Much Awaited 6 Days Monsoon Road Trip


Thread Starter #1
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We have been thinking for a monsoon road trip but were confused about the destinations. Last August we had a 7 days wonderful trip to Jog falls, Goa and Mahabaleshwar etc, and the memories remain still afresh. Though we had trips to various destinations in south repeatedly, a trip during rains would definitely give a wonderful experience, with more of greenery, with abundant flow of water in falls and importantly with a lesser tourist crowd. After discussing with my wife, we shortlisted few locations mainly in Kerala and those are Thekkady, Vagamon, Munnar, Athirappilly and return to Bangalore via Valparai. Subsequently the dates were finalized, from 3rd to 8th August 2014, and the accommodations were booked in advance through Clear Trip with an attractive discount offer. Two days prior to the trip, I replaced two tyres in the front at one of the MRF outlets at Bangalore.

Day 1 : Bangalore – Kumily – Vagamon and return to Kumily - 620 kms
Day 2 : Kumily – Thekkady – Munnar – 115 kms
Day 3 : Munnar – Top station – Munnar – 70 kms
Day 4 : Munnar – Eravikulam National Park – Lakkom waterfalls – Munnar – 50 kms
Day 5 : Munnar – Athirapilly Waterfalls – Vazhachal waterfalls – Athirapilly - 155 kms
Day 6 : Athirapilly – Valparai – Coimbatore – Bangalore – 545 kms.


Day 1 : 3rd August 2014. Drive from Bangalore to Kumily, Vagamon and back to Kumily – 620 kms.

We were 30 minutes behind schedule and started at 6 am from Bangalore and the target was reaching Kumily by 2 pm covering 507 kms. Being on Sunday there was not much of traffic on roads and was able to drive comfortably and crossed the KA border within an hour. Though it was raining on the previous day, the weather was fine in the morning. Before Krishnagiri we had a stop for a fuel top up, further we continued and just after Krishnagiri we stopped for breakfast at Saravana Bhavan around 7.30 am. South Indian dishes there are really delicious and the services are also good as well, with a vast area for parking in the front.

The watchman of the hotel is having a unique kind of moustache and on a request he was posing the cam for a picture. After breakfast we started at 8 am, the roads ahead were fantastic and were able to drive hassle free for a long distance. Once we crossed Karur bye pass for almost 150 kms plus, the drive was little uncomfortable due to heavy breeze. Around 11.15 am we deviated from Dindigal bye pass to Kumily road towards the right. It’s a newly laid two lane road with patchy surfaces in few stretches which curtails the driving speed drastically. The road passes through Vathalakundu and Theni, and before reaching Kumily, there is a small ghat section one has to pass through; and once you cross the TN border check post you are in Kumily town in Kerala, and Periyar Tiger reserve, Thekkady is just 5 kms away from Kumily. Surprisingly we found a totally different weather, and was raining when we reached Kumily around 1.45 pm, 15 minutes before the estimated time of arrival.

As we booked the accommodation in advance with Hotel Blooming Paradise, we straight away went to the hotel and checked-in and kept the baggage in the room which was on the first floor. The hotel do has a restaurant but only vegetarian food was served; so we opted to go out for the lunch to a non vegetarian restaurant which is right opposite to this hotel, had good Kerala fish curry rice.
Soon after lunch we came back to the hotel, took rest for 30 minutes and started the drive to Vagamon which is almost 60 kms away from Kumily. There was intermittent rain all the way, and once we deviated from KK road to Vagamon road, we found the roads very narrow and very steep in some places. However we continued our drive in spite of rainy and misty weather conditions. We couldn’t spend more time at Vagamon as the atmosphere was getting mistier, and driving back would be a problem. And to our bad luck the camera battery got almost drained out and there was no time left to charge it even in the car. Around 6.30 pm we reached back at the hotel.

As we had heavy late lunch, decided to compromise with a light vegetarian dinner at the restaurant on the ground floor. Meanwhile the room boy had delivered my favorite KF at room itself. Later, we had our dinner around 9 pm and hit the bed by 10 pm.

Coming up next : Boating at Periyar lake in Thekkady, Drive to Munnar
 

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It is always a different feeling when we drive through the ghat section / hilly area during the monsoon. I too enjoyed the my last monsoon in Agumbe ghats. Nice experience.

As usual, another great travelogue was started from Ram Sir. Eagerly waiting for another sets of experiences and pics of this travel.
 
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Nice travelogue Ram,
did you went for boating in Thekkady. How is the water level now, as am planing to do a trip along with a wedding to attend to this place.
 
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Day 2 : 4th August 2014. Kumily to Munnar – 115 kms

We got up at 5 in the morning and were ready by 6 am to go for the boating at Thekkady. The Tiger Reserve entrance gate opens at 6.30 am and we reached the spot by 6.15 am. The entrance ticket counter is also near the gate, since there was not much crowd in the morning we were able to get the tickets fast. Rs 150/- per head is the charge for boating, Rs 10/- per head for the entrance and Rs 25/- for the camera; Timing: 7.30 am, 9.30 am, 11.15 am, 1.45 pm, and 3.30 pm; Duration – 1.30 hrs (Earlier it was 2 hrs).

