Calm, Serene, Unexploited - The Vellayani Lake @ Thiruvananthapuram

  

God's own country - Kerala, is blessed with aplenty of rich landscape that if one is ready to explore a little he is sure to find beautiful locations even near to densely populated cities. Introducing one such place which is very close to capital city of Kerala where one can peacefully spend an evening in company of serene nature composed of a very vast lake surrounded by lush greenery.

The location is Vellayani. I happened to be at this place on a sunny afternoon after visiting a friends house. My companion - a sony camera, helped me to shot this serene location.

To reach this location, travel 10 kilometers southward starting from Thiruvanathapuram central bus terminal or central railway station. This southward route is the road to Kanyakumari. Lots of buses ply in this route. On reaching Vellayani junction, turn right and travel another 2 kilometers. Then again right (it is better to ask for directions from this point).

The road suddenly changes to untarred one and one gets a feeling of a completely different landscape eventhough we are just a few kilometers out of the city centre and still within the city limits.

  

The road side view gave a feeling of a typical Kerala village.

 

After the last turn we could see a vast land a little away after those coconut trees.

  

The road came to a dead end, but from this point we could get this view and we were sure that our decision of checking out this place after visiting our friends home was not a waste of time. 

  

Parked our steeds at this point. Even our vehicles seemed more beautiful in this ambience.

  

We had to walk ahead in what seems to be a beautiful road and the place seem to be quiet deserted with only the greenery giving us company

  

A little ahead we could see the lake. The Vellayani lake was on one side

  

  

On the other side of the road there were paddy fields (a bit of Kuttanadishness here )

  

The lake was real vast, with those lotus plants giving it a special ambience

  

  

All of us sat on this road enjoying the cool breeze and one is sure to forget the scorching sun when in the midst of such an ambience.

  

But I was not able to sit here longer since the photographer in me was pressurizing to capture the natural movements around.

This beautiful crane reminded me of one of the vehicles mentioned in Ramayana. 

  

Another one flew just above me and the moment was well utilized

  

There were some action inside this lake too, thanks to these small little gems.

  

This guy was sitting peacefully, but it was living dangerously as it is stationed in a live wire.

  

There was a small river near by and could see some hectic activity here tooo

  

A bunch of ducks were swimming in formation

  

But on among them stood out, because of its colorful body graphics.

  

My son also was enjoying himself and was seen running up and down this really long road.

  

After spending an hour in this lake side we decided to leave with the satisfaction of finding one more place near to where we live, where we can have a calm evening outing after all those pressures of work life.

My friends steed again got shot down by me when it was travelling through this mud road. 

  

This place does not have any tourist facilities. There are no shops around too. So a visit of more than 2 hours is not worthwhile. Its better to carry some food and water along. Just visit here only if you love the lakes and greenery and zero population around.

A Place where you can be alone with the nature.

A more popular lake near Thiruvananthapuram is the Veli Lake, which has been developed into a proper tourist destination by the tourism department. Click here to have a view of the Picturesque Veli Lake.