Elephant valley forest trekking

This time I would like to share some awesome moment which I had in ELEPHANT VALLEY forest trekking which is located before Kodaikonal. We started our trip on early morning around 05.00 am in our car reached trichy around 08.00 am. Then had our breakfast in nice small restaurant idly and sambar is like great feast at that time. The we started our trip heading towards Kodaikanal. The climate was really cool all the way we travel. When we reach Elephant Valley it was 03.00 pm. We got a warn welcome from Elephant valley. Suresh manager of elephant valley explained about the place and its specialty. We had good welcome drink made up of hibiscus, Went to see our TREE TOP HOUSE on top of tree which is almost at the forest. Just below the tree house there was a big lake which made us to think on the safety. Any how we step forward and stayed in the tree top for one day. It was really nice experience to stay nothing is available for another 300 meters. It was really isolated from the main elephant valley. We were walking very slowly and careful because we are above 40 meters from the ground level. I heard some wood cracking sound when I tried to climb stairs. Luckily nothing happened. We were able to see the entire elephant valley. Our dinner was supplied in our room on the first day hence it is far from the kitchen. We heard some weird noise middle of night. We were not able to make out which animal would be.

Day 1:

Early morning we woke up and saw some green view and mountain ranges from our tree top. We took some snaps and we changed our stay to another river side facing cottage. Had our breakfast and got ready for mountain trekking. We have been accompanied by one local tribal man. We started our walk by 10.30 am our guide was explaining about the whole history of elephant valley, We reached first waterfalls. Relaxed for some time continued our trekking. We saw pug marks of Bison’s and Elephant’s. On the way we saw Dolmens Cave which is 4000 years old. We came back to our resort and had some mouth watering lunch with nice hot menus. Next relaxed for some time and went for Bamboo rafting, which is small river flows inside Elephant valley campus. Nice experience to balance the whole bamboo base. Next we had a nice bath on flowing river water. Had our dinner and talking to our friends in resort for very long time sharing their experience on wild elephants encounters.

Day 2 :

We got up early and made some quick walk around Elephant valley. Our horse are ready in their stable. When we saw our breakfast menu it was totally western. I was felling difficult in handling spoon and knife. My ride on Cosmic is ready and we had some basis instruction on how to handle horse and set ready for forest riding. It was very nice experience to travel along with horse inside forest, navigation on route was done by Suresh from mobile phone which given by elephant valley. Cosmic did a good job by taking me without any fall on the way. We spent our ride for nearly 2 hours and came back to our resort. It was nice natural experience to fell once in lifetime. I was felling to spend some more time there although my mobile was buzzzzing with pizzed out noise from my dear ones, business partners and associates. Signed off from Elephant valley started my journey back to my home town. My mind and soul was really fresh and filled with great energy. Started my journey afternoon 01.00 pm and reached my home sharp at 08.00 pm.

Tips and points to remember

Mobile network available:

1. Vodafone Full network

2. Tata indicom Full network

How to reach there:

Starting from CHENNAI to Villipuram bypass to Trichy to Dindugal to Bathlagundu from there Ghat road starts to Kodaikanal. We have to travel 30 Km you can see Perumal malai junction. Again we have to take the Left road which goes to Elephant valley 8Km located near Ganeshapuram village.

To and flow from CHENNAI it will take around 700 Km.

Contact Numbers of Elephant valley:

0413-2655751- Centralized booking from pondy

04542-230399 - Elephant Valley reception

09244103418 - Suresh (Manager)

