You can read about how we reached Wayanad and the first day of our trip here.
Our second day began with an early morning visit to Wayanad Wild Life Sanctuary. Muthanga Range of the sanctuary is around 30 km from Meenangadi. We decided to do the Jeep Safari in the morning since the chance of spotting animals is more. Jeep safaris are open from 7 am – 10 am (40 vehicles) and 3 pm – 5 pm (20 vehicles) and are charged INR 500 per jeep (maximum 4 people can comfortably seated).
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| Jeeps used for the forest safari |
Entry to the sanctuary is charged at INR 150 per person. A forest guard accompanies us in the Mahindra Jeep and acts as our guide in spotting animals. We were greeted with a large elephant which was being trained.
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Elephant, Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary
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Then we sighted spotted deers, another deer with big antlers (not sure about the kind), giant malabar squirrels, wild elephants, freshly imprinted tiger pug marks, giant mountain spiders. We were told that a herd of elephants chased a jeep an hour back or so. The entire safari takes up around an hour covering 5 – 6 km inside the forest.
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| Malabar Squirrel |
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| Malabar Squirrels |
Spotting the animals is entirely based on our luck. A museum is available in the sanctuary which houses photos of the flora and fauna which were taken at the Muthanga Range.
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| Path so far, Forest safari |
We headed back to our home-stay, had our breakfast and proceeded to Soochipara Waterfalls. The road journey to the falls itself is quite interesting. We left the coffee plantations and entered tea plantations and I must say, tea plantations look great than their coffee counterparts.
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| Tea Plantation on the way to Soochipara Waterfalls |
It took around an hour to reach the falls. Entry is restricted between 9 am – 5 pm and entry fee is INR 20 per person and camera fee of INR 20. To reach the falls, we walked downhill around 1.5 km. It was a steady downhill which made the return journey a bit tedious. I was literally out of breath while climbing up and was helped many a times with a little shove during the climb. But the view of western ghats on the way to the falls make the climb worth while.
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| Views worth climbing up |
The falls had a decent amount of water and many foreign tourists were happily taking bath and sun bathing. We took customary photos, tried our hand at long exposure photography and returned.
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| Soochipara Waterfalls |
Our last destination for the day was Karapuzha Dam, which is near the town of Kalpetta. This is also a big earthen dam and built on a tributary of River Kabini. It lacks the boating facility of Banasura Sagar Dam, but hey, Karapuzha is totally free of charge to visit – hence no complaints.:-)
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| Karapuzha Dam |
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| Farther end of the bank leads us to the shutters/flood gates of the dam. |
To reach the flood gates, we need to climb down a few steps. I remember how we made a dashing run down the flight of steps and laughed like little children at the end. Places associated with nature always brings out the children in us.
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| Way to the flood gates |
I digress. The sun was about to set down, playing hide and seek with clouds and the water was glittering with sun light. The guard started whistling for everybody to depart and we took our cue and called it a day.
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| There is some kind of magic in these golden rays :) |
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