This was my first ever trip to Kerala, first long road trip in my car, the first trekking trip after a long gap of 2 years and first sun burn experience. The picturesque mountain peaks, forests, tea estates were really mesmerizing and the fish curry in kerala was awesome 🙂 . The drive through Bandipur and Nagarhole wild life sanctuaries was great. It was a 5 day trip and I will be writing a series of detailed posts about the trip later. Our itinerary was something like this – Started off from bangalore in the morning at 7 am. Reached Kalpetta (Wayanad) by 2.30 pm. Spent the evening at pookot lake and Lakkidi. The next day was trek to Chembra peak. On the 3rd day, we went to Banasura Sagar dam and Kuruva Island. On the 4th day, we went to Meenmutty and Soochipara falls. On the 5th day, we went to Tirunelli temple (supposed to be a very old temple and the drive is through Tholpetty wildlife sanctuary) in the morning on our way back and reached Bangalore by 6.30 pm via Kutta, Nagarhole wildlife sanctuary, Mysore.
In Kalpetta we stayed in a nice home stay surrounded by lots of greenery which appeared to be the norm everywhere in Wayanad. On our first day when we went to our homestay in the night, we first thought it was in the middle of a jungle 🙂 . The next day morning we realized that it was in a normal neighborhood but surrounded by lots and lots of trees giving a feel of staying in a jungle.
The only disappointment was the hot sun during the day and after our trek to Chembra I had a very bad sun burn. By the end of the trip when I reached Bangalore, I realized that I had real bad skin tanning and parts of the skin was peeling off from the face 🙁 .
On the whole, it was a very nice trip and had a nice break after a long time. A good way to welcome the new year 🙂 .