If you are a person who loves exploring nature and cherishes travelling through beautiful landscapes, you surely cannot miss out on the largely uncapped and most likely undisturbed mountain valleys of Attapadi. The place is clasped in within the foothills of Nilgiri from the Western Ghats. Attapadi is blessed with a thick cloud of green canopy over the mountains which beds in white foggy settlements over the sky giving us a great view. We could see sunrays seeping through these cloud covers making them glow like anything. The calm and soothing atmosphere of the region gets tuned in with the chirping voice of birds and the flowing rhythm of the comforting breeze. The Jeep safari in Attapadi takes you to enjoy the natural brilliance of the place.
We made our way to Anaikatti from Kochi and planned to have a Jeep Safari in Attapadi to experience the terrain. The journey through the winding roads in the shades of thick green cover to reach the area was quite fascinating. We had our stay at Nirvana Holistic Living Resort which gave a beautiful view of the faraway mountain ranges of Attapadi which brings you closer to nature.
Our jeep safari began from the Nirvana resort and Ajay, the one who drives the jeep did take us through different locations in Attapadi. Apparently, there is an option for a full-day drive to see different locations in Attapadi which would definitely be worthwhile. Later when we comes back after the jeep ride, there were plans made to have our lunch at the resort.
We drive through places where we saw native houses on the side of the road. The intriguing thing we saw in the midst of our journey was the sandalwood trees in large numbers. Sandalwood as we all know is one of the most valuable trees around and hence its been under the strong surveillance of the forest department against the people who tries to illegally cut the trees for themselves.
We saw lots of bamboo trees on the way destroyed by the elephants who come in to eat this at night. The weather was cosy enough as the slightly cold breeze blows in to keep the temperature in check. Giant wind turbines were seen in many places where we could see large fans continuously running in with the help of the wind. In fact, these wind turbines help in generating electricity for the state through a natural source without causing any damage to the environment.
Ajay took us to the top of a hill where we saw fog cover in the far mountains on the horizon. We could also see large wind turbines in the vicinity continuing their work, not fazed by anything. The plant cover on the hilltop looked dried and they had a light brown tint. As we walk through the hilltop, there were lots of dried elephant dung scattered around, this indicates that these places could have frequent elephant visits. Ajay informed us that the famous tourist destination Ooty is after the mountains we could see far away. We spend some time up the hill and continued our journey. Although we had seen dried grass cover on the way, there were also lush green farmlands like vegetable plantations, coconut groves and so on.
Keralites might remember the famous Prithviraj movie ‘Ayappanum Koshiyum’ which was screened in Attapadi and we saw the place where they shot the film. We had a rare fruit from a plant called Panal (gin berry) which was common across the state. It had a really sweet flavour and was a new experience. Panal is normally used in Ayurveda for medicines. We then went to Siruvani and saw the clean Siruvani river which is so natural and fresh.
Again we went to a hilltop from where we had a mindblowing view of Attapadi and we saw banana plantations and coconut groves far away from the hill. When we came back, we saw the Bhavani river which has lush green vegetation by the sides. It took us all by surprise when we saw a group of Peacocks on the roof of a building by the side of the road.
Later we returned back to Nirvana resort after completing the jeep safari and were ready by the outdoor area among the green garden cover to enjoy the Sadhya. As I was about to have the food, noticed some stingless honey bees flying around. They must be wondering who it might be among their garden plants.
Traditional Kerala meals is served on banana leaves with numerous vegetable dishes for taste. Some of these dishes were Beans Pumpkin curry, Cabbage Thoran, banana chips, jaggary coated banana chips, chilly fries, pappad, Mango pickle and so on. Other prominent vegetable recipes like Avial, Sambar, Pulissery and Bitter gourd curry were also available. Curd was another attraction as it’s been from the farm run by the resort. I was so hungry and the sambar tastes so good with white Ponni rice. Beans and Pumpkin curry was so delicious, the sweetness of the pumpkin combined really well with the beans. The most special item on the Sadhya was Chundanga Varuthathu (Fried turkey berry). The crispy fried berries had a salty flavour and it was awesome with rice.
Kerala Sadhya was so tasty and the food is been prepared by women. There was a special tomato chutney served with Idli for breakfast and it was so good that I enquired about the way it’s been made. They explained the recipe for the delicious tomato chutney preparation and also agreed to make yummy Kesari for us. Nirvana resort also has some areas for vegetable cultivation and they have different sets of rooms starting from the budget category for accommodation. Attapadi would prove to be a beautiful experience for anyone who is planning to explore the natural diversity it offers.
