Wonderful Waynad, in God's own country

Long weekend. Nice weather. Good bike. What else you need? Get, set & ride !

Destination Waynad in Kerala 

Day 1:

Enroute to Waynad in Kerala from Namma Bengaluru. Woke up at 5.00am did my Yoga, meditation, ablutions and prayers. Had a nice coffee and started at 6.00am. Route is 600kms up and down from my home, through winding forest roads cutting through the hills. 

Bangalore > Kanakapura  > Kollegal > Chamrajnagar > Gundlepet > Bandipur > Sultan Bathery > Vythri Waynad

It's always lovely to ride your motorbike early morning. Cutting through misty and dew filled roads. Its extra special when you see a long road cutting through mountains and the beautiful cauvery or kaveri river, also called Jeeva Nadhi (life river in Kannada) and  Ponni (Golden girl in Tamil).

Roads via western ghats mountains

Three layers of green, Small, Mid, Large

Sunrise on Cauvery river

River, Paddy Fields & Mountains rare sight

Lush paddy fields next to mountain and Kaveri river. What a beautiful sight..

Stopped in Kollegal for a Idli Vada Sambar dip followed by strong filter Kaapi. Its amazing how all this plus a bottle of mineral water costs just rs.85 or US$ 1.00. GOD BLESS our motherland India and the farmers.

Then went through Bandipur reserve forest. The forest has the Tiger 🐅, the elephant 🐘 and the deer 🦌. Riding a bike through forest with the implied adventure of "meeting 😉" of any of the above animals is an exhilarating feeling. 

Love the pic on the bus, sleep like a baby

Classical coastal karnataka and kerala architecture for temples. I have seen similar architecture in China and Japan bit not in other parts of India like Chennai Bangalore Mumbai or Delhi.

Don't disturb Elephants or Tigers please !

Kerala Red Rice (Choru) full meal with over a dozen items as samplers of thier lovely vegetarian cuisine. 

Rahul & Priyanka in Waynad bill boards

Destination atlast. Reached safely. After 8.5 hours on the road, 6.5 hours ride, 2 hours break, Started at 6.00am reached by 2.30pm.

The name 'Wayanad' is derived from 'vayal nāḍŭ' (Malayalam) which translates to 'the land of paddy fields' in English.

I'm staying at the beautiful LAPISTA Waynad resort. Its a set of villas (Adithya resorts and spa) given on rent and managed well. You get a whole villa with bedrooms hall kitchen dining and a lovely private terrace. 

This is my private terrace inside a coffee plantation country And sipping some chai with kerala banana 🍌 chips. Some more pics of resort below.

To end long ride on Day 1, Kerala Ayurveda oil massage in a spa.

Day 2:

The day started with a beautiful ride through tea plantations owned by RPG group (Harrison Malayalam) in a place called Achur. 

Then I went to a another beautiful resort owned by my classmates relative. My MBA classmate Praveen a senior executive in banking industry is from Waynad. This resort is called the Pranavam. Its a well spread out resort, with well appointed cottages, very tastefully decorated by the owners Mr. Humayun and his wife Dhanya. I was just clicking all the trees and shrubs making the staff wonder if I'm a botanist. 

Next stop Banasura Sagar Dam. Its indias biggest earthen dam (no concrete) supplies drinking water Hydel and Solar power to whole waynad district. Its named after Banasura a respected Ancient Kerala king, son of Mahabali Chakravarti (of Onam fame).

Legend says the entire Kerala land from Gokarna in Karnataka to Kanyakumari in Tamilnadu is blessed by Lord Parashurama the 6th avatar of Lord Vishnu. And in his prior 5th avatar as Lord Vamana he gave immortal glory to a very benevolent asura king called Mahabali Chakravarti (who returns once a year to celebrate Onam with his subjects). His son is Banasura. Its amazing how when dams and airports are named after politicians this country remembers legend from thousands of years back.

It's a beautiful dam. With vast expense of clear water. Its a stiff climb to the top to see the natural reservoir nestled amidst the mountains touching the clouds. But the climb is worth the effort. I hope my pictures do justice.

Then I went to the Meenmutty Waterfalls. Once again a steep climb on slippery slopes. Thank God I had trekking boots. The highlight was the crystal clear water despite so many people taking bath in the falls. A thing I love about the people of Kerala, is thier civic sense to keep their environment clean and green.

The rocks above are below water !! It's so clear. I got the sky reflection at top and bottom ends to show it's below water.

See maps below of all tourist spots in Waynad. I could cover only two above. So.much to see but very little time. Tomorrow morning I ride back to Bangalore.

Before the trip my wife and relatives warned me against going to Waynad, fearing my safety due to landslides etc. I can vouch this place is safe. Landslides hit only a small part of a large district of Waynad. Now it's history. Please visit Waynad. YOU will realize why they call Kerala - God's own country.

Day 3: Waynad > Bathery > Muthanga

Lovely sunrise and ride through curvy roads. Stopping at tea shop at Muthanga

Karnataka begins now

Muthanga > Gundlepet > Chamrajnagar > Kollegal > Kanakapura > Bengaluru 

Once you cross muthanga you are in Karnataka Bandipur Tiger reserve forest.

Chamrajnagar to Kollegal 

Coconut groves

Banana groves

Paddy and sugarcane fields above

River Cauvery pics below 

Never get tired on a bike when you see such beautiful scenery

And that's the difference between car and bikes. In a car you are watching scenery via glass pane like a TV. in a bike you are INSIDE the scenery and can put your foot on the ground..

With my yellow cheetah, Next to River Cauvery 

Hope you are enjoying my post and pics.

Nash Narasimhan Tupil