Udagamandalam..Queen Of Hill Stations

Udagamandalam!! What a beautiful name! Udag is Udak ( Sanskrit) which means water and Mandalam ( Sanskrit) is zone or territory. The territory of water! If you visit Udagamandalam, you will soon realize how apt is this name! There are various lakes in and around this region.

Toda people were the original inhabitants of the Nilgiri hills on Tamilnadu border. In Toda language it was 'Othakal Mund' where according to Wikipedia Othakal means mountains and Mund is house. There is one more assumption that the name in Toda language means that Othaca is Single stone and Mund is village!!

Rest of the story is as usual. Some British officer happened to visit this place, fell in love of it and wrote to the collector of Coimbatore that this place is like Switzerland. That time John Sullivan was the collector of Coimbatore. He came, he saw and he fell in love of the place. He just acquired the place from original inhabitants of Nilgiri region, the Todas and built a bungalow there. As the British people could not pronounce Udagamandalam or Ootakamund, they renamed the place as Ooty. This place soon became the favorite summer resort for the British rulers.

References of this city can be traced back to 12 the Century at the time of Hoysala kings, especially Vishnuvardhan.

Udagamandalam in Nilgiris district of Tamilnadu is the favorite destination of Indian tourists as well as international tourists. The reason is quite obvious. The place is bestowed with natural beauty, the mountains and hills, the water bodies, the trees and flowers and pleasant climate through out the year.

Udagamandalam is to be enjoyed at leisure. There are not many tourist spots to tick off the list. Just walk through the botanical garden, rose garden, go for boating rides in the lakes or just walk in the forests and trek on mountains!!

The nearest airport is Coimbatore. So when we had visited Udagamandalam in January 2019, we took a flight from Mumbai to Coimbatore and then went by taxi to Udagamandalam. The road condition is good. The road is like this!

Coimbatore To Udagamandalam

Pykara lake boating

Pykara lake is formed by the dam on Pykara river. There is a hydroelectric plant and the river flows through many waterfalls. The region has rainfall almost for 9 months. Boating in Pykara lake or roaming in the garden are favorite activities of tourists visiting Udagamandalam.

Pyakra Lake 👈Click to see the video!

The lake is surrounded by tall trees. The lake has mud colored water. It's enjoyable ride. The noise of the boat engines is quite disturbing, otherwise the lake is peaceful.

It seems that there are two or three wax museums in Udagamandalam. Our driver took us to Wax Planet. It was a small place at that time. You can see it in 15-20 minutes.

Dodabetta peak

This is the highest peak in Nilgiris and trekker's and photographer's dream! But others, don't worry! You can go by car as well!

The surroundings are beautiful.

Near Dodabetta 👈Click to see the video!

This is a favorite spot for tourists as well as locals. So if you want to avoid the rush, you will have to go early in the morning. There are telescopes in the observatory, but even if you don't get a chance to see from the telescope, the view if awesome!

Dodabetta - 👈Click to see the video!

Due to the altitude and mountains around, the winds are chilly. Even in afternoon, the weather can be really cold. So be prepared for it. There is a restaurant where you can buy snacks like pakodas and tea, coffee.

Botanical Garden

This huge botanical garden is a government garden maintained by the horticulture department. Total area is 55 Acres. What started as vegetable cultivation in 1840, gradually culminated into a public garden in 1847.

There are thousands of varieties of plants and flowers. It is impossible to see the garden in one day. There are expansive lawns, conservatory, nurseries with glass houses and various layers of the terraced garden.

There is an annual flower show held in May, which must be a treat for botanists and plant lovers.

Here are some glimpses from the garden.

Government Botanical Garden - 👈Click to see the video!

The road in front of the entrance of the garden is crowded in the evenings. It is a street lined up with shops and restaurants.

Another attraction in Udagmandalam is the Rose garden. It is situated on the slopes of Elk hills. It is one of the largest Rose Gardens in India and has received Garden Of Excellence Award from World Federation Of Rose societies. Visit to this garden pleases the eyes as well as senses! It has more than 20000 varieties of roses.

One small tip for photographers- visit the garden early in the morning. Otherwise the photos are washed away by sunlight. Being on the slope, it must be getting dark early in the evening.

The names of the flowers are very interesting and bring a smile on your face! The garden has beautiful decorations, pergolas and rose tunnels.

I have many photographs of this garden! Here are few of them!

We were staying at Club Mahindra, Derby Green, Ooty. It has fantastic flowers and succulent collection in the garden, beautiful layout of the estate, good food and a shop.

They do have a good variety of food and if you let them know about your special requirement, they do try to prepare special food for you. They had made wonderful vegan desserts for us.

When you are in Udagamandalam, you must buy the natural oils and essences. We had bought Lemongrass essence and it was fantastic. There are many chocolate factories. You can also get variety of handmade chocolates. There are tea factories around and in the city.

Nilgiri Mountain Railway

Operating since 1908, this single track train is a nostalgic journey with lifetime moments. The ascends and descends of the Nilgiris, the tunnels and the curves make this journey memorable. You won't forget the view which you will see from the train. Dense forests, lush green slopes, the misty valleys.. the journey itself is very satisfying!

From Udagamandalam to Mettupalayam, the distance is 46 kms and it takes 5 hrs while going and 3 hrs 30 minuts while coming back, due to the descending slopes. There are 16 tunnels, 250 bridges and 208 curves on the way, according to Ooty tourism-Nilgiri Railway's website!

Along with the two other railways, Darjeeling Himalayan Railways and Kalka Shimla railway, this train is declared as world heritage site.

You can do online booking for this journey. You will have to do the booking well in advance, may be two or three months before the journey as it gets booked very fast.

Entry!! - Click on the blue letters to see the video!

