“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” – St. Augustine

Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Neyyar

My first ever road trip with my brothers. Due to change of plans in the last moment, made this unexpected turn and had fun. I had huge plans on how to spend the last week of the year. The original plan was to hit the road without any plans and roam around for the whole week. But since it didn't work out, had to come up with new plans. Was searching for new places near my home town and found Neyyar Dam. Neyyar literally translates to 'River of ghee'. I was quickly able to convince my brothers and made them jump into the wagon with me. All the plans were worked out on the night before the trip with a slow network connection in an android smart phone.

We hit the roads early in the morning. The initial part of the journey in Tamil Nadu roads had good roads and windmills around us. After we entered the Kerala border the Gods own country the roads were surrounded by rubber plantations and green trees, a pleasure for the eyes. There was only a single lane of road and sometimes even that was missing. At places we had to move slower than a snail. Had breakfast in a small shop and started the trip again. Google had informed us we had lion safari and boat rides in Neyyar Dam. Other than that we didn't have any slightest clue what to expect there.

So these are the list of things to do in Neyyar.

  • Lion safari
  • Elephant safari
  • Crocodile Park
  • Deer Park
  • Aquarium
  • Park adjacent to the dam
  • Stay at Log house
  • Food at the Restaurant
  • Trekking


On the way to the Dam
Our Car
One of the ferries in the Dam
A speed boat
The hollywood style LION SAFARI PARK
Don't ask me where are the lions in the Lion Park. We had spotted only three old, ugly, tired lions. They were not worth a mention here in the post. I have been to other safari parks in Birmingham & Bannergatta. This park is in no way close to the other ones. The whole park is well designed, the idea is still really awesome and I love the imagination of the architect. Might be it was designed even before the Jurassic Park movie.

Think of this, you have an dam with few islands in the catchment area, you turn each island into a lion safari park, and to visit this park you will have to come on a boat. Isn't that awesome. This dam is well maintained compared to their counterparts in the Tamil Nadu. It would be really awesome if they bring in more lions and make the safari even more exciting.
Waiting for the ferry to fetch us
Out of nowhere, well hidden between the trees was this log house. Wish I had stayed there for a night.
In the wild
A private boat
Typical watch tower with spiralled steps to the top and all the walls with names scribbled on to them.
A view from the watch tower
Sun rays through the tree
Neyyar Reservoir
The dam was almost full
Water over-flowing
Welcome to Neyyar
Almost at the end of the trip, we found this welcome sign, which mentioned about trekking, log huts and the elephant safaris. We have put all these things for another day.

The tourist information centre had brochures for trekking, which needs pre booking at least two days earlier.


Saturday, December 26, 2015

Poovar

Luxury travel is not my thing. I don't stay in resorts or stay in costly hotels. When I travel, I travel local and cheap. But you don't have a choice, when you travel with your life partner. Our first long trip to Povvar Island resort.


And the following photos are of the resort and the backwaters around it. If you go there don't miss the early morning bird watching trip in the back waters.

Woke to this view

A view from The Poovar Island Resort
Moon yet to set and the fisherman
This frame has the birds, moon, the fisherman and the resort
The place I stayed
Poovar Island Resort

Bird watching
Backwaters




A Kingfisher
Sailing through this was an awesome feeling