Hi friends, hope you all are doing fine.! If you had read some of my previous entries you would have came across the word "Nilgiri Mountain Railway". The famous mountain railway service that is recognized by UNESCO as a world heritage site will take you to the famous hill resort in India since the British time called as Udhagamandalam or in short Ooty. Many of you would have heard about this beautiful place in India. Ooty is also called as the Queen of Hill Stations. It has been almost five years since I last visited Ooty but even at that time Ooty has a magnificent nature that I can remember even now. This world famous hill resort extends for a total area of about 36 square miles. The entire region of Ooty is characterized by the greenery which you can see on every direction. The tea plantations adds up the ambience of nature.
Ooty can be reached by road, by train and even by air.
Ooty is accessible from all major cities in the south India through curvy mountainous roads. There are frequent buses from chennai, bangalore, mysore, coimbatore, calicut and cochin. The road journey can give you some stunning views of nature and the road uphill has numerous hairpin bends.
By air you can travel upto the Coimbatore Airport from which ooty is just at a distance of 10 kms. There are frequent flights to coimbatore from all major cities in India. Flights are frequent from cities like chennai, cochin, banglore, hyderabad, Mumbai, delhi, kolkatta etc. Spice jet provides more frequent service to coimbatore.
Once you reach Ooty you can get around the city using taxi or auto rickshaw that is widely available. Inorder to prevent the tourists from getting cheated auto fares to specific and most prominent tourist sights are mentioned clearly in the auto stands.
Although Ooty is a famous hill resort there is a specific season during which you have to visit inorder to get the best out of Ooty. The perfect season to visit Ooty is during the summer months. Visiting Ooty anywhere between April and September can give you the ultimate experience that one can have in Ooty. During the summer seasons the temperature will be around 10degree celcius to 25degree celcius and during winter the temoerature will drop to 5degree celcius to 21degree celcius.
Once you reach Ooty in the perfect time you must find a place to accommodate yourself. The bad part about Ooty is that rent prices increase during the seasons and it is always higher than the rent during off seasons. All kinds of hotels can be found in Ooty. If you are kind of person who desires ultimate luxury then you can opt for hotels like Savoy hotel & Fernhill palace.
If you are the one who opts for mid range hotels then you can try hotel tamil nadu, hotel dasaprakash, Nilgiris woodlands hotel, Regency villa. and for those who seek strict economic accomodation then they can check out TTDC youth hostel, YWCA and reflection guest house.
The gastronomy of Ooty allows you to taste traditional south Indian cuisine. you can also try eating at the popular hotels at savoy hotel, hotel dasaprakash, tandoori mahal/ The shinkows chinese restaurant in Ooty will serve you with some delicious chinese recipes.
Knowing about travel, stay and food in Ooty has now led us to discuss about thestrong history that this famous hill resort has.! The first people who settled down in the hills of Ooty are called as Todas. They were the people living even before the period when Britishers identified Ooty as hill resort. Still records gives the credit of identifying Ooty as a hill resort is given to the British who laid the first railway line. This place was regarded as the capital city when it was summer season in Madras the present chennai.
After the railway line was laid people began to settle down in Ooty. The first person to officially settle down in Ooty was John Sullivan who was the collector of coimbatore during the British Period. He built a stone house in Ooty for the first time. This house was called locally as KAL BANGLA in which kal means stone and Bangla means bungalow. Today this bungalow is a part of thr government arts college in Nilgiris. Followed by the Kal bangla numerous cottages, stone houses and gardens were built in Ooty.
Charing cross which is a road junction with markets surrounding the roads . In this market is located a shop called Spencers Departmental Store which sell homemade Cigars made of Indian tobacco. Ootacmund club is the best preserved club in Ooty and it was built during the british time. The club offers something called "The Ooty Hunt" which still rides hound to pursuit jackals. Wenlock downs is a perfect place for a good game of golf. This place is found in the Gymkhana golf club of Ooty. Ooty horse racing is another major attraction in Ooty.
