Vagamon Heights @ Vagamon - Part 2

Continued from part 1
Next morning the first activity was horse riding.
This carriage was parked near the reception of the resort has been reminding us of the horse ride whenever we see it.

But the horse ride was not on the carriage but on top of a real race horse. Riding a horse through the dense forest and hilly terrain, we feel as if we are king.
The horse was absorbing all the uneveness of the terrain which had zero roads and we were feeling only the soothing up down moment which we can feel even when the horse is going in smooth roads.

We were in the 4 x 4 again, but this time headed to another direction and reached the lake where there was fishing deck.

The fun at fishing in this point was double because the view which we can have from this point is something which is beyond what words can explain. See it to believe it.






We spend a lot of time fishing. We were running out of time for our return journey.

hectic fishing going on here

On our way back to our cottage, saw a tree house, about 30 feet above the ground. Climbed up the tree and enjoyed the experience of being top of a tree among the woods.



Found this when standing on top of the tree


Part 4 - The return journey
After completely enjoying our time at the resort, we packed our bags, thanked the resort staff for there homely behaviour and there support, wrote all the good things in the guest book, started to climb down the woods with a handful of memories to cherish.
The customized 4x4 which took us for a roller coaster ride
The view of cattle grazing on the green meadows
The view of green meadows from the fishing deck
The 3D version of these pictures are etched in our memory.
We went through the same offroading track to reach out of the resort and stopped for one more photo session

The winding roads of vagamon was again on display

This time we decided to travel by following route.

Vagamon - Pala - Ettumanur - Kottayam - chengannur - kottarakkara - trivandrum

We didn't expect much about the roads in this route. But something different was in stock for us, when we turned towards the pala route from vagamon. It started raining heavily, but somehow visibility was not getting affected.

One side of the road there was a rocky hill with water draining out at many places. The small greenery on the black rocks make it look much more beautiful. Heavy rains means we could not stop much to take photos. But I drove slowly making it a visual treat for our eyes.


By the time we reached Pala the ghat roads were over. But heavy traffic was the order of the day right from Ettumanur to kottayam and by the time we reached Changanacherry we had decided that we will quit Main central road (MC Road) and somehow get to NH 47. So we took a diversion from thiruvalla and reached Kayamkulam.

Then we glided through the smooth roads of NH 47 and reached home safely.

So it was a kind of complete mix of roads, the drive sure was quite an experience. The scenic place and the good resort made it all more interesting and the lack of previous knowledge about the resort or the landscape made it even more exciting

Some points to remember
1. Two nights and three days will be ideal to cover this resort fully and other view points in vagamon in a relaxed mood. the resort have more than 300 acres of land including 2 - 3 hills, one lake, rosegarden, conference room amidst forest. tree house etc. Since it was only one night and day for me, I could not even complete the spots inside the resort, let alone the pine valley and other places outside. I am the like who would like to stay and enjoy one place rather than finish all the picnic spots in one go.

2. Watch out for leeches which will feed on your blood without your notice. They will be aplenty during rainy season. We fed 3 leeches fully and managed to escaped from another 3.

3. Don’t wear shoes if it is rainy season as the leeches will get inside and feed on your blood and you'll never know

4. Keep some salt. If a leech is sucking your blood, sprinkle the salt. It will release soon.

5. If you wash your feet with detol, probability of leech attack will be less. Hence keep a bottle of detol with you.

6. The climate is just about perfect during Jan - May. Not so cold and not so hot.

7. If you own a 4 x 4, there are plenty of tracks where you can explore inside the resort itself.

8. The staff does not have a formal outlook as you see in star rated hotels, but quite homely and will get along nicely. Something which I like. The food there does not have much variety, but the kitchen staff are ready to listen and if needed you can also cook.

9. The rooms are pretty decent. One resort room is sufficient for 2 adults and 2 kids. Wooden panelled floor and walls makes it look slightly upmarket. But different types of accomodation are available.

Verdict
A 10/10 for the place
A 9/10 for the resort.

Most of all, I enjoyed the drive through these roads
Want to visit this place again & again & again

Vagamon Heights @ Vagamon - Part 1

"Nature at its natural best"

The search for a holiday location
Only three more days to go for the school vacation to be over. Still I have not gone for a holiday with my kids and family. Where to go? Only two full days available. Munnar, Kodai, Ooty all ruled out either due to the distance or the place has become tooo familiar.
Sometime, during a trip to munnar had heard about Vagamon. Searched the net for Vagamon. Got some pics. Felt like, it is a nice place to be in. But where to stay. Googled and some phone numbers propped up. Dialed those. Some say resort is under renovation. Some say sky high prices. Some say nice packages. Which to chose from? By instict chose the one where the guy was so courteous in his talks.
The resorts name was "The Vagamon Heights". Called up him again and he was offering, Stay, food, horse riding, fishing, trekking + boating @ 4000 per family (2 adults and 2 kids). Seems quite interesting. We booked 2 rooms as we were 4 adults and 2 kids. Got some discounts as peak season was over.

So another chance for me to drive through the hills amidst natural flora and fauna.

