Redhills is actually a homestay and is situated in the most beautiful lake/catchment areas beyond Ooty and i was eager to see those parts still untouched by the usual crowd.
Day 1 - 10'th May
Given that we were travelling with a ~3 year old, we decided to take a stop at Mysore on our way forward. Started Bangalore on a Sunday morning at 10 am and for the first time experienced a bumper-to-bumper traffic on Mysore Road from the Nice junction all the way upto Wonderla. i didn't know that so much traffic descends upon that road to go to Wonderla and after that point, traffic eased to normal.we reached Mysore at 2pm - this was the longest i have ever taken to reach Mysore. I wasn't guaranteed a hotel booking , but could get a decent 2 attached room with a/c @ Dasprakash, Gandhi square.
After a good lunch and small nap, we went over directly to the Mysore Palace lighting. Though i have been to Mysore umpteen number of times, i have always missed this. On Sundays, the lighting is on from 7pm-8pm and it makes for a glorious sight. Make sure you have the view from the gate opposite the ground (Dodda kere maidana).
Palace before turning the lights on :
Palace after - there's also a small music band.
The magnificient entrance gate :
Gandhi square @ Mysore is a convenient place. There's Devaraja market with excellent fruits and very decent Shri Krishna Medicals on Sayyaji Rao Road - for any need that may arise when travelling with family and kids.
Day 2 - 11th May
Mysore Zoo is always a not-to-miss destination. I am not sure whether my kids enjoy this more than I do, in any case i took them there. It's always advisable to be there very early, because most animals are outside when it's cooler, in the morning. It starts at 8:30 am , but we could reach there only at 9:30 am.
Mysore zoo has probably the best variety of animals one can ever get to see and also spread around a large area. It's way better than the Singapore night safari and walk is better than the vehicle option. The below board summarizes what animals are found here :
The Chimp is the not-to-be missed one. This one almost stares you in the eyes and was making gestures for us to go away ! Compared to other animals, apes surely are most human like and something churns inside when you see them in captivity.
Came back to hotel around lunch and decided to drive to Talakadu in the afternoon. Talakadu is a 1 hour drive from Mysore via T.Narasipur and is famous for the "sand-dune temples". As per local legend it was the curse of a queen and it makes for a very interesting visit. I had not expected the road to be this good and i learned from locals later that Minister Shobha Karandlaje was behind this development.The beautiful Cauvery river bridge just before the town :
We hired a local guide to help us appreciate the unique place. There are 3 Shiva temples - the main one : the Vaidyanatheswara , then onto Pathaleswara and finally the Maraleswara , arranged in a path to circle back. The unique thing is that these temples were covered by sand dunes and have been dug up. Walls have now been erected to not have them again covered by sand.
It's quite an interesting walk in sand. The guide was insistent that this sand is not the river sand and it's not the river sand swept in this place - so how did this place get sand out of nowhere ?
A nice Pushkarni next to the main temple :
The main Vaidyanatheswara temple has the biggest structure.Apparently, this temple also has the reputation of a disease-cure, similar to the Najangud Srikantheswara temple , but the sacred water is given only in the morning. This temple was built during Gangas and then again by Cholas - so it's quite distinct compared to the Belur/halebid ones.
A big sand dune which Nachiket and I ran up and down on :
The KirtiNarayana temple, very sacred to the Srivaishnavites is another very important temple and this was being renovated at that time :
we made our way back and my friend Niraj took us to a great Wood fire pizza place - good talk and good food !
Day 3- 12 May
we started from Mysore at 8 am and towards Ooty . Our route : Mysore-Najanagud-Gundlupet-Bandipur-Mudumalai-Masinagudi-Ooty-Redhills. The route from Nanjanagud to Gundlupet was in construction and delayed us due to many diversions.The Bandipur and Mudumalai drive is really scenic and we may get to see wild animals anytime - deers, bisons, elephants - even perhaps a crossing !
At Mudumalai - we get a fork and we chose the 36 hair-pin-bend through Masinagudi. It was here that i really felt the Honda city Auto was struggling. Though the engine didn't cause trouble, it had trouble pulling up and i stopped at least twice to let it cool. One of the hair-pin bends also has a small set of shops with hot peanuts and corn. a useful stop over.
Mr. Vijay, Redhills owner was very particular that i don't use google-maps. He had instructed me to get to Ooty Bus stand first, then take the Avalanche road. On this road, we get the Emerald town. At this place, we have to take a detour and on this road , pass three "white-board-junctions" which point to the Destiny resort. you have to drive past this and then we reach Red-hills. The last stretch is a pebbled road and after an exhilarating drive we reach this place.
I have had a valley view before in Munnar, but never a valley with a huge lake - an awesome view !
Room inside :
Hill on the back of the resort, where we would trek the next day.
