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A Baby Elephant at the Mudumalai Reserve

This Baby Elephant is sulking to come out for a walk.It wants to be with its mother. However the Mahout is wanting it to come out and play...

Looks like he has succeeded and look who is trying to get the Baby Elephant to pose. Its Reggie......for those who know him......and for those who don't .......well he is one hell of a nice person......a Nature lover and photographer....Currently Residing in London but never misses a chance to come down to the Nilgiris and go out with my Brother Rajkumar for a Trek and camp in the wild........

The Reserve forest on the way to The Nilgiris

Traveling from Mysore to Ooty in The Nilgiris one would have to cross the National Reserve's of Bandipur and Mudumalai forests. The portion of forest on the Karnataka side is known as Bandipur and the portion of forest on the Tamil Nadu side is known as Mudumalai forest.  The Reserve has many wild animals and trained ones as well. You will be able to see quite a few tuskers. Also, animals like Wild Boar, Spotted Deer, Langurs Bison are a regular treats. I once remember seeing a wild Tiger while travelling along the Kallatti falls route. The tiger was a majestic one,striped and almost 3 meters in length if you consider the tail. When it rurned and roared I was thankful that I was sitting inside a car that too am Ambassador which has a very strong body compared to the modern day cars. That was in the night around 10 pm and we had sneaked past the check post. Since this route is quite steep and many wild animals cross the road the check post closes at 6.00 pm. If you happen to take this route the travel time can be cut short by around 1 hour 30 minutes to 2 hours depending on your speed.

Accomadation is available in both Bandipur and Mudumali areas. There are Govt owned guest houses as well private hotels which provide accomadation. You may also consider staying in a LOG HOUSE....a realy wild one with animals peering into the log house at night as you sleep......oh....by the way I forgot to mention the Bears that also frequest these areas...The tribes of this fregion domesticate these bears for various purposes. But if you happen to meet up with a Wild Bear I am sure the Olympic records would be broken......sad thing is there would not be any one to record it.......

Getting upto the Nilgiris

Reaching the hill station of Ooty situated in The Nilgiris in Tamil Nadu, India is not all that difficult. There are a number of ways but the most prominent of them being the route from Mettupalayam comprising of a road and a railway line going all the way up to Ooty. For those of you who are not from south India or are from abroad the best way would be to reach Coimbatore by Train or flight and carry onto Mettupalayam by bus or Taxi. Or better still one can take a bus/taxi straight from Coimbatore to the Nilgiris or catch the train to Ooty. Once you enter the ghat section the temperature begins to drop and you will be immersed in the natural beauty of  the hills with the roads winding itself up the steep and sometimes dangerous route going up and up until you touch the clouds. I would also recommend that you take the Blue Mountain Express( Train ) to Ooty. The journey would definitely be one that you would never forget in a lifetime. The train travels really slow and one could jog along with it and you will occasionally see a bridge or a tunnel set in the hills.

The second best way is from Mysore. This is a Bus route and there is no train facility available. However the route passes through the countries reserve forest and hence you would be surprised to find Elephants,Deers, Bison wild boars peacocks and if you are really lucky you might get to see a tiger or a leopard.The route takes one to Gudalur which is at the foothills of Ooty while Gudalur itself is a semi Hills. After Gudalur it is a steep climb untill for about half an hour and then the road flattens out.

Both the routes are breath takingly awesome and would be a treat for any nature lover......

History of the Nilgiris

The Nilgiris have a history dating back a good many centuries. The name is derived from the fact that the mountains have a blue smokey look when seen from far. There is also another theory that it is because of the kurunji flower, which blooms every twelve years giving the slopes a bluish tinge. The Nilgiris were originally inhabited by the Todas from Ooty and Kotas from Kotagiri. However the Badagas appeared here much later from the Mysore Plateau, around the 16th century. It is to be noted that Nilgiris have its mention in the great Epic Ramayana of Valmiki.
It was only in the 19th Century the English unsuccessfully considered surveying this area. The first European resident of the hills was John Sullivan, the Collector of Coimbatore, who went up the same year and built himself a home. It was during this time that the English came to know the existence of a tableland possessing a European climate. Europeans soon started settling down here or using the valley for summer stays. The Nilgiris became a summer resort.
By the end of the 19th century, the Nilgiri hills were completely accessible with the laying of roads and the railway line.

Dodabetta and Mukurthi Peaks in the Nilgiris

Mukurthi and Dodabetta are the 2 highest peaks in the Nilgiris. Dodabetta was beleived to be the highest until few years back when Mukurthi was found to be higher by around a meter. Dodabetta is situated 10 km from Ooty bus stand while Mukurth is set in the deep jungles of the Nilgiris with the Mukurthi lake at its foot. For those nature lovers and trekkers, going to Mukurthi will defenitely be quite an experience. There is no transport facilities and hence one would need to trek it to the peak.