic movies, like the Rajni starer ‘Thilu Mullu’, Kamal’s ‘Anbe Sivam’. It was a 12 hr nonstop movie marathon till Chennai. We reached home, by Tuesday morning. 

Wayanad expedition turned to be a good one. Open road, friends, fun what more could a guy ask for!!

One thing and I believe it’s mutual across all men and women alike, don’t we all hate getting back to work, the same day we get from a vacation? 

If you’re looking to relax, take off 2-3 days from your busy schedule, Wayanad is just the place for you.

P.S For more pics, please click the below link
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