The freshness and the aroma of
the beautiful tea estates that we visited the earlier day was still fresh in my
mind. We decided to explore Ooty city the following day and also climb The
Dodabetta Peak- the highest point in Nilgiri Mountain Range.
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| Rose Garden Ooty |
But , the inclement weather
played spoilsport as a result of which we decided to cut our Ooty sightseeing
to only Rose Garden; moreover, we had an
extra day to cover the remaining places.
Our first stop was Rose Garden (formerly
known as Jayalalithaa Rose Garden) -the "largest rose garden in the country". We
were told that there are as many as 3800 varieties of roses to be found there.
Situated at an altitude of 2200 metres and on the slope of a hill, it provides a great view of the town.
When we reached there the “environment”
was quite refreshing and calm. Since it has drizzled in the morning, the rose
petals and the leaves had little droplets on them as we see in North India very
early winter morning due to dew. I am attaching some pictures we took as it impossible
to describe such natural beauty in mere words.
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| A glimpse of huge rose beds in the garden |
Our next destination was the
highest point of the Nilgiri Mountain Range – The Dodabetta Peak. There is a reserved forest around
the peak.The Dodabetta Peak is situated amidst the forests.
If one doesn't have
company, one might feel like they have lost the track of the path.
Fortunately for us, there were a number of vehicles which acted as our "saviour" and
guided us to the right path on that day. ( Google Maps don’t work in that
region as network is down). The road to the point is very rocky and bumpy.
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| Road to Dodabetta Peak from Ooty |
Cars were stopped some 500 metres before the actual point and one needs to walk from there on. As we walked we
could feel the winds blowing with enormous speeds, making us all the
more affirmative about the fact that we are going to reach a mountain peak.
When we came nearer to the peak,
we saw that there is a platform built on the peak for tourists. From the platform,
one can view the Chamundi hills in the distance while on the other side lie the
familiar Ketty Valley.
This view of Ketty valley was very different than what I
had seen from the toy train; compelling us to believe that yes it is indeed the
“second largest valley” in the world.
There is a telescope house built
in the middle of the platform. Different views from the peak can be seen from
there. There were a few local eateries present where one can enjoy a sip of hot tea/coffee along with hot tasty Maggi !!!
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| Telescope at Dodabetta Peak |
When it started to get dark,
we decided to go to our hotels and retire there. As per our plan, we still had
a day left and we decided to visit all those places,on the next day, which we
missed because of the early morning drizzle.
The places that we visited today
are apt for all the people searching for tranquillity as well as adventure; a
break from day to day businesses. Rose Garden had some splendid views in offer
and Dodabetta Peak is as majestic as it has been described by travellers!
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| Black and White Sunset |
Next article will be on Emerald Lake – the most serene, clean and peaceful lake I have ever witnessed in my
life!
To book a customised tour to Ooty, feel free to get in touch with us.
Don’t forget to check out more images in the Gallery section.
Readers are requested to drop a line below to share their experience of reading this blog! Thank you :-)
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