My Photo link of the trip:

http://picasaweb.google.com/ssmsarathy/ElephantValley100610#

Chennai - Ooty - Masanagudi 1800 Km Bike trip

Day 1

I would like to share my thrilling experience of bike trip from Chennai to masanagudi 1800 Km bike trip. I started from Chennai around 02.00 am along with my friend Kunal from Chennai IIT on my bike Yamaha Enticier. It was very heavy mist when we started our trip, before we cross Chennai limit we had forced to have a break. Then I turned on my high beam double focus doom light then we managed to travel with a normal speed 90 Km meter per hour. When we saw little light in the sky then we zoomed on the high way on 130 Km per hour. We reached Ulunderpet around 09.00 am we had our break fast in TTDC hotel food was not that much good. Again we sat on our sedan now it was little bit sunny we had some juice while riding and reached Salem around 01.00 pm. We spend some time in my college which is on the way, We got into the inner roads which leads to Gopichettty palayam and Sathyamangalam, It was much less traffic we maintained our speed limit 120 to 130 km per hour. Then we halted in our college guest house in Mettupalayam had our dinner waiting for our other friends who are coming from Bangalore. We saw them relaxed for some time went to bed.

Day 2

We got up early morning and playing UNO planning for the day, I washed my bike and did necessary check up before we start. Started from Mettupalayam around 09.30 am reached Coonur 10.40 am finished our break fast had some quick sight seeing reached Ooty around 02.00 pm. We saw some view points and water falls and taught of halt for the day, When I checked with my local friend he suggested for a stay in Masanagudi. Totally 8 bikes are ready to make trip to the forest road it was very slope we managed to travel in second gear for long stretch. We saw some couple of wild Bison’s and one Tusker elephant. We reached our forest guest house in masanagudi around 06.30 pm. We got warm welcome from Manjunath owner of the resort. He arranged for a jeep safari inside deep forest after our dinner. We got into two jeeps it was 11.00 pm it was much thrilling felling to step inside the silent forest. In few minutes we sighted Sambar deer, Spotted deer and Bison. We were eagerly waiting for elephants we heard one strange noise from a dense bush it was a elephant. Our jeep was silent for some time we saw our friend slowly coming from the bush it was a amazing view. We went to couple of spots where animals will come to have water. We are not lucky to see much animals there. We took around 2 hours to complete jeep safari. We came back to our resort and slept.

Day 3


We got up around 07.00 pm we discussed about the trip and had a great fun. My friends traveled in different direction to Mysore. Myself and Kunal came back in the same route to Ooty and reached Chennai around 12.00 pm to Chennai. It was a really very good experience and pleasant trip.


How to reach there:

Chennai-->Vilupuram-->Salem-->Sithodu-->Gopichettypalayam-->

Sathyamangalam--> Mettupalayam-->Ooty-->Masanagudi.



Note: If you plan to go masanagudi make your trip before 06.00pm.

They don’t allow any vehicle due to very slope road and dangerous wild animals.


Essential things to carry during bike trip

1. Original and photo copy on dated documents of the motor bike.
2. Original copy of driving license
3. Pair of helmets and sunglass if required.
4. Few puncture stickers .
5. One Clutch cable.
6. One accelerator cable.
7. One set of head lamp bulb.
8. Tool box kit to remove and fit any parts of our bike.

My Photo link of the trip:

http://picasaweb.google.com/ssmsarathy/060309ChennaiOotyMasanagudiBikeTrip#

Kolli hills trekking

Last week we six friends went to kolli hills , i was representing CTC , Kolli hills is located in central Tamil Nadu . The mountains are about 1000 to 1300 m in height and cover an area of approximately 280 km². The Kolli Hills are part of the Eastern Ghats .This mountain is famous for all kinds of herbals and black magic .The mountains are relatively untouched by tourism and still retain their natural beauty .we started on Friday afternoon around 01.00 pm from Chennai , reached the base of the hill place called Puliancholai, it was around 08.30 pm we stayed in the temple mandapam which is located near the banks of the river ,one of my friend who is native of Kolli hills arranged for one driver and one guide .From Puliancholai there is no road ways to hill top so Driver (dhayalan) took my car on the road which is around 85 km from the base to top in different route, Morning around 08.00 am we started our trekking with our guide (swami), he is one of expert in finding the herbals inside the deep forest .

