Trip date: 28, 29, 30 Nov 2015
Trip Plan : Chennai - Coimbatore - Attapadi - Silent Valley National Park - Palakkad - Coimbatore - Chennai
Day-1
Started from Chennai by train to Coimbatore. We had a vehicle booked earlier itself for 3 days. We had tea at KR Bakes near the railway station, took the permit to enter Kerala and quick early breakfast at Hotel Annapoorna in Coimbatore.
We had booked Vision Nature Resorts, Attapadi for Day-1. The Vision Nature Resorts is around 45 kms from Coimbatore and takes around 90 minutes to reach. We reached there around 10 AM. This resort is in Varagampadi Village, Attapadi hills. We checked-in and the rooms were having small issues. On request, they changed our rooms immediately. However, proper service should ensure every room is proper in all means. We were planning to checkout around 5:30 AM next day to accommodate Silent Valley. So, we were offered breakfast on day-1 itself. The resort has quite spacious rooms and a small area for play and camp fire. The package includes 3 meals plan. The climate was quite sunny.
After refreshing, we were by ourself going around the small hilly place. We spent close to 2 hours going around - climbing and returned back to the resort for lunch. The meals were all served fresh and the spread was quite elaborate. It had soups, starters, salads, chapatthis, rice and dessert. All 3 meals were satisfactory and refilled almost well.
Post lunch, we spent time playing cards and chit-chatting. Later, we spent time playing cricket for few hours - finishing with high tea. The evening though was not too cold, it was quite enjoyable and again spent playing cards and fine dinner.
Day-2
Checked out by 05:30 AM and drove down to Mukkali. Mukkali is present on the road from Anaikatti to Mannarkkad. Mukkali is the starting point for the Silent Valley National park visit. No personal vehicles are allowed inside the forest area. One has to seek permission upfront and register to visit the national park. Through of the one friends, we had registered our name couple of days earlier and were present there promptly by 7:15 AM. The national park forest office opens by 7:45 and registered people are sent on FCFS basis through the Kerala Government operated jeeps. The tariffs are nominal and its always good to be first person in the morning to visit a national park.
After a relaxed sleep and yummy buffer of breakfast at Hotel Sayoojyam, we had planned to go to 2 places - Palakkad Fort and Malampuzha Dam. We started to the Palakkad Fort - which is just 1 km from the hotel we stayed by 9 AM. The Palakkad Fort is maintained clean and the whole area is being now used for a temple and few administrative offices. The fort is open from 8 AM to 6 PM and entrance is free. We spent around 1 hour in the Fort and an adjoining park - which is not worthy enough unless you have kids and time to kill.
Our journey started around 08:15 after lot of receipts and signatures. We had a very quick breakfast of aapams in a small shop just opposite of the forest department office and the trip was ON !
We went in a Bolero. The total trip timings is 5 hours. 3 hours is for driving two-way. There are 2 attractions to see in SVNP - a watch tower and a hanging bridge. The driver was giving information as we went on. The whole area is thick forest and is a rainfall forest - rains 10-11 months in a year. It homes almost all the wild animals, birds and huge variety of butterflies. We were only lucky enough to see a Sambhar deer on the way. We also stopped for a short break near a small waterfalls. After a journey of close to 1:30 hours, we reached the watch tower.
The watch tower is 100 feet tall and gives a massive and amazing view of the Silent Valley. Climbing the watch tower itself is quite exciting given the wind and height ! The view is very exhilarating. a 360 degree view of thick, dense, green, evergreen forest !!! We spent around 20 minutes on the tower and then started the trek to the hanging bridge. The hanging bridge is 2.5 kms from the watch tower and the trek is quite easy when going downwards.
We reached the hanging bridge in 30-40 minutes. The bridge is on top of rapid waters. We carried some snacks and water with us. We spent around 15-20 minutes clicking photos and emptying the snacks. We then were asked politely by the driver to start the trek back. The trek back was quite difficult as it was a climb-up all the way. We were back on the jeep by 11:30 and drove back to Mukkali in 1 hour.
We bought some bananas and soft drinks at Mukkali and decided to have lunch at Mannarkkad. Mannarkkad is 19 kms from Mukkali and takes around 30-40 minutes to reach. We tried to locate a restaurant and got to a small eatery sort of place. There were parotas and lunch - quite average or below; but something was ok for lunch.
Our next destination was Meenvallam Waterfalls. This is on the way to Palakkad from Mannarkkad. It is 22 kms from Mannarkkad and around 3-4 kms from the highway. Use maps to navigate to the location. From the parking space, we need to walk 1 km to reach the waterfalls. Tourists are allowed from 9 AM to 4 PM here and the charges are Rs.20 per person. One cannot really reach the falls but from some distance; there is a big pool like place where the water falls and we can bath there. It has got quite some depth, which only swimmers can go; however, others can go half the way and enjoy the cool waters. We spent close to 2 hours in the water - a great enjoyment after a trek in SVNP.
We came out around 5 PM and reached Palakkad - 29 kms from this falls. We had booked rooms in advance here at Sayoojyam Residency. The rooms were very comfortable and clean. The room service was also quite good to serve water or any other amenities requested. We had a 24-hour checkout here. We relaxed the evening here and had dinner at Hotel Kapilavastu - a pure vegetarian hotel near Palakkad bus stand - 1 km from the hotel we stayed.
Day-3
We then started to Malampuzha Dam. The dam is located around 10 kms from Palakkad town. Malampuzha dam has lot of attractions to see and experience. It has a rope car that takes you all over the dam for Rs.60 per person. They have 3 big parks, few eateries, snake park, Aquarium, rock garden, hanging bridges, boating and a walk on the dam front. One can plan to spend 5 hours easily in the dam. People of all ages can enjoy and spend time provided you are able to walk.
The rope car is must-to-do here. The rope carriageway is near the parking area. You need not enter the dam area to go by rope car. The rope car operates from 10 AM to 12:30 PM and again from 2 PM to 6:30 PM.
We went through the rope car, boating and walk on the dam. Row boats and motor boats are available. We paid Rs.500 for a motor boat for 6 members and it was only a 5-min drive. It is quite costly for the distance covered. The parks are maintained very clean with fountains, rest rooms.
We reached back Palakkad for lunch - hotel Kapilvasthu again. We checked out from Palakkad and reached Coimbatore by 6 PM - visited Maruthamalai - return to Chennai by train.
Overall, a good trip all around Pollachi - mostly not so popular but very nice and pleasant places.
We did not cover Dhoni falls alone, though was planned - mainly because one needs to trek 4 kms to reach the falls ! Dhoni falls is only 7 kms from Palakkad.
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