Soon after the gates were opened we moved in to the parking area which was 3 kms away from the entrance, and after parking we had to walk half a km to reach another counter where we had to fill up a form with name and address details and give to them. Probably after the boat tragedy happened in 2009, they adopted this system. After submitting the forms along with the entrance tickets they issue the boarding pass with the boat’s name and seat number, thus there was no necessity for rushing to get the seats. And the boat started as per the schedule at 7.30 am and was full. Now it is mandatory to wear the life jackets on board whether one knows swimming or not. The worst part was that the jackets were stinking.

During the boating we had seen herd of bison and wild boars in the sanctuary. Earlier the ride was up to Mullaperiyar dam with duration of 2 hours but now they reduced to 1.30 hours skipping the dam. Around 9 am we returned to the base. Overall it was a pleasant experience, but the memories of 2009 boat tragedy were haunting us, about 45 people lost their life in the mishap, MAY THEIR SOULS REST IN PEACE.

2009 Thekkady boat disaster

The Thekkady boat disaster occurred on September 30, 2009, when the double-decker passenger boat Jalakanyaka sank in LakeThekkady, Periyar National Park, Kerala, India. When the boat capsized, 45 tourists died, most of them from Delhi and Kolkata. A total of 82 people were on the boat. The boat's helmsman, Victor Samuel, and another crew member were arrested on 5 October.

Details

The fibreglass double-decker sight-seeing boat Jala Kanyaka, operated by the Kerala Tourism Development Corporation (KTDC), made daily sight-seeing trips in the Mullaperiyar reservoir in Idukki. The boat was first commissioned on August 17, 2009.

The boat set off from a landing at 4:30 p.m. and capsized 7 km away, at approximately 5 p.m. on 30 September 2009. It capsized in one of the deepest parts of the reservoir, in an area around 100m deep.
Several survivors swam to safety.

Rescue

The surrounding area has wild animals, including elephants, and is within the 777 km2 Periyar Tiger Reserve.

By 8 p.m, a rescue team recovered 26 bodies, and two survivors. Initial rescue operations were completed by local government officials and the public before the state and federal government crews arrived. None of the initial rescue boats had divers; however a team of divers from Indian Navy was assigned to help the rescue operation 5–6 hours later. A team of 40-50 navy divers were rushed to the spot from the Southern Naval Command at Kochi. On 3 October, the search for bodies was still ongoing.

Four bodies were noted as missing until 3 October, when three were recovered by Navy divers: four-and-a-half-year-old Aishwarya and her mother Senthilkumari, from Bangalore, and Apoorva, 16, from Hyderabad. A Navy helicopter spotted the body of Aishwarya first, and her mother was found nearby. The final missing passenger, Apoorva’s 19 year old brother Abhilash, was discovered on the evening of October 3 by an underwater camera, but bad weather delayed its retrieval until the following day.

Twenty people, mostly on the upper deck, were rescued by boats sent by KTDC, the Forest Department, and Tamil Nadu Public Works Department.
Both State and National government acted, asking defense establishments in Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram to launch rescue attempts. Navy divers from Kochi were forced to travel overland, after their helicopter, sent to locate the victims, was turned back by bad weather.

Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, the Home and Tourism Minister of Kerala and, and N. K. Premachandran, the minister for Water Resources, arrived in Thekkady late at night, and they coordinated rescue operations according to press reports.

Investigations

Originally, KTDC claimed that there were 74 passengers, but police findings showed 87 passengers; some confusion in the numbers was caused by some survivors leaving the scene without reporting to the police.
The fatalities consist mostly of women, mainly from outside Kerala. The dead included people from Tamil Nadu, Delhi and West Bengal; more than 50 belonged to a group from Karnataka, who had come in a tourist bus to Thekkady as part of a tour of Kerala.

Preliminary reports stated that the accident occurred when a large number of passengers rushed to one side of the boat to see a herd of bison which emerged from the forest. The sudden movement caused the boat to capsize, and all of the passengers were thrown into the water.

Later, this initial report was challenged when some of the rescued tourists reported structural problems with the boat, saying that it was tilted throughout the trip, for about 30 minutes. Then at one point the boat took a sharp turn, overturned and capsized.

The boat was owned and operated by the Kerala Tourism Development Corporation. The government has been blamed for not privatizing these boats, for not enforcing safety precautions and for not having efficient disaster recovery plans. The crew of the boat, driver and helper escaped the incident. The passengers were not provided a life jacket before the trip, and there were no lifeguards.

The Pioneer newspaper of Dehli reported "widespread complaints" against both Kerala Government and KTDC "trying to absolve them of the guilt by putting the entire blame on the boat employees." The Crime Branch’s probe report blamed the incident on a combination of driver negligence and overloading.

