After the full day long exploration of Kodaikanal and exploring the Pillar Rocks, Pine Forest and the Fairy Falls my love for this place had increased to a new level. Since I had one last day in Kodai, I had kept few of the major destinations to visit on this day. We were up early and were ready to move out of hotel by 9 am.
Related : Kodaikanal Excursion - Part 1
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| Cloudy Morning |
Related : Kodaikanal Excursion - Part 2
BUT to our dismay we were greeted with a view full of clouds (which was practically no view). I was adamant to wait till the view got cleared just like the Pillar Rocks but because this was our last day and we still had to cover few other places, we had to leave. Anyway I am posting the few pics that I was able to capture.
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I had read a lot about Berijam Lake. A lake as pristine as the Emerald Lake of Ooty . It is nestled in the reserve forest area around 25 kms away from Kodaikanal on the Old Kodai-Munnar Road. It is believed to be the most clean and virgin lake of the region. Definitely I wanted to visit this place.
To visit the lake one need to get a permit from the Forest Officer as the lake lies in the reserve forest area. Although there is not much hiccups in getting the permit and can be easily got from the District Forest Office opposite the Bharat Gas Agency in Kodaikanal itself. Note : One cannot visit Berijam on Tuesday as the Office is closed.
The drive to Berijam itself has lot of points in between to cover. Silent Valley view point is one of them. The Silent Valley view is great and enjoyable view. It is located around 1km from the Pillar Rock and is on the way to Berijam lake road and offers the breathtaking view of the valley. The point overlooks a very steep valley and one has to be cautious while getting clicked.
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| Clouds playing hide and seek |
Post Silent Valley, moving towards the lake you will reach a point named Upper Lake View. This is the place where you get the first glimpse of the Berijam Lake and let me tell you that you are just going to love it. Surrounded all over by the forests and hills throughout, a small portion is lake visible from this point.
On a clear sunny day, this feels like to be a painting and not a reality! (The weather cleared the moment we left Coaker’s walk) Images will help you admire the beauty of this place.
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Moving forward we stopped at the point named ‘Mathikettan Sola’. This literally means ‘a forest where the one loses his mind!’ The views were undoubtedly spell-bounding. Since we’ve reached Kodaikanal we have been greeted with forest and forest everywhere. This was a no different place.
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| Roads amidst the forests! |
Finally the moment had arrived that I was standing in front of the Berijam Lake. I could feel the peace and tranquillity in the area just by being there. I was immediately reminded of the Emerald Lake of Ooty which I was visited last year. Such serene and calmness in the environment was felt by me when I was at Emerald lake.
Clear water of the lake surrounded by dense forest everywhere just added to the amazement of the place. I sat there for good 2 hours and tried to make my heart believe what my eyes were seeing.
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Since it was about lunch time and we had two more places to cover, despite me wanting to stay there for like forever, we had to move. Our next destination was Dolphin’s Nose.
Dolphin's Nose perched at an altitude of 6,600 ft, offers bird's eye view of the beautiful landscape of the hilly region. It is a flat rock jutting out of the mountain, overlooking a deep cliff, with its shape akin to that of the nose of a dolphin hence the name. But on this last day, almost wherever we went to enjoy the “view” we were greeted with dense clouds (so unfortunate of us).
One has to trek down for around 30-45minutes downhill which is quite steep in the beginning and then it balances out the steepness. The trek is definitely worth it. I am saying this even when I was offered with no view, so just imagine how it would be on a clear day!
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| The edge of Dolphin’s Nose |
After roughly 2 hours of walking up and down, we were pretty tired. But we were left with one final stop in Kodaikanal. We headed straight to Bear Shola Falls.
Bear Shola Falls, is a soaring waterfall in a Reserve forest. The approach path to this falls is a craggy hill path and hence appropriate means of transport is essential to reach the falls.
In the past bears from the reserve area used to come here for drinking purposes, hence the name. Just to add to the information, these are the waterfalls where famous B-town actress Preity Zinta danced in the Lyril advertisement before taking on the big films in the industry.
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| Divyam gauging the height of the falls |
With this we have come to an end of the Kodaikanal part of the Excursion to the South! Nevertheless we still have a lot in terms of visiting Rameswaram and Madurai in the coming parts.
Till then keep enjoying the monsoons and enjoy ‘tea-pakoda’ combination! In case you are planning to explore South India or Kodaikanal, you can contact us to get a quote for your trip.
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