As we came back from Top Slip and Parambikulam, we told the lodge guys that we would be vacating next morning and head to Vaalparai. We packed our things (read, putting everything you find in to a bag) and slept early so that we could catch the first bus next morning. We got to know that the first bus is at 7.15 types, but we missed it even though we were at the bus stand on time. After 30 minutes wait or so, we got in to a bus and we could just get the last two seats in the bus. I am not sure why every other bus gets crowded there. Rukku said he would get something to eat and went down. While he stepped down itself I had a hunch saying how would the conductor and driver would react if I ask them to stop while Rukku returns. And that exactly happened in few minutes and the conductor was about to loose his patience. But just then Rukku stepped in and we were off to Vaalparai. I was relieved for two reasons, one was we didn’t get much of the shouting from the bus guys. Secondly, we had something to eat :D.

Well, Vaalparai is about 45KMs from Pollachi and the best part is its an uphill climb. Like you got to cross some 40 hair-pin bends and we were quite excited about the climb. We just asked the guys sitting next to us to give us some room so that we could get to see some of the view from the top as the bus took some great turns in the hair-pin bends. We could see the Azhiyar dam from the top and it was such a wonderful view from the top. Now, another lesson here is we shouldn’t use public transport for everything. If we had come by a car or something, we could stop at some view points during this uphill climb, spend some time and enjoy the scenery. Well, things like this were noted down in our memory so that next time we make it a real good trip. As we crossed all the hair pin bends, we got in to the Vaalparai town and wow it was just tea estates everywhere. Tea and Coffee plantations are the only source of income in this town I guess. There were so many of them and each of the estates had some tall trees amongst the tea plantation. We didn’t know why they grow them too, but the conductor clarified saying that those trees are actually for absorbing the water from the ground. Like, the tea plants cant take a lot of water it seems, and these trees would absorb some of the water so that the tea plants don’t die of excess water.

We got down at the bus stand and got in to a hotel room near to the bus stand. It was for only one night and we just took a double room. We put down our bags there and immediately came back to the bus stand to board a bus to “Solaiyar Dam”. We heard that apart from the estates, there is this dam and another Balaji temple as the tourists spots there. We weren’t interested in the temple so we went to the dam. It wasn’t such a great dam, as such the dam was closed due to some maintenance work. When we inquired, we came to know that the dam has served its life and is about to break down in 3-4years. It would either fall down on its own, or the govt guys got to bring it down. So there was this work to strengthen the dam. We just sat down there for some time and then started to look out for some food. There was one small hotel kinds near to the bus stop itself and we had our food there. The rasam they served us, I still can recollect the taste of it. I think that’s the best rasam I had till now… 🙂 After the food and little bit of wandering here and there, we boarded the bus to go back to Vaalparai. We had to go for a wedding of one of Rukku’s friends. After 10 minutes or so, some smoke was coming out of the bus near rear tyres.

The driver tried his best to get us back to Vaalparai, but on the way there was a road block. One truck with full load of logs had broken down right in the center of the road and vehicles cannot cross the truck and we were struck. Every one started to get down and we also got down thinking that we should help the guys to move the truck aside so that the traffic can flow through. So we went and started to push the truck with full enthu and somehow some 10 of us with local fellows managed to move the truck to the side of the road. We turned back thinking that we did something good, only to find that those who had got down with us actually got down to board the bus that was standing before our bus and they had moved. Well…well…no comments…the driver told us to go in that bus warning us that this bus would move very slowly. We decided to go in this bus only and enjoy the ride (A bus only for two of us). We stopped in between, had some tea and clicked some pics too!!!

We were chatting with the driver throughout the journey and asked him to get us down say about 3 KMs before Vaalparai. He got us down and the remaining 3KMs we walked in the tea estates. That was the best part of the day as we went through the tea estates with a cold breeze and you could just walk like that any distance. Just before we entered Vaalparai, the driver who dropped us down was waving his hands as he took the next trip, of course in a different bus this time. After reaching Vaalaparai, we got tried to get the phone number of Rukku’s friend so that we could ask him the direction and all. But we weren’t able to get it. But we decided to go ahead with the information we had and took a taxi to reach that place. We reached the correct place as we could see Rukku’s friend there… 🙂 It was a Christian wedding and they had formed a group and were singing songs in praise of the lord. It was a good evening as the night fell down we could feel the cold. It was actually a sports club kinds where the employees of Tata Estate can host their functions too!!! We spent some time there and heard stories on how a Cheetah was spotted last evening just near this sport club where it took away one calf!!! In fact we were frequently walking to the entrance of the club which is about 200m from the club in pitch dark. We didn’t come out after hearing that story!!!

