Staying at Sathyamangalam Guesthouse

Following Kodiveri Dam, we halt at Sathyamangal for the night stay. My cousin had booked at the Sathyamangalam guest house for us and it lies on the bank of Bhavani River. It was over 6 pm when we reached the guesthouse and the staffs were awaiting for us, and they took care of our need well. Actually there isn’t a need for them, because things were fine on their own and the couple of rooms were spacious with one air conditioned. I was surprised to see a ramp facility at the entrance of the house, which claims 5 steps.

I really enjoyed staying at this guesthouse, though it is a very old house and tiled roof, the interiors are renovated for moderate suite and its natural environment of river and trees around turned to be my favourite. When we arrived, found number of birds (mostly herons) perching on and off the branches of the trees while making the river its hunting pool, there was noise of birds amid the silence. At morning I got to listening different sound of birds and clear picture of things around.

Orange lily, showing stamens with pollen-covered anthers shot at the courtyard of the guesthouse.

The night spent comfort and cool under the AC and the weather wasn’t bad like the day time and it’s less hot because of the wind. But we experienced abundance mosquitoes outside the room and though they come and sit large on our skin doesn’t bite surprisingly! But one or two does. The dinner and breakfast was bought from the restaurant nearby and I really liked the ven pongal and idly as morning tiffin.  Once finished the morning activities I was out with my camera to take photos around.

The guesthouse is built facing the river and there’s a separate stair (but locked by gate) to get down to the river and I really liked the architecture of this house with wide portico and corridors on both sides. The courtyard is simply beautiful with flower pots, plants and trees giving a nice green environment to the house. The guesthouse belong to the highways was maintained well and their provision of ramp proves their concern for unable people and the couple of staffs were friendly and shareable.

From the guesthouse we could see the activities on the bridge across the river that connects Mysore road. And beyond that a steeple rose between the trees. The water flow in the Bhavani River is very less and this’s the water that overflows as waterfalls in Kodiveri dam. We moved out of the guesthouse after the breakfast and drove towards Athikadavu on the foothills of Nilgiris. 

Hideout

After checking Lovedale railway station, near Ooty, on the 3^rd day of our travel to Nilgiris we encountered a Bison while looking for a place to have lunch. Driving further on the isolated Lovedale road adjoining the backyard of the Lawrence School we come to halt on the roadside to have lunch, but we unnoticed there was a Bison (Indian Gaur) standing at a height of about 15 foot vertically from where we stood.

We almost decided to get down but heard the rustle sound in the bushes above and it was a bison grazing and hiding among the bushes. Though it isn’t a huge one and standing on the edge of the vertically down, it’s impossible for it to climb down or leap off but parents were not willing to stop there so we move on to another spot. Before doing so, tried to capture the Indian gaur hiding in the bushes and what you see here were visible then.

The Indian Bison or Indian Gaur is a strong and massively built species, the largest extant bovine, native to South Asia. Gaurs are black in color while females are brown, but both the hide of male and female Gaurs is white below the knee of each leg. I have seen Indian gaurs in the mountains of Kodaikanal and Valparai, but it continues to excite seeing in wild.  

Linking this post with SATURDAY CRITTERS

Amusement park’s gate and gateway

The yellow gate and the wall is a cropped version of the photo I shot on the façade of the first amusement park of Chennai, VGP Golden Beach and Universal Kingdom. There you could see someone taking photo on the gate or selfie, but I don’t have logic for him to take selfie with road behind him from where I shot this, from the slowly moving car.

Past the main entrance I got to shoot a blue gateway, belong to the same amusement park with parking lot inside. I had no idea about the gateway until Google down to know it’s a gateway to the Snow Kingdom, a part of the Universal kingdom, a family amusement park. Actually I decided to shoot this gateway for its beautiful architecture and coated in blue and white. The fence along also has a nice wave design.

Apt to the name of the amusement park (Universal Kingdom) the entrance has a wonderful look of a realm which I will post on some other time. 

Linking this post for  Good Fences by Gosia 

Shy Moon (and The final shot with camera)

வெட்கத்தில் நிலா!

நீல திரை பின்னால்

மறைக்கிறாள் தன் முழு அழகை

Moon in shy!

behind the blue screen

hides her full charm

P.s. The moon was captured during my visit to nilgiris (ooty) on the third day of my travel and this was the last picture I shot with my digital camera (P&S) before it slip down and lens hit the floor. Actually it was my dad who dropped the camera accidentally when tried to capture the sky on my insistence. He was standing on the balcony of our room and focusing on the sky when the camera slipped off, but glad he didn’t put hands outside the baloney  nor the camera could have smashed falling off from 25-30 feet height. Only the next day I have planned to visit a place I wanted to do for some long time and I was quite upset because of that, but I was also worried my camera and I was in doubt could I get back the camera with its original setting.

