Rose Garden & Dodabetta Peak - Ooty

This is our fourth article in a series of articles on Exploring Ooty. To read from the first article, CLICK HERE.

The freshness and the aroma of the beautiful tea estates that we visited the earlier day was still fresh in my mind. We decided to explore Ooty city the following day and also climb The Dodabetta Peak- the highest point in Nilgiri Mountain Range.

Rose Garden Ooty

But , the inclement weather played spoilsport as a result of which we decided to cut our Ooty sightseeing to only Rose Garden;  moreover, we had an extra day to cover the remaining places.

Our first stop was Rose Garden (formerly known as Jayalalithaa Rose Garden) -the "largest rose garden in the country". We were told that there are as many as 3800 varieties of roses to be found there. Situated at an altitude of 2200 metres and on the slope of a hill, it provides  a great view of the town. 

When we reached there the “environment” was quite refreshing and calm. Since it has drizzled in the morning, the rose petals and the leaves had little droplets on them as we see in North India very early winter morning due to dew. I am attaching some pictures we took as it impossible to describe such natural beauty in mere words.

Roses in the garden	Yellow roses in rose garden
Red rose in black and white background	Close up pic of a rose in the garden

A glimpse of huge rose beds in the garden

Our next destination was the highest point of the Nilgiri Mountain Range – The Dodabetta Peak. There is a reserved forest around the peak.The Dodabetta Peak is situated amidst the forests.

If one doesn't have company, one might feel like they have lost the track of the path. Fortunately for us, there were a number of vehicles which acted as our "saviour" and guided us to the right path on that day. ( Google Maps don’t work in that region as network is down). The road to the point is very rocky and bumpy.

Road to Dodabetta Peak from Ooty

Cars were stopped some 500 metres before the actual point and one needs to walk from there on. As we walked we could feel the winds blowing with enormous speeds, making us all the more affirmative about the fact that we are going to reach a mountain peak.

When we came nearer to the peak, we saw that there is a platform built on the peak for tourists. From the platform, one can view the Chamundi hills in the distance while on the other side lie the familiar Ketty Valley.

 This view of Ketty valley was very different than what I had seen from the toy train; compelling us to believe that yes it is indeed the “second largest valley” in the world.

There is a telescope house built in the middle of the platform. Different views from the peak can be seen from there. There were a few local eateries present where one can enjoy a sip of hot tea/coffee along with hot tasty Maggi !!!

Telescope at Dodabetta Peak

When it started to get dark, we decided to go to our hotels and retire there. As per our plan, we still had a day left and we decided to visit all those places,on the next day, which we missed because of the early morning drizzle.

The places that we visited today are apt for all the people searching for tranquillity as well as adventure; a break from day to day businesses. Rose Garden had some splendid views in offer and Dodabetta Peak is as majestic as it has been described by travellers!

Black and White Sunset

Next article will be on Emerald Lake – the most serene, clean and peaceful lake I have ever witnessed in my life!

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