Summer setting in, temperatures soaring, Bangalore is getting hotter by the day…. Also, with the summer holidays in, the kids are at home all day, not knowing how to spend their time, getting bored and in turn , the BPs of parents are soaring as well :)
With the temperatures and the BPs on the rise, there couldn’t be a better time to take a good break…… and so we did. We decided to visit Ooty over a weekend.
Ooty is no more as cool as it once used to be. So, people these days, try and look for places to stay, in and around Ooty. One such place is Red Hills Nature Resort, located in the Emerald valley, around 30km from the Ooty main town. A lovely, serene, laid back place, quite a bit away from what has become of the modern city of Ooty. All in all, a great place to unwind.
The only catch is that, the road leading to the resort, from Ooty, is so really bad, that, for anything but an SUV to be venturing there, is not a good idea. The owner of the resort, however, does, provide for a safe parking place for one’s vehicle at Ooty. From there, he arranges for a transfer to the resort and back. But, he charges for it too.. !!, This was the only qualm I had of the place. I would ideally expect the owner to bear the transfer expenses, since, the road being in the condition, it is in, is not our problem and neither can he expect that people coming to visit his place, would come in nothing less than an SUV.!!! . Or, at least, this should have been mentioned so, on their website. I couldn’t find it there……
Anyways…, we did go there and have a good time………
The thing that amazed me, was the climate over there, especially, close to and after sundown, till, around 9:00 in the morning…. My god, was it cold or what..!… I hadn’t expected this, this late into March. The place, being in a valley, in the high wind velocity area, might be a reason, I guess.., but it was many times cooler than Ooty per se. I had gone there without any winter wear and really, had a shivering fun… :) , but I thoroughly enjoyed it…..
Mostly, we lazed around the resort area. The second day of our stay there, we went down to the Emerald lake, couple of supposed to be waterfalls and a sunset point. Water levels are visibly low, pretty much, low, all over the place en-route as well. Bandipur and Mudumalai, are as dry as they can get and we did see water tankers parked along side the road, which I believe, the Forest Department, is using, to fill the watering holes, in the forest… I just hope, rains do come in early, like , early May or something this year, otherwise, god knows, what will happen……
Got to do some birding around the resort as well, though, not much, in terms of bird diversity. Couldn’t get to go to the Botanical Gardens or Doddabetta, the two hotspots in Ooty, for birding….., may be a next time…..
Was a much needed break and great getaway………
A view from the resort…Emerald Lake….
Here’s Sideshow and the link to the Gallery
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