View from the train 👈Click to see the video!

From Udagamandalam, we went to Coonoor by this train and from Coonoor to Kodaikanal by road. well...about Kodaikanal in some other post. By that time, take care, stay safe and wait for Covid vaccine!

#ClubMahindraOoty #ToyTrainOoty #BotanicalGardenOoty #WaxPlanet #WhatToSeeInOoty #OotyTrip #UdagmandalamTrain #InAndAroundOoty #KunjirFlowersOoty

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राष्ट्रीय अस्मितेची चिन्हे परकीय आक्रमक पुसून टाकायचा प्रयत्न करतात, करतातच. जगभर अशी असंख्य उदाहरणे सापडतील. कारण त्याशिवाय त्यांना त्यांची सत्ता निर्माण करता येणार नसते. पण मग त्या त्या देशातील, देशावर प्रेम असणारे लोक काय करतात हे जाणून घ्यायचे असेल तर एक उदाहरण सांगते. आपल्याला सेऊल मधील ग्यानबोक पॅलेस याच्याविषयी वाचायला हवे. ------------- तसा पोचायला आम्हाला थोडा उशीरच झाला होता. शेवटची इंग्लिश गाईडेड टूर चुकते की काय अशी भीती वाटायला लागली होती. अनेक कोरियन युवक युवती राजवाड्याकडे जाताना दिसत होते. विशेष म्हणजे त्यांनी पारंपरिक कोरियन पोशाख घातले होते. फार छान दिसत होते ते सगळे. आम्ही गेलो होतो, कोरियाच्या सार्वभौमत्वाचे मानचिन्ह असलेल्या ग्यानबोक पॅलेसला ( Gyeongbok Palace ) भेट देण्यासाठी. तिकिटाच्या काउंटर जवळच राजवाड्याचे मुख्य प्रवेशद्वार आहे. त्याचे नाव आहे ग्वान्गमन गेट.( Gwanghwamun) . सेऊलच्या पुरातन इतिहासाचे प्रतीक असलेले हे प्रवेशद्वार १३९५ मध्ये बांधले गेले आहे. आज हे प्रवेशद्वार कोरियाची ओळख बनलेले आ...

Deoriatal - Chandrashila trek - Part 1 - Preparation

We dream… we dream about many things … but we strive to make only few of them a reality and leave the rest of the dreams as dreams only, to cherish them someday in our leisure time. A high altitude trek was one such dream of mine, always enthralling and yet a little daunting. So for years that dream remained a dream without becoming a reality. In November, my friend Dhanshree Jagtap did the Deoria Tal Chandrashila trek with Indiahikes. While chatting with her, I could get detailed information about this trek. She told that in March and April, rhododendron flowers will be blooming in this region … and the dormant dream was awakened once again. It is said that DeoriaTal is the lake where the famous Yaksha and Yudhishthira conversation had taken place. On the way to the summit, Tungnath is the highest temple of Shankara in the world, one of the Panch Kedars. It is said to have been built by the Pandavas. The summit point of the trek is Chandrashila. The place where Chandra did Tapas. It i...

Deoriatal Chandrashila trek - Part 2- - Sari to Deoriatal.

The next morning, the trek started with a steep climb!! At one point during the climb, we turned back and bade goodbye to the Sari base camp. It was not known whether we would successfully complete the trek or not. But I was sure that we will definitely come back with a life changing experience. Sari Base camp 📷 Supan Shah The road was paved with rough stones. But while climbing I was telling myself that these stones were better than walking in the slippery soil. 📷 Pawan Gowda You can guess how much the climb was, from this photo, but if you want to know how we were climbing, there is a video! विडिओ - सम्राट दर्डा https://youtube.com/shorts/CJuWDSml8XU?feature=share The initial, few meters part of the road passed through populated areas. But the houses there were very few and sparse. Green fields were visible everywhere. Farming was done on the mountain slopes, by step method. This greenery enlivened the entire slope. The view 📷 Supan Shah 📷 Samrat Darda After walking o...

Deoriatal Chandrashila trek - Part 3- Deoriatal to Syalmi

That was the third day of the trek. I was feeling contented. Yesterday's journey from Sari to Deoria was beautiful. Neither were my legs paining nor was I feeling tired. Today was surely going to be a tough day. I had read the description on the Indiahikes website, which gave a rough idea about the day. Today the distance was more than nine kilometers. But there were many peaks which will be visible on the way. We were going to pass through a dense forest, so there was a chance to watch variety of birds. So I was curious and excited about the journey. All of us, left from Deoriatal campsite and started our journey. Even though we had only been there for a day, we had already grown attached to the place. Even if it has only been a day, surely there is always attachment with the place.There was a fork in the forest path on the left side of the road to Deoriatal. We went that way. After walking for a while, most likely we were goi...

Deoriatal Chandrashila trek - Part 5(Last part)- Baniyakund - Tungnath- Chandrashila

📷Samrat Darda A beautiful photograph of the moon taken from Baniyakund campsite, April 15. That day should be Saptami or Ashtami of Shukla Paksha. Because Ram Navami was on 17th April. In the intense and tranquil darkness of the beautiful night, though the full moon day was still seven or eight days away, the moon was already bright. The shining moon, occasionally hiding behind the clouds, the curiosity of the summit in our minds.. it was a very unique night. There was going to be a two o'clock wakeup call tomorrow. we had to pack up, have breakfast, and be ready to leave for the day at three o'clock. I packed the essential things in the day pack and packed everything else in the bag to be offloaded. That bag was to kept in the main tent while leaving in the morning. Tomorrow, in few hours we would gain an altitude of 4000 ft. I closed my eyes to sleep, but even before my closed eyes, the images of the snow-capped peaks were floating. I woke up at quarter to two in ...

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