Sunset :
They arranged for a bon-fire and barbeque in the night .With 11 degree celsius, it was nice getting warmed up by the fire outside and hot cheese/veg barbeques going inside :-)
Day 4 - 13 May
Woke up to another fantastic, but overcast view. There was prediction of some rain for the next 2 days...
The plan in the morning was to trek to the top of the hill which is just on the backside of the resort. The resort arranges a guide. Pants, water bottle and Umbrella is a must. A light rain proof jacket is advisable. Anupama and I decided to do this trek by taking turns babysitting.
The views get better and better as we climb.
The Emerald lake view is gorgeous. we can see the resort homes also :
After a while, it started raining and we were covered by mist everywhere, obscuring all views. Our guide recommended us to abandon the entire trek to the top and we headed back.
Post lunch, we went to see the Emerald dam and the Todas village.
This entire area near Red-hills is a huge catchment area having many lakes created by dams on one side, a few of them having the power generation also. This is the bridge at the point where the Emerald and the Avalanche Lakes stop short of meeting each other.
Avalanche lake on one side :
Emerald lake on the other side :
Beautiful countryside with tea gardens intespersed with carrot fields and settlements :
The Todas are the original inhabitants of this region and the government has strict laws for Toda rights.There are actually very few Toda style huts remaining now and we could get inside one of them. The unique thing is the very small entrance where one has to kneel down and enter. It was amazingly warm inside of the hut. The grandmother was quite excited and she posed with a hand-woven shawl :
The Toda language is quite different than Tamil , we requested them to talk in that language and it was indeed unique ! They have a temple which is opened only once a year and is very sacred :
On the way back, we stopped by the Emerald dam. Due to security reasons, i didn't take any photos.
Day 4- 14 May
In the morning, i took the turn to babysit and Anupama/Nachiket trekked to the hill again. They were very lucky to have clear skies and could reach the top.
Victorious , @ the top !
Avalanche lake view from the top - don't you agree it's mesmerizing ?
In the late afternoon, we decided to go towards the Porthmund lake. This road takes us to the region of the Mukurti national park, Porthmund and Parson's valley - the roads are in very bad condition and aren't frequented by visitors at all. It takes quite a drive to reach there and back - at least 3 hours.
Porthmund sunset point is a must visit. Absolutely desolate and tranquil. The only sounds were that of the breeze and birds/insects. Despite the rain/mist , we still had our money's worth, though the missing sun would have made a better picture with the hues. It reminds me of the spiti valley lakes in himalayas. Must-not-miss place.
we also visited the Parson's valley dam - this supplies water to Ooty. On our way back we sighted deers and bisons fighting in a group.
Day 5 - 15 May
Morning we decided to go the Avalanche forest area and the Upper Bhavani lake. This is on the same Avalanche road where we took the detour. The personal jeep ride stops at the below Govt Forest colony - from then-on it's a paid safari in jeeps or small buses. It's best to go as early and plan to reach before 10:30 am. This place does see many visitors from Ooty and it can result in a long wait time.
The first stop - The "Cabbage Shola" forest. Shola means evergreen forests and it does appear like a bunch of cabbages.
It's got a small stream waterfall - claimed to be bathed by Ayurvedic herbs :
Next stop - the Bhavani Amman temple , near the source of the Bhavani river :
The Bhavani river alongside the road, water was quite less given the end of summer.
we sighted a fox walking towards the water :
The last stop here, the backwaters of Upper Bhavani - Lakkidi .
Just beside that , with a small climb is the Pine forest :
we saw amazing mushrooms here - don't know whether these are poisonous.
The family pic :
Back in the resort, Nachiket had a great fun time with Moby !
Beautiful flowers @ the resort :
Mr. Vijay also helped me with a tour of the small garden where they grow vegetables organically. They have a separate bigger organic farm. Here's the Papino vegetable which i ate for the first time.
In the evening, we went fishing in the emerald lake. It's allowed for locals and we joined them - Fishing is actually a very concentrated affair ! we have to be very sensitive to the tug feel and then respond fast. I learnt to cast it well using the fishing rod, but didn't have much success catching fish.
Mani, our guide used the technique without the rod and he helped Nachiket catch 2 medium sized fishes !
Day 6-16'th May
Woke up at 6 am, washed my car, they packed us some excellent sandwiches for breakfast and we left the place by 7 am. Reach Ooty at 8 am and took back the same route. It was a great drive down the 36 hair pin bends and we stopped at Mudumalai to have our packed breakfast. Reached Mysore by 12:30 pm , stopped over for lunch at A2B just before Maddur @ 1:30 pm and Bangalore home by 4 pm.
Here's a cool pic of the organically grown exotic vegetables/greens that we brought back - can you spot the Black raddish, Papino , purple beans and the Bok choy ( chinese cabbage ) ?
Needless to say - Redhills justifies the award it received for the best Homestay in all of india by outlook traveller 2015. Do give it a try !