There are four different ways to reach top , we opted the 14 KM walk which is all through the river and forest mixed , hence there is less rain for last week we managed to walk in the middle of the river rocks which is little bit slippery. we saw around 3 caves in different location , middle of the way we saw many snakes , Hedgehogs and one bear from long view. water is really cool and taste of herbal mixed , water is not available on certain few km on the forest way although we managed with bottle . Path is really steep and narrow , at last the trek ended near to the water falls of kolli hills , this place is called Agaya Gangai waterfalls the gorgeous 300 feet water falls , which is really freezing and nice view . We had our lunch there spend more time in water . once we come out we were to stunned to see the 1000 steps to climb up to which is steep and small. once we came out our car is waiting for us , we were searching for hotel to have our dinner it was raining at that time , finally our guide took us to one house where we prepared our dinner like rice , sambar and appalam it was really nice stuff.we reached our guest house around 09.30 pm ,all my friends are first time trekkers who were really tired and sharing their pains to each other and cursing me . next day morning 08.00 am , we went to my friends resort and had bath in the lake , started exploring the places , went to many temples and sight seeing located in diff location , we went to visited one siadhder (Monk) his age is around 120 spend some time with him , we ordered our lunch in a small hotel it was like home made food .creasing areas of forests are cleared for farming. Important farm products of the mountain ranges include coffee, tea, Jackfruit, Pineapple, Black pepper and other spices. Rice and other minor millets form the staple food of the tribal people who inhabit these mountains.

The Jack fruit grown on these mountains is well known for its delicious taste and fragrance , all the fruits are grown naturally without fertilizers .we went to weekend market to purchase fruits . Our guide arranged for one soup it is called ( muravan attu kal kazangu soup ),this soup is available only one house in kolli hills , forest officials asked locals not to sale this soup hence it is huge demand, the key factor of this soup is 100% veg taste like mutton soup ,it is very good for people who suffering from joint pain , cholesterol, diabetes etc.., it is also used in herbal medicines..Now let me tell u the wired part of kolli hills , when we were talking to couple of locals they said about black magic , they refered some people we enquired to our guide (swami) , he completed refused the information after the huge discussion he agreed to take us to that place , first we went to one asharamam to meet one person he is out of station , we spoke to his assistance he said he can tell everything about us by doing meditation , first my friend stood in front of him say about 5 minutes ,at last he said some information which is 50% correct , next i stood for 3 minutes information which he said is 100% wrong , we visited many person in and around of the villages for black magic, some asked to come on particular day some refused to see.when we had tea in a shop again discussion went on this topic with some local mates , they revealed the information that there is old man who is around 75 years , who can transform into many forms , first i didn't believe that , we left that place travelled to diff location and enquired that information to other local people , first they refused then they accepted asked how we know , then i enquired to my guide he was totally shocked and refused completely , then he accepted we asked him to take us to that place , he was giving silly reason to take us , we stood in our way then he accepted to take us ,we travelled around 15 km remote village on the middle the road was too bad not able to proceed further , then we took one local help travelled in a tractor which was parked near the field , at last we went to his house to find him , we got big disappointment that he had went to some other remote location for some personal work .There are many places to explore in kolli hills , time matters we were forced to leave the place .we stared our journey to Chennai reached around Monday 04.00 am .

Points to remember

Route from chennai

1. Chennai to Ulundurpettai to before Attur (Malagaikarai) to Pulaincholai .

note : pulancholai is the trekking point to kolli hills , nearest railway station is Trichy, there is no road way from puliancholai to hill top , i suggest to have a driver if u are planning to go on own car , he can bring the vechile to the nearest end point of the trekking, it is not possible to trekk up and down on the same day, there are lot of sight seeing on the top which has difference of 5 to 10km away which has no public transport.

2. Mobile networks

note : only BSNL has a strong signal,other networks we can get signal not sufficient to make or receive a call.

3. Petrol Station

note : One petrol station is available beginning of the village .

4. Accommodation

note : government guest house is available , youth hostel is also available and couple of Private lodge and resorts . cost for government accommodation is around 550 to 890 max of 06 to 10 people can stay unofficially.

I suggest if any of our club members want to stay there , they can stay in my friends resort on their own tents , i can make an arrangement.

Photo link of Kolli Hills :

http://picasaweb.google.com/ssmsarathy/KolliMalli110708?authkey=n13Y0Z1qiHE