Sholayar – A Perfect Trip On A Perfect Day

I heard a news that a Leopard has attacked some workers in Sholayar. I felt bad but for the next moment I had already started a trip to Sholayar in my mind. Myself and my friend Jilie have decided to go to Sholayar next day morning. We couldn’t see the leopard but it was an unforgettable trip for my entire life.

Jilie is my childhood friend and he used to come for all the trips I plan. He is such a crazy driver; he can drive any time, anywhere and any distance. In fact it had been a long time since we went for a trip. We started around 5.00 AM in the morning to Athirappilly; had breakfast from there. But didn’t go the Athirappilly waterfalls; we just stated our journey to Sholayar through Athirappilly-Vazhachal road via the Forest.

There was a checking by the Forest guards in Vazhachal and since it is a reserved forest area there were lots of restrictions; about the usage of plastics especially. It was in the month of August. The entire forest was wet and green in colour after the monsoon. It was misty and was drizzling on the way and sometimes it was raining also. It was very difficult for him to drive because of the mist. Nobody can predict the mist; it comes suddenly and covers the entire road; we won’t be able to see more than couple of meters ahead of the road. The beauty of the Forest; W0w… I have no words to express. Imagine you are travelling through a dense forest where you will not find anything other than natural beauty.

In between there were lot of cascades; we stopped there and took some snaps. We could see some of the animals on the way; Lion tailed Macaque – which is a rare specious, Elephants, Giant squirrel, and Malabar hornbill etc. It wasn’t bright inside the forest and I had only 300mm lens; I couldn’t take snaps of Hornbill and the Squirrel as they appeared just for one glance.

There was a place in the forest we could see thousands of different butterflies. I got few shots from there also.

We had lunch near to a river inside the forest. Leaches were making some problems for us. We couldn’t notice that and some of them were already in my hand. It was bleeding a little bit.

There was a view point inside the forest which is really very beautiful. There were lot of small islands with trees with the mountains at the other side – It was really beautiful.

We have reached Sholayar by afternoon by 3.00 PM. The whole area is covered with hills and forests on all sides, with sparse human habitation. The entire hill station will get misty after the monsoon and it would be the right time to visit Sholayar. We roam around the place for one hour and went to Sholayar dam.

I think Dam was the major attraction in Sholayar. There were lot of people there. Jilie slept in the car; he was tired a bit after a long drive. I roam around the Dam almost one hour and took some snaps. The environment was misty that time and there wasn’t sunlight at all. We had tea from there and started by 5 from there.

One the way I slept for some time. I was thinking if the car got break down inside the forest; my goodness we need to travel at least 20 km by walk inside the forest. That could have been another adventure.

I couldn’t take much shots; but the experience; it will be safe in my heart for a long time. If you are a Nature lover, I highly recommend to have a trip via Athirappilly, Vazhachal to Sholayar. If I would like to narrate the trip on one sentence – “A perfect trip on a perfect day”.