THE GLORY THAT IS WAYANAD

 

KANTHAPARA WATER FALLS MEPPADI

EDAKKAL CAVES

BANASURA SAGAR DAM

LAKKIDI ULTRA PARK

                                                           LAKKIDI VIEW POINT

    

POOKOT  LAKE

WAYANAD MAP

The district of Wayanad in Kerala is adjacent to the Western Ghat mountains with the district of Coorg or Kodagu on one side and the districts of Kannur and Kozhikode on the other.The territory of Wayanad has historical significance even during very ancient times and was originally a Jain town before  Islamic and Western Invasions.

The life-line of Wayanad is a highway that connects Mysore to Calicut as of now that crosses the Bandipur forests and the first town to encounter is Sultanbattery called Ganapathivattom in ancient times. The highway passes through key towns of  Kakavayal, Meenangadi,  Muttil,  Kalpetta, Chundale,Vythiri, Lakkidi before opening into the Ghat roads leading to the town of Adivaram on the foot of the ghat mountains towards Kerala and then to   Tamarassery,   Koduvally, Kunnamangalam and finally Calicut. Calicut is also called Kozhikode. Mananthavady is another key town within Wayanad towards the north of Kalpetta.

Kalpetta is the key and central town of Wayanad and the the other places could be seen as sattelite towns of Kalpetta.Kalpetta is a fine town with the back-drop of a precipice of the Western Ghats.Meppadi, Pulpally and Panamaram are other towns inside Wayanad.

There are many tourist attractions in Wayanad.

1.The Kanthapara Water Fall: This is precisely at a place called Meppadi on the Wayanad Ooty road. You must understand some aspects of this waterfall. Point 1 - it is three kilometres from the mainroad inwards and goes through a residential stretch.Point 2- It is a relatively small waterfall and ideal for water sport and  water related activities..during rainy seoson the water fall could be aggressive.

2.The Edakkal Cave:There is only one cave here possibly used by Jain Monks as residence to be safe from wild animals because it is up in the mountain.Trekking up the mountain to the cave is an adventure. Precisely there are two phases to this climb. In the first phase you climb a hill which is mountain climbing with high gradient at some stretches. In the second phase you have to do rock climbing to reach the cave carefully ascending through rock structures and the Government has also put srair-ways here. Never take the phase 2  of the climb if you have infants and very small children.

On the top is a single cave which is formed between rock formations , a room the size of 100ft by 50 ft. Climbing to Edakkal cave is more of an adventure than a tour.The Edakkal cave comes off the road from Kalpetta to Sultanbattery.

3.The Banasura Sagar dam : This dam is something special few kilometres from Kalpetta at Padinjarethara. It is the largest natural reservoir in the country trapping water from the many hills around.It is not an artificial dam and could be source to the Kabini river and hydel power plant also works with water from this reservoir.

4.The Ultra Park in Lakkidi: A man made adventure park basically for adventure sport. There is a skywalk here made of glass up in the air which gives a view of places around.

5.The Lakkidi view point : A spot at the opening of the ghat section from where the entire expanse of the ghats and its roads can be seen with a view to the foot-hills.

6.The Pookot Lake: A natural lake near Lakkidi the size and shape similar to the lake seen in Kodaikanal with boating facilities.

MANATHAVADY IN WAYANAD

 

The name Manantavady rings bells in my mind.In October 1983 or so S V Giri and myself reached at around 8pm  the old Calicut bus stand to board the 9pm bus to Bangalore but the bus was full and I still remember the blunt way in which the bus conductor shut the door of the bus and the bus took-off almost instantaneously...we waited upto 2:30 am in the Calicut bus stand under difficult conditions to board the early morning Karnataka SRTC super delux bus that would reach Calicut from Ernakulam around this time. Eventually we did board this bus reaching Bangalore at around 11 am.

The irony of the situation is that at  9 pm  there were several buses parked in the Calicut bus stand bound for Manantavady. For all Practical purposes we did not know where this place Manantavady was. Many people who visit Calicut for the first time would be in such quandary and must not make the oversight that we did.

Manantavady is a town in the Wayanad district of Kerala up the Western Ghat mountains.(Kalpetta is another town close to this place). It is a town on the same axis as Virajpet or even Madikeri. The principal fact of the matter is that Manantavady is relatively very close to the city of Mysore. Manantavady has a small befitting Kerala SRTC bus station. There are two routes from Manantavady to Mysore. One through Nagarahole forests through H D Kote (HeggadaDevana Kote) which should take three hours and another route through Gonikoppal which should take some four hours. Manantavdy also has a link road to Tellicherry.

Any one stranded in Calicut bus stand can try this route too to come to Bangalore. Calicut to Mananthavady to Mysore and to Bangalore.

WAYANAD NEAR BANGALORE

There is a less known tourist spot near Bangalore, more precisely near Mysore.It might be wrong to say less known as by the day many people are becoming aware of this Tourist destination.

Wayanad till the 18th century was less inhabited and the name Wayanad comes from Wayal-nad which means a land of many feilds.Wayanad has a very ancient history less discussed which links it to the Jain religion..this needs more research but possibly Jain monks took to this place for stay and penance.Wayanad is adjacent to Kodagu or Coorg and many roads link  Kodagu with Wayanad.

How to reach Wayanad? Take the Ooty highway from Mysore that goes through Nanjangud and then into a place called Gundlupet..at the Gundlupet check-post turn right into the Bandipur forest. Some one and a half hour journey from Gundlupet one reaches SultanBattery a key town in Wayanad.

The total travelling time from Bangalore to Wayanad could be some six hours or so.Sultan Battery ,Mananthavady and Kalpetta are the key cities of Wayanad relatively close to each other..there are many tourist spots in Wayanad which are less glorified by general public but none the less formidable.There are many smaller towns in Wayanad too like Vythiri and Panamaram.