Nelliyampathy Trip

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Trip to Manjolai

Tags

kakkachi, kodayar, kudiraivetti, manimuthar, manjolai, naalumukku, project tiger

i was planning for a solo drive for a long time. i was inspired by a solo trip by a guy from punjab. he has made a solo trip from punjam to kanyakumari. i was actually making a solo trip to pondicherry in the 2nd week of august. but due to some constraints i had to change the location to some places near by. then i selected this place Manjolai. I had come across this place during our earlier trip to mundanthurai tiger reserve. before that i had written a letter to the project tiger office in mundanthurai to give permission for me to enter to this place. i knew a officer over here and he gladly gave me the permission officially.

i had to drop my wife in tirunelveli to write a exam and then im a free bird till evening.

the companian for my drive is my manza. lol.

from tirunelveli, i had to go to ambasamudram to get my permission letter from the project tiger office. the permission letter was readily available over there. got the letter and took some photo copies of it and then headed to manjolai.

from ambasamudram had a drive till kaladikurichy and from there to manimuthar. in the manimuthar dam entrance, i have to show the permission letter and pay the pass.

for vehicle they charge 15 rs. for camera its 15 rs and for each person its 15 rs. he forest official asked me how many people are there with me, i said im all alone. he was quite surprised to see me. i love to travel alone always. he asked me if i love the forest. without wasting a single milli second i said YES. from manimuthar dam i had to go to the manjolai via the manimuthar falls. in the entrance of the falls, i had to show the copy of the letter to a forest guard he then opened a small gate. now its into the forest. the roads are now steep to climb. i had to ride the car in the 2nd gear. the climate too began to change. i was feeling around 35 deg in the low areas. the temperature began to fall. i can feel it.

i was driving, driving, driving. cannot able to spot a single vehicle comming from opposite side. then after time the entrance gate of the tea estate comes. i had to show the permission letter and even that security was quite surprised to see me alone driving in this place. now i have to travel to a place called kudiraivetti. from the main gate to udiraivetti its nearly 26 kms. travelling this 26 kms will take nearly 2 hours as its steep roads. according to my knowledge kudiraivetti is the highest peak in this manjolai hill station. not so sure if its correct or not. i had to travel to a towns named manjolai, naalumukku, oothu and then travel to kudirai vetti.

on the way to naalukukku i saw a beutiful place. its a golf cource i believe. but entry is prohibited. there is a small lake near to the area. its awesome. had spent some 10 min over there and spoke about manjolai to the security guard. i then headed towards naalumukku.

on the way i asked several people where is naalukukku they said its 1 km 2km 5 km. but road is going on and on. i got a doubt if im travelling on a wrong route. but i met a officer in the tea estate, he explained me the route very clearly that its better to avoid asking any one. after some driving reached naalumukku. its a small town. the people who works in the tea estate stays here.

from naalumukku there is a road which goes to kodayar upper dam. the lower dam is in kanyakumari dist. for going to kodayar we need to get permission from the EB office in kalakkad. i enquired about kodayar in naalukummu. the locals said its not so worth to travel over there. then i continued my drive towards kudiraivetti. on the way there is a place called oothu. there were two boys playing around i just waved my hands. they asked me where im going. i asked them to accompany me if they are free. they came along with me. they shared many things about the forest. these two boys are studying in a school in manjolai. i asked them what would they want to become. one boy said collector and another boy said civil engineer. awesome !!!

now the roads become really worse. felt really bad for my manza. anyways, she did not cry. atlast from a distance saw a watch tower and whooooo.. this is kudiraivetti. beautiful place. from the watch tower can able to see manimuthar dam, karayar dam. these boys showed me some hills. i think some 3-4 hills. they said these are the places that you have travelled. oh my god. amazing. the winds in kudiraivetti is very strong. it will push you down in some occasions.

can able to see lots of wastage over there. the people who travel over here just drop here. dear people, please dont throw any wastages over here. just respect the nature and the wild life.

its now time for me to return back to home. dropped the two boys in oothu and then had a drive till the main gate of the estate. in the entrance office they sell tea. i bought a organic tea named oothu tea. just 200 gms cost around 150 rs. its purely meant for exporting. then i travelled via the manimuthar falls and manimuthar dam and finally reached tirunelveli at 4:45 PM.

it was a great experience for me.

distance from the manimuthar dam to kudiraivetti is 35 kms. so readers, do get confused at any cost.

i had a talk with a official in the tea estate. he said he will arrange a stay in the EB Guesthouse next time and arrange for a night trek in the forest. i hav his number too. may be i hav to plan a trip there very soon.

climate is fascinating. hardly 25 deg in the day time. but in the morning it would be 18 deg.

