Our Kodaikanal trip.

Kodaikanal is yet another Hill Station in Tamil Nadu and is as popular as Ooty. It is at an altitude of 2195 meters on the Southern side of Palani hills, in Dindigul District. Kodaikanal is also popularly known as Kodai and has the nickname of “Princess of Hill Stations”. Kodaikanal means “Gift of the forest”. And as the name suggests it is a very beautiful place surrounded with forests, with greenery everywhere - on the hills and in the valleys, enchanting waterfalls, a beautiful lake and a pleasant climate all through the year.

We were at Kodaikanal for four days. Four of us went there, me, my wife, my youngest son, Srinath and my nephew, Kalyan. My eldest son, Srikanth could not accompany us due to College. As there are no direct trains from Secunderabad to Kodaikanal Road Railway Station, we had to change at Vijayawada and take another train from there. With delays en-route it took us 36 hours to reach Kodai Road Station. From the Railway Station to Kodaikanal we went by Taxi, a distance of 80 Kms. mostly on the Ghat road. This journey took us three hours and as it was dark we could not enjoy the beautiful scenery all around us as we were ascending the hills. We checked into Hill Country Resort at Kodaikanal of which my brother Dr. Lakshminarsu is a Member. He or anybody nominated by him gets to stay there for a week every year. The accommodation is a beautiful Cottage with a drawing room, two bedrooms, a well-equipped kitchen and a beautiful view of the hills and valleys around the place and the colourful garden of the Resort. Few times, my wife cooked food in the Cottage with fresh vegetables and meat available close by and groceries from the Resort-stores. Other times we ordered food from the restaurant attached to the Resort. We also got to enjoy a variety of local fruits and chocolate. We also had fun with the various recreation facilities at the Resort.

We visited a number of places at Kodaikanal. We went to the Star-shaped Kodaikanal Lake and the Boats Club a number of times and enjoyed a long boat ride in it. We went to the beautiful Bryant Park, Pillar Rocks - three huge rocks of 122 meter height standing shoulder to shoulder, Coaker’s walk with a beautiful view of a valley and the plains, Kurinji Andavar Temple, Berijam Lake, Shenbaganur Museum, Guna Cave, Silver Cascade Waterfalls, Bear Shola Falls, Fairy Falls, Glen Falls and Pine forest.

Our return journey to Secunderabad was faster. We enjoyed the beautiful scenery during our 80 Kms. downhill drive to the Railway Station which we missed during our uphill drive to Kodai due to darkness. On the whole, we enjoyed every moment of our stay at Kodaikanal.