Wayanad Trip - A nostalgic review!!

 Wayanad is a tourist spot in Kerala, south of India.  I visited this place sometime last year and i wish to share my travel experience with you all.  It was a team(dream) trip which was perfectly planned and well executed.  Ours was a group of 20 members from Chennai and had a great time in Wayanad during the month of April-2012.

     We boarded Mangalore mail from Chennai Central railway station and reached Kozhikode by 7:50 am.  It was a fun filled and comfortable journey.  On the way to kozhikode, one should never miss out to peek outside the train doors or windows to enjoy Kerala's unique beauty.  When it comes to beauty, Kerala can be compared to Venice. No wonder it is termed as "God's own country".  The beautiful landscapes, hilly terrain, unique architecture, people who still worship their ethnicity despite industrial developments amuses me.

     After reaching this place, we hired a mini bus and headed to our guest house.  On the way, we stopped near IIT Kozhikode to finish our breakfast.  It was Kerala's traditional food with Aapam and green peas masala.  It was a different but nice way to start the day.  Then, after a long travel, we finally reached our guest house.  Thanks to the organizers.  It was simply superb!!!  It gave us all a being at home like feeling.  This rest house is located at the area called Kalpetta.

Guest house where we all stayed

The travel though tiring, was really awesome.  We had a preview of the exotic forest locations even before we start to see the exotic locations.

On the way to Wayandu

Welcome to Wayanadu

Due to bad timing of the trip (April-may) season where most of the waterfalls will have no water, we have to cut short our trip to enjoy only 4 locations there.  Though it was little disappointing, we had a great time together.  Kuruva Island was the first place we visited in Wayanad.  We went there with nil expectations and came back with great happiness.  It was a small landscape surrounded by rivers.  You need a bamboo ferry to reach the other side.  It was like entering a forest without any preparations.  But, it was a biological park with exotic trees and shrubs.  Situated on the other side of the park is a little stream where the tourists took bath.  Maybe, this stream will turn wild during rainy season.

Entering Kuruva through a ferry

A stream in Kuruva island

little stream

After spending some quality time at Kuruva Island, we headed to Pookode lake.  Its a lake, a scenic beauty that is surrounded by mountains.  It was so beautiful, but we skipped boating for time constraints.  However, tourists can walk around the bank that encircles the lake.  The walking was also equally fun filled with lots of photo sessions and leeches.  

Pookode lake 

Beware of leeches

Nice shot

Finally, we came back to our guest house and packed our way back to Mysore to enjoy the second innings of our trip.  Though i write about a trip that happened a year before, the beauty of Wayanad still soothes my memory.  If you are planning to visit Wayanad, the best time is before Indian Summer.  Had i not planned for Mysore trip, i would have covered most of the places here.