Kodaikanal - part 1

Day 9

Kodaikanal - Part 1

After a peaceful sleep, we woke up to a cold morning in kodai. The windows of the room were dewy and looked beautiful. The warm clothes that has been patiently waiting in our bags were finally taken out. We showered and got ready to venture out. The sun was shining bright by then. The plan was already chalked out the previous night. The map was set and we were on track. 

The first stop was at Pillar Rocks. 3 rocks standing as pillars and hence the name. The nature views were absolutely stunning with fog all around. The view of the valley and the trees around were amazing. We clicked pictures and also visited the nearby areas for some more pictures. We exited the spot and had breakfast at the nearby stalls. 

Next spot was Guna caves. It is also called Devil's kitchen. There was some walking needed. Probably, owing to the long christmas weekend, entire kodai was overly crowded. Guna caves were another view point with scenic beauty and ample options to click pictures. 

We then went on to the pine forest. A place laden with thousands of pine trees. We took a stroll through the forest and posed for pictures.

From there we went to Moir point. That's Kodai's wildlife sanctuary that also has jungle safari. The visibility was so low, there was no point of a safari. Views there, followed by an impromptu game by my younger one and we exited by 2pm. 

As we still had half a day at our hand, we planned to visit Mannavanur lake. It wasn't on the list and was also in a totally different direction. From Moir point it was around 1 hour drive. Owing to the horrific traffic we encountered on the way, we reached the lake only by 3:50pm. Given, the hilly area and the huge crowd thronging the place, there was no proper provision of parking spaces at tourist spots. People had parked their vehicles on the road side causing traffic chaos. We finally got a spot to park and walked out way to the lake side. They had an entry ticket of ₹30 per adult and ₹20 per kid. This is an eco tourism place. There was a bit of a walk needed to reach the lake. The lake was beautiful. The surrounding view was amazing. There were ample lotus flowers blooming in the lake. There was coracle ride, kayaking and zip line. 

Coracle is a small round boat more like a tub or basket that is rowed in water using an oar. We took the coracle ride in the lake which was a first time experience and was fun. 

We took some pictures, had some snacks at the snacks counter there and then started our journey back towards our hotel. The rush was enormous, every street was blocked with vehicles. It seems kodai isn't prepared for such crowd. 5kms took over an hour. We also stopped on the way near the upper Lake view at cafe pishon to have dinner and then after a lot of juggle and struggle reached back hotel safe.