We were school friends who had planned a reunion, but what place to go!
Someone overheard about an hamlet in the Nilgiris, which draws less crowd and a unique place to visit.When I say less crowd the story is about 2011 when the place was hardly explored by Indian crowd.
As people in my group where from Delhi, U.P, Bengal and myself studing in Manipal, best place to start off was from Bangalore.We hired an old class Esteem, from Majestic the heart of Banagalore. Kodaikanal was approximate 8 to 10 hours from Bangalore central, after having many pitstops we reached the foot of hills, a place by named Dindigul-which serves good Biryani and Kottu parota. Well as we reached by 5 am- we were served with hot tea and bakery cookies.
Didigul to Kodaikanal is approximate 60 kilometres and one would take 2 hours atleast considering the ghat section.We reached Kodaikanal a bit early then expected, thanks to our driver Maqsood bhai.
As Vattakanal was less known to even locals, we finally found it after a lot of adventure. Vattakanal is about 7 kilometres from Kodai centre, the vehicle goes till the waterfall, post which It was a small trek to reach Althaf cafe. But now things have been changes, there is a narrow road till the start point of Dolphin nose trek, as cops at the begining of path from waterfall.
Vattakanal is a moderately populated village which is surrounded by greenery on all sides. The Tamil word “Vatta” means a circle and the best view of this circular valley can be enjoyed from the main road leading to the village. The forests in close proximity to this village host many rare and endangered specimens of flora and fauna, such as the gigantic Eucalyptus trees, rare “Shola” trees and magic mushrooms (psylocybins).
In the recent times, Vattakanal has picked the nickname of “Little Israel”, although it has nothing to do with the descent of the inhabitants. In the months of October – January, huge Israeli travel groups travel to this small hamlet. The numbers can be so high that it outnumbers the villagers’ count. These travellers come with different purposes – some in search of calmness and spirituality, some come looking for magic mushroom, while others just like the serene beauty of this hill station and arrive with their families.
When I visited for the first time, there was just Altaf cafe, which offered dorms to visitors who were mostly foreigners. As there were no vacancies in Altafs place, a local helped us stay in a rented house for 4 days.This option was pretty good, as we can eat homemade local cuisine. Also, if you are solo or in small group, you can live with locals by paying a small amount.
I cant express more about the beauty of "Vatta", have attached pictures inline which is self explanatory.
You may find peach orchards and mighty Bisons, everywhere- they look calm but very dangerous, please dont play around.
Worth visiting is Dolphins Nose, which is a small trail next to Althaf case- If you are looking for an amazing view and a display picture for your social media account. I have liked the place so much which makes me visit here every year- See urbanization these days which attracts more crowd and shrinking the beauty day by day.
Note: Lets make our hills plastic free, for our future generation.
Someone overheard about an hamlet in the Nilgiris, which draws less crowd and a unique place to visit.When I say less crowd the story is about 2011 when the place was hardly explored by Indian crowd.
As people in my group where from Delhi, U.P, Bengal and myself studing in Manipal, best place to start off was from Bangalore.We hired an old class Esteem, from Majestic the heart of Banagalore. Kodaikanal was approximate 8 to 10 hours from Bangalore central, after having many pitstops we reached the foot of hills, a place by named Dindigul-which serves good Biryani and Kottu parota. Well as we reached by 5 am- we were served with hot tea and bakery cookies.
Didigul to Kodaikanal is approximate 60 kilometres and one would take 2 hours atleast considering the ghat section.We reached Kodaikanal a bit early then expected, thanks to our driver Maqsood bhai.
As Vattakanal was less known to even locals, we finally found it after a lot of adventure. Vattakanal is about 7 kilometres from Kodai centre, the vehicle goes till the waterfall, post which It was a small trek to reach Althaf cafe. But now things have been changes, there is a narrow road till the start point of Dolphin nose trek, as cops at the begining of path from waterfall.
Vattakanal is a moderately populated village which is surrounded by greenery on all sides. The Tamil word “Vatta” means a circle and the best view of this circular valley can be enjoyed from the main road leading to the village. The forests in close proximity to this village host many rare and endangered specimens of flora and fauna, such as the gigantic Eucalyptus trees, rare “Shola” trees and magic mushrooms (psylocybins).
In the recent times, Vattakanal has picked the nickname of “Little Israel”, although it has nothing to do with the descent of the inhabitants. In the months of October – January, huge Israeli travel groups travel to this small hamlet. The numbers can be so high that it outnumbers the villagers’ count. These travellers come with different purposes – some in search of calmness and spirituality, some come looking for magic mushroom, while others just like the serene beauty of this hill station and arrive with their families.
When I visited for the first time, there was just Altaf cafe, which offered dorms to visitors who were mostly foreigners. As there were no vacancies in Altafs place, a local helped us stay in a rented house for 4 days.This option was pretty good, as we can eat homemade local cuisine. Also, if you are solo or in small group, you can live with locals by paying a small amount.
I cant express more about the beauty of "Vatta", have attached pictures inline which is self explanatory.
You may find peach orchards and mighty Bisons, everywhere- they look calm but very dangerous, please dont play around.
Worth visiting is Dolphins Nose, which is a small trail next to Althaf case- If you are looking for an amazing view and a display picture for your social media account. I have liked the place so much which makes me visit here every year- See urbanization these days which attracts more crowd and shrinking the beauty day by day.
Note: Lets make our hills plastic free, for our future generation.
