Ooty Hill Station

Ooty Hill Station

After completing my official work in Mysore, I with my colleagues booked one day Ooty Tour through Caper Travel Pvt Ltd. Ooty or Udhagamandalam nestled in the gorgeous green hills of the Nilgiris is one of the favorite summer retreats of people in South India. Orchards of peaches and plums, terraced tea plantations, eucalyptus, pine and wattle lining the landscapes make Ooty among the most sought after hill stations of India.

Our journey started at 5 in the morning. Our cab driver picked us up at 5 in the morning and we reached Ooty around 9 am. This four hour journey was really pleasing and soothing to my eyes because our cab passed through beautiful landscapes laden with dense forests. It was after a long time I saw lush greenery and nature’s scenic beauty. We took a breakfast break near Mudumalai where we had some awesome idli and coffee. Then we again embarked on our Ooty journey through the hilly areas. For me everything was like a dream, those beautiful farms, small cottages on hills and small churches amidst lush green valleys.

Ooty the queen of southern hill resorts of India is standing at 7,349 feet above sea level. This hill station is located at the junction of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka, three famous southern states of India.

Our cab driver dropped us at a point called Shooting Point which is named so because many bollywood movies have been shot here. At this place we climbed up the hill and reached the top of the hill. The panoramic views of surrounding landscapes just took our breath away. We were stunned by the nature’s spell of Rolling Meadows lined up with tall pine and wattle tress. We stayed here for a few hours to enjoy the nature’s dramatic vistas at their best. The ecstasy of this place was maximized by the misty clouds which soon engulfed the entire surroundings. For the first time in my life I experienced the joy of clouds. The natural glory of this place fascinated us so much that we started running, shouting, jumping like crazy children. The drizzling cloud drenched us but romanticism of nature kept us engaged for long without even a single thought of cold.

Our next destination in itinerary was Botanical Garden which is located on the lower slopes of Dodabetta peak, the highest point in Ooty. This is among the most sought after destinations of this place which is visited by a large number of tourists round the year. We decided to visit this place quickly so that we can get time to enjoy boating in Ooty Lake. This Botanical Garden is a home to many rare species of trees, shrubs, flowers and bushes. The most prominent attractions of this garden are cork tree, paper bark tree, monkey puzzle tree and an old fossilized tree which is about 20 million year old. The monkey puzzle tree is so called because even monkeys fail to climb it which we didn’t accept at first but finally we agreed with this view.

After enjoying the floral beauty of Botanical Garden we went to Ooty Lake which is the foremost attraction of this place. It is said that if you have been to Ooty and not seen the Ooty Lake, then you have seen nothing at all. The Lake is synonymous with Ooty itself which was constructed by the first Collector of Ooty, John Sullivan in the year 1823-1825. The charismatic feature of this lake can be best felt with boating in the lake. Out of motor boats, pedal boats and rowing boats we preferred motor boat so that we can explore this wide expanse of lake in a short time span.

After enjoying the lake cruise we came back to our cab. And our cab driver headed back to Mysore.