Thekkady, Gavi - Kerela
If you are fond of hills, if you are looking for solitude - then this could be you next destination.
Thekkady was my first visit into the state of Kerela and I was not disappointed at all.
Me and my friends chose to take a car and drive all the way to Thekkady (you also have direct buses from Bangalore though). There are multiple routes so if you are going on a road trip, a quick check can help drive through well maintained roads. Even though its a hill station, the number of hairpin bends are comparatively very less.
We reached Thekkady around 11 in the night and checked in to Chrissies Hotel. The hotel has a lot of greenary inside. We luckily got the top floor rooms and the view was just amazing. We did have monkeys as uninvited guests but thats okay, they just took some of our food and a towel :D The hotel staff is amazing and they helped us with everything they could.
The day in Thekkady started with a nice slightly overpriced continental breakfast. From there we took a jeep safari of around 3 hrs. Travelling in an open jeep was really fun apart from the fact that we were throughout in a roller coaster ride :) We drove through grasslands, some beautiful view points and a tiny waterfall. There was a lot of chit chatting going on but still some of the best times were when all of us suddenly felt quite gazing into the horizon.
After this we went to an elephant ride place. A 20 minute ride on the elephant had scared the shit out of some of us coz the elephant kept on twisting and turning to get his favorite food from the trees on the way. From there we proceeded to two amazing shows of Kathakali and Kalaripayattu. Kathakali is a classical dance form in which they tell stories with beautiful dance movements. The artists showed us the exercise in which they have unimaginable control in rolling their eyes and moving their cheeks and lips. Kalaripayattu seemed like a very risky martial art form but it was surprising to see the ease with which they performed it.
Next Day we headed to Gavi which is a part of the Periyar Tiger Reserve. It is an almost an hr drive from Thekkady and from there another 40 minutes drive inside the forest to reach our camps. The moment you enter the forest, all mobile signals (except BSNL) stop working. So there we were, in the middle of the forest, with no connectivity to the outside world, completely immersed in nature. We could hardly see around 40 tourists there. Its a wonderful place to do all kinds of trekking, safaris inside the forest or just sit by the river. We also did some boating in the river and saw some huge snakes at a distance of may be two 4 feet. We just had around one day in Gavi but it was something which we all will always remember.
Location - Thekkady and Gavi - Kerela
No of days - 3
Total spend - 12 K
Thekkady was my first visit into the state of Kerela and I was not disappointed at all.
Me and my friends chose to take a car and drive all the way to Thekkady (you also have direct buses from Bangalore though). There are multiple routes so if you are going on a road trip, a quick check can help drive through well maintained roads. Even though its a hill station, the number of hairpin bends are comparatively very less.
We reached Thekkady around 11 in the night and checked in to Chrissies Hotel. The hotel has a lot of greenary inside. We luckily got the top floor rooms and the view was just amazing. We did have monkeys as uninvited guests but thats okay, they just took some of our food and a towel :D The hotel staff is amazing and they helped us with everything they could.
The day in Thekkady started with a nice slightly overpriced continental breakfast. From there we took a jeep safari of around 3 hrs. Travelling in an open jeep was really fun apart from the fact that we were throughout in a roller coaster ride :) We drove through grasslands, some beautiful view points and a tiny waterfall. There was a lot of chit chatting going on but still some of the best times were when all of us suddenly felt quite gazing into the horizon.
After this we went to an elephant ride place. A 20 minute ride on the elephant had scared the shit out of some of us coz the elephant kept on twisting and turning to get his favorite food from the trees on the way. From there we proceeded to two amazing shows of Kathakali and Kalaripayattu. Kathakali is a classical dance form in which they tell stories with beautiful dance movements. The artists showed us the exercise in which they have unimaginable control in rolling their eyes and moving their cheeks and lips. Kalaripayattu seemed like a very risky martial art form but it was surprising to see the ease with which they performed it.
Next Day we headed to Gavi which is a part of the Periyar Tiger Reserve. It is an almost an hr drive from Thekkady and from there another 40 minutes drive inside the forest to reach our camps. The moment you enter the forest, all mobile signals (except BSNL) stop working. So there we were, in the middle of the forest, with no connectivity to the outside world, completely immersed in nature. We could hardly see around 40 tourists there. Its a wonderful place to do all kinds of trekking, safaris inside the forest or just sit by the river. We also did some boating in the river and saw some huge snakes at a distance of may be two 4 feet. We just had around one day in Gavi but it was something which we all will always remember.
Location - Thekkady and Gavi - Kerela
No of days - 3
Total spend - 12 K
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