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Travel to Chitharal Malai Kovil

Tags

chitharal, jain temple, malai kovil

Myself and my friend named Nagarajan (travels with me in train daily) were planning to go for a short trip on a evening and then we choosed the place named Chitharal Malai Kovil. This place is hardly 7 kms from the town of Marthandam and 3 km from Attoor in Kanyakumari Dist. There is a
famous Jain Temple on the top of the hill. The temple is known to the local people as MalaiKovil.

Since this place is hardly 10 kms from my home, choosed to travel in my Hunk motor bike. Parked the bike in the entrance of the way that leads to the kovil. We need to climb nearly 1.5 kms. The way to the top is nicely done with steps. If we feel bit tired to climb we can sit on the way and then climb. Before climbing we should carry water and food items ( if we need to). There are some big rocks on the way and we climbed to the rocks and took some snaps. We travelled some more and then we saw this temple. I was really astonished how this temple was built in the top of the hill. There is a temple priest who works here from 9 AM to 6 PM. He explained to us the temple, when it was built and so on. There is a underground passage from this temple to the foot hill. Since it was not maintained properly it had to be closed.

We took some snaps and then we planned to return. On the way we could see many tourists throwing the food and plastic bottle on the way making this place a worth. dear people, please dont spoil the nature. Carry the waste products with you and dump in the place which was kept for waste in the foot hill.

Travelling down was easy. I was speaking with nagarajan to stay on the top of the hill in the night. I hope if we get permission to stay over there it would be awesome.

Travel to Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve

Tags

ambai, ambasamudram, karayar, Mundanthurai, tiger reserve

Mundanthurai Tiger Reserver is in Tirunelveli District in Tamilnadu. The permission letter to stay in a forest guest was obtained from the Project Tiger office in Ambasamudram.

We started from Trivandrum on 14th Jan 2011 in a Chevrolet Tavera. The team includes Sunil, Binu, Syam, Sibi, Chikku and ofcourse the blogger. We had breakfast in a small town named Valliyoor. We reached Ambasamudram by 10 AM and we asked the local people regarding the location of the Project Tiger office. So sad to hear that no one knows it. But somehow we found it. It was hardly 500 meters from the Ambai bus terminal. We got the permission letter and we started to the Reserve forest. There was many check post and there was some checking in the vehicle if we were carrying any drinks. There is no mobile signals inside the forest. So there is no way to call our dear ones inside the forest.

We had to travel nearly 8 kms inside the forest to reach the guest house. We showed the permission letter to the warden and he showed us the room. Room was ok. We then had our lunch and then we went to Karayar dam. We were planning to go for a boat ride to see the falls. Since it was late we were not allowed in. Then we came back to our room. Earlier we bought some chicken and some food items and we told the guest house people to prepare some food. They had made a delecious food.

We spent some time in the guest house and then planned to go for a night safari. Since it was the pongal season, there was not much forest personal. So one of the official told that he can take us to some parts of the forest. We had actually planned to trek into deep forest in the night. We saw some deers who were gazing at us. I was just praying that we should spot a tiger. The official told us that its totally a luck to see a tiger. He said that there are nearly 20 tigers inside the forest based on the recent census that they have made. We had travelled for almost to 2 hours inside the forest and we returned with no sightings of wild animal.

It was totally a peace of mind to venture inside the forest. There is no point of fear in me. If we respect the nature, the nature will respect us.

We returned to room and slept. Woke up the next day to travel to home. Paid the bill and said good bye to the forest officials.

On the way we visited Agastiar falls and had a nice shower. Then on the way back to home we went to a place named Kalikesam in kanyakumari district. we reached there by 4 PM and spent 2 hours in the water and then reached my home by 8 PM. The other guys who travelled to trivandrum reached by 10 PM.

It was really a awesome experience.

Stay tuned for my next trip.