We had dinner there (well that was our hidden motive:)) and the host had arranged a cab drop back to the town. We took that one and reached our lodge. It was actually too cold outside and we thanked the lodge guys for giving us the woolen blankets. We went to sleep straight away as we had to board a bus at 7AM the next morning. Rukku was sleeping sound and one cat freaked me out the entire night. The cat was making the cry sound, like it was trapped in somewhere and it couldn’t get out. I was thinking it would stop some time and was trying to sleep. I didn’t want to go out also as it was pitch dark and in the entire floor ours was the only room occupied. And after hearing the cheetah stories, I just couldn’t imagine going out and didn’t want to wake up Rukku too as he was sleeping tight. I don’t know when I slept, but was worried because the next day we had a quite a lot of traveling towards God’s own country…

We boarded the cab that was booked for us at around 7.30 IST (IST means an assumed delay of 20-30 mins) and headed straight to Top Slip. The driver was a nice person and he really works hard for a living. He has been driving for continuous 12hrs and took a 4hr nap and started again to take us and roam around the whole day!!! We reached the toll booth at Top Slip and we were the 8th cab to enter tat day. There is a cap of 30 cabs that can enter beyond Top Slip in to the Parambikulam forest. As such we were told that there are couple of places to see in Top Slip but Parambikulam is a lot better place and a whole day can be spent inside the forest. So we drove further and reached the Parambikulam check post. We just could register there and couldn’t proceed further. As per the new rules they allow some number of vehicles every 30 minutes and for the whole day they allow only 30 vehicles. This is the new order by the forest officer to protect the forest.

So we registered there and came back to Top Slip and went straight in to the canteen to eat something. The canteen had only one item and that is Pongal. We were told that if we need any food we gotta order them a day before. Anyways, we ate whatever was available and spent some time there watching some wild pigs grazing around and reached the Parambikulam check post on time. We payed the toll and drove in the dense forests to reach the reception office. We paid few more hundreds and got a guide there (guide is mandatory!!!). The guide accompanied us throughout the day and showed us places around. We drove in the forest and on the way we could just see some deers and crocs. Actually the guide told us the best time to see the animals is early in the morning as they would come out to drink water. We drove few more KMs and reached a place where there was a tree called Kannimara Teak. That’s one of the biggest natural teak trees in the world measuring at 48.5mts in height and the girth is 6.5mts. Like, it would need 7-8 people forming a chain to cover the tree in a circle. And the myth behind the tree is that there used to be 7 more such trees which were actually angels are something and this the last one of them surviving. Even this was supposed to be cut down, but blood was oozing out of the tree when the axe fell and they stopped cutting it down. And from there on it has been standing tall for 100s of years.

After spending some time there, we reached a check dam and the guide told us that this is a small dam and you have the second largest dam in India few KMs from there. We stopped here and there to find some animals that could be spot but we were terribly unlucky. But still we continued with some hope. We had lunch in between in a hotel known to the guide. And the best part is, they do not eat curd because no cow is available inside the forest. Yeah, if they bring up any cow it would be eaten by the animals that would roam during the night. After lunch we went to the boat house to take a boat ride. There are no motor boats available for tourists and we have to go only in the bamboo boats. This is a measure taken to keep the water pollution free. In fact we drank the water directly from the storage and it was just too good!!! Was thinking the kinda treated water that we get in the city 😦 The guys who were driving the boat were telling stories on how the forest is damaged for some few thousands of money. Like every year the government allots some amount to protect the forest from wild fires. This forest is being shared by both TN and Kerala government. These guys were showing the area that belong to TN where the forest was in black color because the forest officers just ignite fire every year intentionally and show it as a natural wild fire and get the amount from the government. We were hearing such kinda stories during the ride that took us some one plus hour. Obviously we rowed for some time 🙂

After this we went to the main dam and it was a mind blowing sight there. It was such a huge dam and there was so much of water around. This dam was conceived in the late 60s by then TN CM Annadurai to save the southern TN from water shortage. We were amazed at the kind of vision this person had. He constructed a huge dam 5 decades back to save people in the future!!! And the guide was explaining us how a rail track used to be there where the dam is currently. The brits used it to transport woods from the forest!!! In fact from the dam, there was water gushing out and it was just the seepage. We just couldn’t imagine how much water would be coming out of the dam when it reaches full level. We were told that every year the dam gets full and so much water is released that it goes above the distant bridge that we could see from the dam (Check the bridge in the pic…) In fact the guide tried to get the keys of the dam so that we could go inside and check the generators and instruments inside and he was telling that it would be too chill inside (naturally, without any A/C). But we couldn’t reach the guy who had the keys (lady luck was never with us)

Well, after doing all these things, we gotta know the actual thing one is supposed to do at Parambikulam. You gotta book a log house for two days (Call them 2 months in advance and book it). You reach there on day one, take a boat, a guide and two security guards with you to the log house in a boat. These log houses are situated in islands in the water body. You stay over night there, the guides themselves would cook food for you. After past midnight, you start on a night safari with the guide and the security guards (who will have guns). You go inside the forest and you can see all the animals that would be roaming around. There are more than 350 leopards, lots and lots of elephants and all wild animals. You do the safari whole night and come back to the log house in the morning, take nice food and rest and do some more boating in the water body and leave the place. We got the contact numbers of the guides and reception and lots of info about the place and phew it was such a experience!!! We decided to come back for sure and stay in the log house sometime. My friend said he is planning his honeymoon there…(getting wild in the real wild :D)

We came out of the forest by 5 O clock types and did some shopping in the eco shop there and came out of Parambikulam to reach back Top Slip. We spent another 30 mins of our time there as we were supposed to get out of the check post before 6. As we drove past the check post, we had started singing “Vaalpaarai, vattaparai….”