Ootucmund

Few days back, traveling on a shaded road I remembered our trip to Ooty.The road was heavily shaded with dense plantation of bamboo and eucalyptus trees.The tall bamboos made a green archway above us and the sun played hide and seek through the thick foliage. Such roads being a rare sight , we made sure to enjoy the cool shady roadside for a “picnic on the roll”.

‘Udhagamandalam‘ or Ootucmund is popularly known as Ooty and is located in the state of Tamilnadu. It is a hill station in the Nilgiri hills or the Blue Mountains which are older than the Himalayan range. It was originally occupied by Toda tribe and ruled by Tipu Sultan. However, the East India Company snatched it from the king. The Britishers were so mesmerized with its beauty, climate and the flora fauna, that they nicknamed it as the ‘Queen of hill stations’. Britishers developed it and encouraged tea farming. They even built a rail track for connectivity.

The best months to visit Ooty are April-May and September-November.We planned our trip around October but failed to do any boarding reservations in our over excitement. It was a big mistake as all the decent hotels were booked heavily. We were later able to find accommodation in army mess for three days at Wellington. Being a defense services employee paid off. However this taught us a lesson of not being overconfident and making all our reservations beforehand.

We  stopped at five destinations over night en route to Ooty. The last stop being the Madumalai National Park which boasts of vast flora and fauna. It was on our wish-list to spend time in a tree-house which we could fulfill at the national park. The two room set would not classify as a proper tree house but it was above ground level, on stilts and in mid of a forest. It was the closest look-alike we could ask for. A jungle trip ,  at six the next morning completed our forest stay. We were able to spot fresh pug marks of some big cat, some deer, peacocks and an angry elephant who felt intruded upon at such an early hour.We set out for Ooty  soon after the morning encounter with the elephant who made sure that we back tracked our jeep.

Once we settled at the officers’ mess room, we equipped ourselves with the information of Ooty and its nearby tourist spots. As our excursions are always governed by the availability of activities which would interest our daughter, hence the trip to Children Park was the first on the itinerary. This park had various slides, swings, toy train and lot many kiddie activities. Having done the park first, she agreed our requests to visit most of the spots we wanted. We visited the Rose garden which boasts of largest variety of roses in the country and  green and black roses too. The best part was the Botanical Garden which occupies a large area and made us feel tired too. It is a garden worth visiting . It has fossilized trees, age-old pine tree, well laid out flower beds, Japanese garden, variety of ferns, cacti and much more. It is a favorite haunt of students and researchers of botany. Boating being another favorite activity with Kruti, we enjoyed it at Ooty Lake. Ooty has large areas under tea plantations and we could observe the tea plucking  for first time.

As our time-limit for mess accommodation approached near we visited the Dodabetta Peak,  the highest in the Nilgiris. The view of sunrise and sunset from the peak was spell-binding. At evening the mountains actually took on a blue tinge, maybe because of the smoky haze given off by the eucalyptus trees.

The visit finally ended with a bagful of local produce of tea, spices and essential oils which are of a high quality and are exported too.

The place is simply very beautiful and worth visiting again.