Here's a photo tour of the family trip that turned out to be a bit adventurous and fun...
Warning: It's a maxipost with lots of photos.
...
At 5:30 AM on a wednesday morning, we started our drive. We reached Krishnagiri around 7 AM, and we pulled over for breakfast at A2B...
...
...
...
After breakfast we continued our journey. The navigation map showed the thrilling bit of the climb uphill. Yes, one has to negotiate a whopping 70 hairpin bends...
...
The climb is quite picturesque...
...
...
...
It was green everywhere due to the recent rains...
...
I slowly negotiated the hairpin bends. 14 done, 56 to go...
...
Some bends are a bit steep. Will require a switch to 1st gear...
...
.jpg)
...
Finally after five and a half hours we reached RJ Grand Resorts, a small resort situated in the middle of greenery...
...
We opted for a family room, a spacious room with two queen size beds. The tariff is INR 5400 per night. It includes complementary breakfast. Amenities include a swimming pool and some indoor games...
...
We had lunch at the in-house restaurant. In the evening we planned to visit a nearby view point called Seekuparai. On the way to Seekuparai you can see trees with black pepper climbers. Pepper vine can be seen almost everywhere in Kolli hills...
...
...
A nice looking tree...
...
Seekuparai view point has scenic view of the nearby hills and valley...
...
The jumping jacks...
...
...
...
There's a store selling homemade chocolates at Seekuparai. We bought some really delish variety of chocolates...
...
We returned to the resort and planned for the next day's activities. We decided to visit the Agaya Gangai waterfalls and Arapaleeswarar temple the next day. In the morning, before everyone woke up, I decided to walk around the area and check out the active birds. A farmer was taking out his cow for grazing...
...
The paddy field looked nice...
...
I could hear the dizzying calls of peacocks in the woods...
...
I scoured the area for the elusive bird...
...
Finally, I could spot a peahen atop a tree...
...
Then she flew...
...
You can see Angel's trumpets all over the place...
...
A Red-vented Bulbul was seen next...
...
A Jungle Babbler followed...
...
...
Wife called to say it was breakfast time. On the walk back I saw some kids going to school and a farmer carrying his produce to market...
...
Saw a world map on a school wall...
...
And a small girl in a shop, smiled when I pointed my camera towards her...
...
After breakfast we proceeded to Agaya Gangai waterfalls. It is about 11 kilometers from the resort...
...
We met a few ascetics near the Arapaleeswarar temple. They guided us to visit the Panchanati stream...
...
...
The jungle stream, Panchanati cascades down as Agaya Gangai waterfall. We stopped to see the stream...
...
To reach the Agaya Gangai waterfall, one has to climb down 1196 steps. We carried some food, water, towels and changed into water-friendly clothes...
...
We started the climb down...
...
The steps are quite steep at some places. The climb down is tiring...
...
I saw a Black-headed Cuckooshrike on the way down. This was the first time I was seeing this beautiful bird...
...
...
...
...
...
...
A rock protrusion that looked like a goat head...
...
There are nice sights on the way to distract you from the tiring climb down.
A Golden birdwing butterfly. India's largest butterfly...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
Supermom and son stopping the falling boulder...
...
Excitedly pointing as if they discovered the waterfall...
...
Agaya Ganagai is a 300 ft waterfall...
...
...
The rock base is extremely slippery...
...
...
Sitting under the waterfall is an exciting experience...
...
...
...
...
...
Here's a video...
...
...
...
...
...
...
The climb up from the waterfall is extremely tiring. It took us about an hour. But there are beautiful things on the way to make you stop and admire...
...
A Common Leopard butterfly...
...
...
...
And the goat like rock again...
...
Once we reached the top, we had lunch at a nearby shack and proceeded to the Arapaleeswarar temple...
...
...
...
Beautiful Frangipani blooms...
...
...
...
Thus ended day two. Day three began with a misty surprise...
...
Chirps could be heard as the birds awoke...
...
Black pepper leaves...
...
...
A Yellow-billed Babbler made an appearance...
...
And a Jungle babbler couple fed up of each others babbling...
...
There were many instances that prompted the cliché question - why did the chicken cross the road?
...
An Oriental Magpie robin appeared singing its beautiful song...
...
...
There were many interesting sightings from the morning walk...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
From a coffee plantation...
...
...
Some Jungle Mynas in flight...
...
A Juvenile Red-whiskered Bulbul...
...
It was time to check out from the resort. Some shots before leaving...
...
...
...
We started our descend...
...
...
...
We stopped at Solakkadu village to buy local specialties...
...
Local specialties included a variety of bananas, pineapple, pepper, tamarind, cloves, jungle honey, bay leaves and many other spices. We bought all of them...
...
We stopped at a view point on the way back to click a few pics...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
There's a Boating place in Kolli Hills which was forced to close due to the pandemic. Rohan was disappointed.
But on the way back we stopped at Krishnagiri Children's park to do some boating...
...
...
...
...
...
That's the end of our short vacation. Looking forward to your thoughts.