Aftermath

On October 2, it was announced that the government would pay the expenses for sending the bodies of the deceased to their home states and that Rs 5 lakhs would be provided to the next kin of each of the dead in the accident. The Government of Kerala ordered a judicial inquiry into the boat tragedy.
Questioned at the scene on Monday October 5, helmsman Victor Samuel (alias Betty) attributed the incident to the sudden movement of tourists, but fellow crew member Aneesh (also written Anish) pointed out the overloading of the upper deck. Preliminary inquiries revealed that the boat was overloaded, with 12 more than its capacity of 75. The Crime Branch determined that when Samuel "suddenly turned the boat to the right, after the tourists sighted the wild animals”; it had contributed to the incident. Superintendent of Police (Crime Branch) PA Wilson said that "the unwarranted act of driver Victor Samuel swerving the boat while at high speed caused the tragedy". The Crime Branch did not make a final report, pending further questioning of survivors, but Samuel and Aneesh were arrested, to be taken before the Magistrate Court at Peerumade. Sameul has been charged with "causing death unintentionally."

Also under consideration was the possibility raised by reports that the boat tilted to one side due to a structural imbalance. The police stated that the Jalakanyaka, which was recovered and brought to the dock in Thekkady, "had inherent problems". A careful forensic examination was scheduled to begin.

Criticism

Oommen Chandy, Leader of Opposition in the Kerala Assembly, criticized the ongoing Crime Branch probe, alleging an attempt to make the steersman a scapegoat. "An attempt is on to put the blame and responsibility of the accident on the steersman," Chandy said.

Chandy told reporters that, instead of a judicial probe, the government should appoint an expert committee headed by a judicial officer.

He urged Chairman Cherian Philip to consider quitting his post. "Instead of supervising the rescue operations at Thekkady, Philip chose to be part of 'Human Chain', a political function of CPI-M, he said.

The Decclan Herald said that the accident was "a result of sheer negligence", and the Express Buzz said it was "faulty from the start", with excess passengers on unsecured plastic chairs.

Other criticisms include (1) lack of disaster recovery planning and procedures for all departments; and (2) refusal to privatize and insure tourist boats with proper government oversight.

Subsequent safety concerns

At a meeting on 5 October, state Tourism Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan announced several new safety measures: safety checks for tourist boats, mandatory life jackets for those under 15 and for those over 15 who do not supply a valid reason, lifeguards and rescue boats in proportion to the number of passengers. – Courtesy Wikipedia

We walked up to parking area, captured some pictures and left the place around 9.30 am and reached the hotel in 10 minutes. After having the breakfast, we packed our baggage, checked-out and left for Munnar at 11 am. The distance to be covered was 110 kms and the road condition was undoubtedly good all the way, though a single road. The weather was blended with mist, rain and sunshine and the view of the nature was really a treat to eyes. We found lot of waterfalls on the way with abundant flow of water, and number of locations we stopped for photography.

We reached our pre-booked home stay around 2 pm. Though no restaurant was there, the choices are plenty right across the road. The home stay was run by an elderly couple, assured the best hospitality.

Well, after keeping the baggage inside the room we walked across the road and had great Kerala fish curry meals at a restaurant. Later we came back to the room; the cold and rainy weather made us lazy and forced to remain indoors. As we had booked for three nights at Munnar there was no necessity to rush up to places and attractions. We always carry an electric kettle, tea bags and coffee during our travel. In the evening I went out and bought some hot bajjis, vadas and bondas from a stall (Thattu Kada) opposite; meantime my wife prepared the tea and waiting for me. Ha ha!!! Great combination of snacks and tea. Rest of the time till dinner I was busy transferring the captured images from the camera to the laptop. We went out for the dinner around 8 pm and came back in an hour and went to bed.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSntdVFzTQ8&list=UUtUxSX5SnpboVPR9Cr-DrNQ
 
Thread Starter #11
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Pictures continue
 

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Thread Starter #15
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It is always a different feeling when we drive through the ghat section / hilly area during the monsoon. I too enjoyed the my last monsoon in Agumbe ghats. Nice experience.

As usual, another great travelogue was started from Ram Sir. Eagerly waiting for another sets of experiences and pics of this travel.
You said it right. I have always been fascinated by monsoon drive. And thank you so much for your appreciation.

Nice travelogue Ram,
did you went for boating in Thekkady. How is the water level now, as am planing to do a trip along with a wedding to attend to this place.
Thank you. Yes, we went for boating and there was moderate amount of water.

Wow, Excellent pics Ram Sir[clap]

Munnar pics are tempting me to visit Munnar again[:D](Will plan soon)

BTW, Happy to see Octy and Whity stand in the same location for photoshoot ;)

View attachment 144841

View attachment 144842
Thank you AppU for the great words as usual. Two different shots at a long interval at the same spot, very rare coincidence and above all you were able to notice it - GREAT!!!

Wonderful travelogue reignited the fire in me .[clap]
Thank you so much
 

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