There are several viepoints in Ooty from which you can get a magnificent view of the Ooty. The most prominent such viewpont is Dodabetta peak which is the highest peak having an altitude of 2623metres above sea level. and from here with no fog or mist you can see upto coimbatore and even the mysore plateau. There are also other viewpoints such a Elk hills, Green Valley View and snowden peak.
The botanical garden of Ooty which is maintained by the states horticultural department preserves several rare species of plants, trees and shrubs. The botanical garden preserves a large varieties of Roses, some rare flowering species such as Kurinji Poo which flowers only once in 12 years. It also has several trees of medicinal importance such as eucalyptus trees, some fossilated tree barks which is about 20 years old. During the summer month several exhibitons are held in this garden which is generally called as the Summer Festival. The lawns found all over the garden just appear as a fresh green carpet. There is an artificial lake in this lake where boating and fishing can be done upon permission.
There are some important landmarks located in Ooty, some of which I have mentioned below.
The Mini Garden which is located at a distance of one kilometre from the main bus station. This is also called as the Children's Lake Garden. The Tamil Nadu tourism board maintains a restaurant and an amusement park in this area. The next important land mark in Ooty is Lalith Kala Academy which is located at a distance of 2km from the Ooty mysore highway. This place has a wide collection of sculptures and other art works not only from ooty but also from different places in India. Rose garden is another important lansmark in Ooty which is just at a distance of a kilometer from the charred croos. This rose garden contains 1919 varieties of roses extending for an area of about 10 acres. The artificial lake is an important landmark and an recreational site in Ooty.This was builot by the same person who made the first building in Ooty popularly known as the KAL BANGLA. The graveyard of St.Thomas church overlooks the lake and here is burried a governor of Madras who died in Ooty. This place can be easily identified by a huge pilar which has a cross on the top. There are numerous paddle boats and rowing boats available for tourists. If you visit Ooty then you must also visit the famous government museum which is located in the Ooty Mysore High road. This museum houses a vast collection of suclptures and rare art & craft models.
The Mukurthi Peak which is located at a distance of 40km from Ooty. The Mukhurthi National Park is locate in the south eastern corner of the nilgiris. On its opposite side lies the famous silent valley. The Mukhurthi National Park can offer you a place of scenic beauty containining Himalayan Flora and Fauna.
Ketty Valley View is located on the route to conoor and this spot gives you a view of several bunches of villages that extend across the plains of coimbatore and mysore. Pykara is another interesting place to visit located at a distance of 21kms in the Ooty-Mysore highway which has the shola and Toda settlements which preserves nature and are rich in wild life. The villages appear to be covered with green blanket with all the untoucheed vegetation. The villagers fence their boundary and preserves their nature.There is a electricity board van that carries the EB staffs from the Glenmorgan viewpoint to singhara powerhouse. Their is a 4km winch track that carries the workers through the untouched lands of the shola tribes. But to go to this viewpoint you must get permission beforehand from the electricity board. Upper Bhavani is a village at a distance of 10km from korakudah and 20km from Avalanche. This place acts as a start point of a trekking track that can take you to silent valley. Avalanche which is located at a distance of 26km from ooty is a best fishing spot. Fishing rods are available here for rent from the Trout hatchery. If you walk about 7kms from avalanche you will reach the MacIvor's bund which is ahead of Mukreti peak located at an altitude of 8031feet which is a famous Nilgiri Tahr Sanctuary. The western catchment which is about 20km from parason valley contains some rolling grassy downs which inturn lie in the shola covering some depressions and valley.
Not only this the hill station of Ooty is blessed with nature and therefore you can explore and find out so many different things here. Take a trip in the Toy Train and you would not forget it till the end of your life. Thank you for reading it patiently. If you have any comments please feel free to post them below. Till I publisg my next article keep smiling and cheers :) :)