I have lost my early camera with the same problem, but it wasn’t because of fallen down alike but my uncle’s kid pressed the lens when it popped out. I didn’t lose my photos as it was safe in memory card and the camera opens to say only “lens error, reset the camera”. I didn’t want to give up so just tried with the in charge of the homestay and they called someone and he said to come next morning and repair the camera. But he didn’t turn up until 10.am and when enquire he told that he don’t know to fix Canon cameras and as a last chance I decided to look for a camera service in Ooty. We searched for an hour and dad climbed two shops and one was Sony, but they aren’t read to open a Canon camera. I don’t want to waste time and went ahead taking photos with mobile the remaining days. Glad my brother came up with his 13mp Xiaomi mobile and other than attending calls, it was in my hand most of the time.

The good news was the camera is back with me in its original settings. Back home I gave the camera at the Canon service centre and I was holding it back in less than two days’ time and they charged minimum (INR. 550) only. I was really tensed what the result going to be but they only put a smile. 

Kodiveri Dam and Waterfalls

I always prefer for leisure travel but we can’t anticipate it to be same when covering a long distance within a timeline. Either Ooty or Kodaikanal, it takes almost a day to reach with the destinations more than 500 kms we can’t spare much time on places en route, so I always look for a chance to stay close to the destination or less than half-a-way away experiencing the places I want.

My last month’s travel to Nilgiris happened to be one and we didn’t drove to Ooty directly but rather decided to stay at Sathyamangalam which got me chance to check couple of places that’s close to the destination. We had our lunch somewhere between Salem and Bhavani while going from Chennai and the weather was too hot and before we head to Kodiveri, halted on way for about an hour to have a cup of tea at my dad’s friend house in Kavindapadi.

Kodiveri is about 16 km from Gobichettipalayam on the way to Sathyamangalam, which is about 14 km away from Kodiveri... a popular tourist part of this region, in Erode district. An arch on SH 15 (state highway) welcomes us to Kodiveri dam and in about 2km we reached the parking lot and the weather was continued to be hot. Though it was about 5.pm the sun doesn’t show mercy but it wasn’t matter when got close to water…

I was unsure about the water flow at the dam come falls, as our entire state is facing drought, I was so glad to see enough water at the dam leading great flow in the waterfalls. A minimum amount is collected as fee to enter the dam area but I couldn’t get really close to the water because of the unfinished pathway that make its way through small park area. I was content with the views on the waterfalls from either above or the pathway.

Kodiveri is a kind of check dam built across the Bhavani River and the downstream of the dam forms the waterfalls. The name “Kodiveri” is originated from the Tamil word meaning Tiger, which represents the large number of tigers lived in the forest area around the Dam. Not to forget the Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve isn’t far away. The falls being not heavy, people are allowed to bath and swim in the pool of water as well as the falls, and reaching is also not difficult.

Picture shot from few meters above the dam... and you could see the upcoming bridge to connect both banks of river

Entering of Kodiveri dam can be done from both sides of the Bhavani River, but the main entrance lies on the south through which we entered and to reach the other side there’s a separate route from Sathyamangalam. Right now an over bridge is under construction to connect the north and south side of the dam… but people also walk above the check dam on their own risk.  Similar to Hogenakkal, coracle ride is also available at the dam for fun and transport.

Coming to the important aspect of them dam was it was built 865 years ago! Constructed by the Kongalvan in the year 1125 AD, the dam was consisted of carving a 20-ft wall of rock. The stones were then interlocked with iron bars and lead in place of mortar.  There’s also two channels arise from the dam (Arakkan Kottai and Thadapalli channels) respectively, turning the land of Gobichettipalayam fertile due to the flow of channels.

The southern  side Arakkan Kottai Channel

Bhavani River seems to have different ups and downs and to meet the need of the farmers surrounding and to manage the water crises the dam was decided to build. Since then, the irrigation level increased in the surrounding area and the dam provides water for over 25000 hectares of land.

We spent about an hour at the dam site watching the waterfalls and the setting sun truly created an impact across the falls and I was delight to shoot utilizing the shimmering light effect. Glad they have laid some pathway at least to take photos from certain point of views… being Monday, the crowd was less at the dam site and mostly men were showing and swimming at falls and dam.

Kodivere is at a distance of 75-80km from Coimbatore and and it is well connected by road from any nearby towns and cities