Are you a Travel Enthusiast?  Nature Lover? or  an Animal Lover? Manjolai along with the royal western ghats extends bountiful  flora and fauna. It offers virgin tranquil landscapes for nature lovers and Kalakkad – Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve (KMTR) un-riddles the anticipation of animal lovers. An ideal paradise for a day trip.

Let off your hustle-bustle life-style and unwrap Manjolai's exquisite creations.

Itinerary:

•      Tuticorin -  Tirunelveli (55 Km)- NH  138
•      Tirunelveli- Kallidaikurichi  (40 Km)- SH 39
•      Kallidaikurichi- Singampatti   (05 Km)
•      Singampatti- Manimuthar falls (12 Km)
•      Manimuthar Falls- Manjolai  (18 Km)
•      Manjolai- kakkachi   (04 Km)  (altitude: Average 1300 m)
•      Kakkachi- Nallamukku  (10 Km)
•      Nalumukku-Oothu (04 Km)  (altitude: Average 1250 m)
•      Oothu to Kuthiraivetti (05 KM)
•      Nalumukku - Upper Kodayar  (06 Km).         

With this trivial info let me unfold the tales of refreshing and dumbfounding forest.

Myself and my friend (Karthik VA http://vakarthik.com/) planned to take a shot. We learnt from blogs that its a must to take permission from Forest Department, which is located in Ambasamudram Taluk. This is going to pain us as we were devoid of any leave so its almost an impossible task.I asked some local guys working at my site, luckily he got a guy for us who promised to take us till kodayar and of course to get permission letter.

We got to know that two wheelers are not allowed beyond manimuthar Falls. Oh Gosh! another bolt on our head. So without choice we opted for a cab.

18-Feb-2012

I geared up all my stuff and got ready to show my beast (Yamaha YZF-R15) the meaning of haste (in fact it didn't worked out).We started from Tuticorin to Ambasumdram as the sun fades (06:30 pm)(driving in Tuticorin- Tirunelveli @ night is almost like cracking IIT-JEE exam). As we expected it took 90 odd minutes to reach Tirunelveli. We had dinner on the way and started again towards Ambasamudram. Damm!! its an awesome drive i ever had - dark roads, soothing wind, Magnificent Moon, coruscating stars,reflecting water bodies along the road (Thanks to power-cut!!).

 After a rattling drive we reached Ambasamudram, its time to search for an accommodation. To our dismay we didn't find a decent hospitality from Gowri Shankar hotel so we moved to Kallidaikurichi where we found a Hotel named Baskar close to the main road . Rooms are pretty decent and unlike the other hotel we received good hospitality.We collected some rations for the next day trip . Its Time for a deep nap.

19-Feb-2012

1. Singampatti: 

     We thought of starting as early as possible say around 5:30 AM but we were told that check post leading to Manimuthar falls will open around 6:30 to 7:00AM so we waited patiently without compromising our excitement. The guy along with the cab driver came exactly at 7:00 AM, OOPS!! its a pesky Omni(I hate omni for its hollow, uninspiring look ). We moved through a small village named Singampatti, Wow! On

either side of the small sneaky road one can find green paddy field snychronizing with the western ghats. Had it been on a winter i guarantee you,  its an exhilarating visual treat.

2. Manimuthar Falls:

       We reached the first check post, they insisted us to get down before 5:00 PM. We were surprised to note that  permission to visit Kodayar has been rejected . After half an hour drive through the deciduous forest we reached Manimuthar falls. As we were the first to reach this exotic spot ,the panoramic view is reserved only for four mortals. Water flowed  graciously with breeze comforting our souls.

                                        

 Manimuthar Main Waterfalls 

Not the Main Water Course!! 

3. Manjolai: 

        we started after spending some 30 min. Now starts the real journey, the roads are narrow and stealthy (you cant have a clear view on most of the turn-around) yet its nice to drive along the swirls. Our driver stopped at a point where we saw 3 to 4 arbit mountainous range and he pointed to the third and said "That's our destination Folks". I am excited with two thoughts

                 i) wow! its going to be an incredible trip  

                 ii) wooh! Fish! surpassing 3 mountains in this buggy 4-wheeler.

    After about half an hour we reached Manjolai checkpost, after formalities he let us in and now its estates sprawling all over your eye wanders. Its indeed a place full of life but its really not fitting into my camera frame, so i just didn't get the feel of taking snaps. Along with the tea estates we found tea processing factories and countable number of sheet ed house meant for manpower deployed  in those factories.

4. Kakkachi:

        Few miles away we found huge landmass filled with green pastures and grazing cows filled up the picture.We stepped out and geared up for framing this exquisite view. Then came a local guy barging towards us, he was naming some tons of leach varieties which dwells in these pastures. Holy-moly!! i jumped out as i am allergic to leaches.

Kakkachi Golf Course

Kakkachi Golf Course

 Sun started unleashing its wrath by the  time we started from there.The lush greeny tea estates extended all our way, after some 15 min journey we had a sight of mans splendid work.