The journey
Come friday morning and as is the usual habit, started the journey 1 hr late than what was planned originally. We hit the road by 6.30 am. The twisties of MC road (Main Central road) were enough to charge me up. But I was not doing high speeds just to avoid travel sickness for those on board.
The MC Road

We reached Ranni at about 8.45am. Decided to have breakfast here. By about 9.15 we left this place. Next point was Erumeli - which is one of the synonyms of religious harmony. The mosque at erumeli is visible from quite a distance and as we approach the junction we could see the ayyappa temple also.



From Erumeli we proceeded to Kanjirappally, but soon found out that we were climbing some ghats. The drive, the roads and the scenary was so superb that I did not even bothered to stop for enquiring the route. After climbing the ghats for some 30 kms, I got a call from the resort guy and enquired about where I am. When I told him that I am climbing a ghat, he told me that I have lost route and now I have to turn left from Mundakkayam. Thanked for the call and continued enjoying the journey through these ghats. Stopped at 2 - 3 spots for some photo shoot and to enjoy the cool breeze.


After some time reached Kuttikanam. Kuttikanam - Elappara route also is awesome. A must drive route for all the driving enthusiasts. The greenery just got better due to rains which started some 1 week ago.
A photostop at kuttikkanam


Had a stop at elappara to climb a small hill and rejuvenate any fatigue, if present. following two snaps taken from this hill


Till elappara it was the typical kerala ghats. From Elappara we have to take a deviation to vagamon. Believe me this road is different. It is a sort of a valley. No hill to climb, but really winding roads amidst the green blanket covered mountains. Still cherish the memory of driving through this lane.

Soon we reached vagamon after complete driving pleasure and enjoying thoroughly almost all the route covered. .
Thanks to my innovative googling to find out the shortest route available and help from some of the friends due to which I travelled through the longest route possible covering almost all the hills which I was not supposed to take .
We travelled a distance of 230 Kms.
The route was

Thiruvananthapuram > Ayoor > Anchal > Punalur > Pathanamthitta > Ranni > Erumeli > Mundakkayam > Kuttikkanam > Elappara > Vagamon.
Still we were pondering on how the resort will be

The entry to the resort
The Vagamon height resort is in the vagamon - pullikanam route some 1.5kms from vagamon.
We reached the gate of the resort. We had a look around. Only the gate and a small security check post. Where is the resort? We crossed the gate, reminiscent of the gate in the Evil dead movie.
Soon one guy came to us and told to register our names there. He opened another gate and told us that we have to travel 2 - 3 kms through this jungle trail to reach the resort’s office. Seems quite interesting. Started the journey slowly as it was a narrow road.
We saw this board there

As we moved forward found that we are moving through thick dense forest

We reached a point where there was a small river crossing and over some rocks. Crossed the river and we were approaching an open area with a lake. It simply took our breath away.

A view of the lake from this road

Then it was a climb through some dense forest and soon we reached the resort’s office on top where a big horse was roaming around alone. This journey of 2 km was an amazing start to the things to come.
My innova resting after a nice workout


A small cafeteria near the resort's main office

Check in:
The check in process was quite simple. After the check in process, one guy was assigned to us for all the support. He guided us to the cottage. Voila the way to the cottage itself was very inviting.
It was a three storey building. There was a small hanging bridge which landed in the first floor. It was a sort of open air dining room. The second floor contained one cottage and the ground floor another.



The view from inside the cottage was good, because we feel as if we are amidst thick dense forest with the sound of insects and some birds to accompany. Even the bathroom had big windows, which if opened we have a feeeling of

getting a bath amidst the woods.


A view of the woods from resort's window in the afternoon and later in the evening when fog came down



Activities at resort to followPart 3 - Activities at the resort for the rest of the day - offroading in a 4x4, viewpoints, rose garden & boating
After a rest of 30 minutes, our guide took us for sight seeing in a 4 x 4 jeep. The jeep itself was good since the passenger cabin on the back was open roof.
We were starting for an amazing experience which we didn’t expect. Soon the jeep was travelling in some roads atop the hills in such a way that we had huge steep inclination for company on both sides. We were swaying to both sides

since there were absolutely no roads.

We reached one of the view points from where we could have a breath taking view of the nature’s creations.


The kurisumala church is visible from here


another view from the same viewpoint



We could also see the route which we take, which if one sees won’t believe that vehicles can be driven through.

A view of the track which we took. On the right hand side hill, you can see the jeep trails on top


After spending some time there we were ready to climb further upThe 4x4 with kids ready to climb up


There were 4 such view points. Due to lack of time and impending rains we could go to only one more view point
Then started the decent. For a change this guy was decending steeply and not in a zig zag manner.Looking down one feels really scary. This one ride is much much better than the artificial rides on the water theme parks.





Halfway down the decent there was a rose garden. Since it was not season only very less flowers were there. Can imaging how it will look like if all the roses planted there have flowers.







Continued the decent and soon we reached the bottom which had a nice lake.




The boats were ready and we experienced the cool water in the comfort of this pedalling boats.



Soon it started to rain, but when we are in such an august company of the nature how could we run for cover. Just opened an umbrella and enjoyed the boating amidst the downshower, an experience we will cherish for a lifetime.



As we reached back our cottage, thick fog was descending


our steed was taking rest under the comfort of a tree


Soon daylight bid goodbye to this beautiful showpiece handmade by nature and undistured by the tourist invasion.

click here for part 2