Dorai of Valparai

Valparai:

 "Valparai is a Taluk and hill station in the Coimbatore district of Tamil Nadu, India. It is located 3,500 feet (1,100 m) above sea level on the Anaimalai Hills range of the Western Ghats, at a distance of 100 kilometres (62 mi) from Coimbatore and 65 kilometres (40 mi) from Pollachi. The economy of Valparai depends on plantation crops. Valparai has a high concentration of tea and coffee estates. Most of the people living here work in these estates. The tea plantations are surrounded by evergreen forest. The region is also a rich elephant tract and is known to have many leopards. The drive to the town from Pollachi passes through the Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary noted for elephants, boars, lion-tailed macaques, gaur, spotted deer, sambar and giant squirrels. The area is also rich in birds, including the great hornbill."

   I was going through a travel blog more than 3 years ago and came across this town called Valparai. A quick google search increased my curiosity about this place. Distance from Bangalore and limited options for stay made me postpone this tour. Original plan was to combine this trip with a trip to Ooty. However Ooty was long trip when we did it so Valparai had to take the back seat. Finally the time for experiencing this beautiful hill top town arrived. 

route map

Day 1 (7/1/2016): 

  Our stay was booked well in advance and all preparation for the trip done the previous day itself. We woke up early at 4:00 AM and got ready and left home by 5:00 AM.  We drove slowly initially as I had to contain with the high beam of in coming traffic. We stopped for early breakfast at Sarvana Bhavan, Avadanapatti. After breakfast we continued our journey, road condition was excellent and morning traffic was less. Sun had just started peeping out of the clouds.

Soon we came across a windmill farm and stopped for few photos.

We stopped a coffee break after this at Sripathi Veg restaurant at Pollachi road. We drove on and reached Pollachi national park at around 1:00 PM. There is an entry fee for vehicles to pass this national park. We stopped and clicked some photos of Aliyar Dam.

Pollachi National park entrance

Aliyar Dam

 From here the climb to the hill station begins. There are 40 hairpin bends to climb from here to reach Valparai town. We began our climb slowly enjoying the surroundings and looking for Nilgiri Tahrs and Lion Tailed Macaque. 

We inquired and found out that this fall has no water and moved on.

     Much to our disappointment we did not see both Nilgiri Tahrs and Lion Tailed Macaque .  We reached resort at 2:00 PM just in time for lunch.

 Post lunch we explored the resort surroundings trying to identify the calls of different birds. We had tea and snack post which went for a walk in the tea estates along with our guide. We saw many birds like Peacock, Jungle Fowl, Spotted Dove, Malabar Whistling Thrust and also an Indian Gaur.

Sun was setting and we returned back to resort finishing an eventful walk and settled at the bench with a heavenly view to enjoy the cool breeze of the evening with a hot cup of tea.

We ended our wonderful day with a tasty and simple dinner and hit the bed with crickets wishing us good night.

Day 2 (8/1/2016): 

Woke up early in the morning at 5:30 AM  and got ready and left in search of Great Indian Hornbill at 6:30 AM. Parked our car and started walking in the area where these giant birds are usually seen. We only could manage to see one hornbill fly over the thick cover of trees and even after waiting for more than an hour we could not find any sign of hornbill. We returned back and on the way saw Indian Gaurs, Serpent eagle and some more birds.

Sky walk for monkeys

We returned back and had our breakfast and rested for a while.

After 11:00 AM we went to Neera Dam, we were not allowed to enter the restricted area where the Dam is located because of the census of tigers being carried out by the forest department in the state of Tamilnadu. We returned back disappointed, stopped for shopping of some tea powders in the Valparai town and returned to our resort just in time for lunch.

After heavy lunch slept for a while. After evening tea and snack  spent rest of the day just enjoying the surroundings of the resort and tea estate. Went for a walk in the tea estate in the evening to enjoy the sunset.

Hoopoe

Black Shouldered Kite

Serpent Eagle

Once the sun set we started thinking about the dinner. The food is so good here, felt as though this trip is all about eating. After a lip smacking dinner we bid good night to the day. A lazy day in a quite town, just perfect.

Day 3 (9/1/2016): 

   Woke up early at 5:30 again and left resort at 6:30 AM towards sholayar dam. Wanted to enjoy the chillness of the morning, so decided a early morning drive. Sun was just rising behind the foggy mountains and surroundings were beauty a galore. 

 We made frequent stops for photographing this beautiful place and reached Sholayar dam around 8:10 AM. A 26 Km drive with countless stops in 1:40 mins.

Sholayar Dam

We left from here at 8:30 AM as there was nothing much to do. Sholoayar is the last town in Tamilnadu. Just after this dam, if you cross a bridge you will be in gods own country.

We were driving back in the same spot where we were unsuccessfully looking for great Indian hornbill the previous morning. And today it was sitting on the tree right next to its nest. Talk about being at the right place at the right time. Clicked few photographs of this great bird and returned to resort for breakfast.

We had nothing else planned for the day. So we spent rest of the time around the resort waiting for lunch ( i am shameless when it comes to food).

And it was lunch time.

Post lunch we tried our hand with few of the board games.

Once we were bored of the board games watched the swallows hunt for their food and waited for sun set.

And it was dinner time, had dinner and retired for the day.

Day 4 (10/1/2016): 

We woke up at 6:30, packed our bags, had breakfast by 8:00 AM. We waited for the manager of the resort to arrive. Settled our bills, shopped for some tea and left resort by 8:30 AM. We stopped multiple times for photo session and to look for Nilgiri Tahr till we reached Pollachi national Park.

From here it was cruse on highway. We stopped for coffee break at Shripathi Hotel at K.Krishnarajapuram. Lunch was at Sarvana bhavan, Panchampalyam followed by coffee break at Sarvana bhavan, Avadhanapatti . Reached home by 6:15 PM. All in all a wonderful, lazy trip in a most quite and beautiful hill station. Only sour part is we did not get to see  Lion-tailed Macaques and Nilgiri Tahrs. May be that is a reason enough for a second visit some time in the future.

Review about Resort :

We stayed in this old British styled bungalow called Sinna Dorai's Bungalow in Valparai.

This resort is located on top of the hill surrounded by acres of tea estate. You will have the best view of the surroundings from here and literally cut off from rest of the world. Go here to experience the King's life, nature, and of course food. Resort has all the bits and pieces to remind you of the age gone by of British and clean and large room for a luxury stay.

Surroundings have well maintained garden and home to many birds. 

And it looks as beautiful in nights as in day time.

Last but not the least, this place has the best seat in town.