Manjolai Estate- Kakkachi

    

5. Nalumukku:

 The immature track passed through bumpy terrain and its almost 12:30 when we reached this place.We found a Kerala mess run by a 'cheta'(not able to recollect his name)- the place is cramped yet clean. We had 'chai' (chakra gold i guess) and ordered lunch.

Driver and the guy accompanying us grabbed a ranger from nowhere, he was narrating some facts and stories about oothu. 

6. Kudhiraivetti via Oothu :

       One more local guy who introduced himself as Ramesh joined our crew. Ramesh was working as a daily laborer in a tea estate.


There stands the watch tower on a high cliff,from there we had a wide view of three watercourse i) Manimuthar ii) Karayar iii) Servalar
As it was very sunny and thin sheet of haze invaded the entire atmosphere, i felt the vaccum it will create in my picture which in turn diluted my enthusiasm over the place . We saw some households scattered in dots and a Guest house lodging 3 rooms with provision of some common Kitchen( It is meant for some VIP's i guess).

Karayar Dam

Manimuthar Dam

7. Back to Oothu via Varakkattai:

     we descended down to "Oothu" and proceeded towards the view point (Varakkattai) after creeping through the constrained track. Ramesh took us to a tea estate and in fact not accessible. Wow!! A sight for a sour eyes! those estates fits perfectly to the frame, Everywhere you find tea plants stitch up in symmetry.

Oothu Estate - 1

Oothu Estate - 2

Oothu Estate -3

 He took us deep into the estate from where we saw "Agasthiyar Malai". Agasthiyar malai is a pilgrimage point where Hindu devotees offer prayers to Sage Agastya. An extended whitish water body was  alluring our eyes. Yes it is the source of  "Banatheertham". The tail end (which is approachable from karayar dam) does not have any relative dimension when compared to this source.  

Agasthiar Malai 
Could'nt spot distant waterfall due to toiling haze!

8. Oothu -Nalumukku:

      By now i lost all my energy , my stomach starving for food (bread, juice, snacks whatever junk you may have but nothing can substitute our normal source of nourishment) . It's 2:30 Pm when we made our way back to oothu.

    Yay! awesome lunch awaited for us in Kerala mess, food tasted good and served in abundance. Thanks to Cheta!!

9. Kodayar:

       Its 3:30PM when we resumed to kodayar. Hmmm! not much interesting all around, the topography turns to marshy lands and the sun still exhausting last drop of liquid on our body. We reached kodayar check post, we were blessed to take the ranger with us. He went to those guards and had a conversation and ultimately we were let in. On our way we saw Kodayar lower dam and the dwindling roads connecting to it. We reached the FINAL DESTINATION at around 4:15PM. Serene landscape with trees over dotted landmass surrounded by appealing water is what hidding behind the Kodayar upper dam.

Upper Kodayar

Here we can find a TNEB guest house at top, It might be entitled only for TNEB officials. 


And now its time to depart these gracious mountain..


We travelled down the same path surpassing Nalumukku and Kaakachi. we stopped for a "chai" at "Estate bakery". My collegue got some "rusk"  for munching. To be honest! i had never tasted such a scrummy snack. We reached the hotel by 7:00Pm and we departed from Kallidaikurichi carrying away the tales of nature.

Interesting Facts :

1. This topographic point is still unsung among mass.
2. Singampatti Zamin Owned 75,000 acres of land in this hills. Due to Legal    altercation much of these land were abducted by the English.
3. Estates were maintained and operated by Bombay Burmah Tea corporation Ltd.These lands were leased by Govt of TamilNadu.
4. Manimuthar Estate, Manjolai Estate, Oothu Estates are the three prominent tea plantation estates.
5. The Golf-course (so called) is a place where zamins hunt animals for their pleasure as well as to show case their mettle in hunting. Deers, Sambars were forced to run along the open pasture where it has to face attackers and ultimately to get doomed.
6. Only in "Oothu" organic fertilizer's were used. Other estates they utilize chemical fertilizers.
7. Ordinary and green tea were exported abroad and not traded within India.
8. Trekking to Agasthiar Malai were organised from Pappanasm during the month of May.

Do's:

1. Make yourself comfortable with jerkin, umbrella etc. Irrespective of the season it may rain at top.
2. Try to take a trip on sunday (if you are planning for a single day trip).whole mountanious range will be all your's,as most Workers will go for purchase.
3. Take a local with you.
4. Have food at Kerala mess (order early) and of course save some rations.
5. Preferable season- Jan to Mid March (Source: Local people)
6. Get Tea packs from Manjolai check post.
7. Make a visit to processing factories(if possible).
8. If you are really intersted, make an article about the people working in these estates.

Dont's :

1. Do not ever drop plastic or  any garbage.
2. Do not wander over the golf course if you are not so fond of leaches.
3. Do not make an attempt to travel during September- December.