Ooty, also known as Udhagamandalam, is a hill station in the state of Tamil Nadu, in southern India. Surrounded by trees, central Ooty Lake is a huge artificial expanse of water with pleasure boats. On the slopes of nearby Elk Hill, the Rose Garden is home to over 2,000 varieties of roses. The Government Botanical Garden, created in the 19th century, features ferns, orchids and a prehistoric, fossilized tree.
Pykara is the name of a village and river located 19 km from Ooty in the Indian State of Tamil Nadu. A boat house on the Pykara reservoir is an added attraction for tourists. Pykara boats of well protected fenced shoals. There is a restaurant and motor boats(20 minutes ride) and speed boats(10 minutes ride) are available. Pykara waterfalls flows through Murkurti, Pykara and Glen Morgan dams. There is a forest rest house in Pykara and also the scenic beauty of this place is extraordinary
Mudumalai Tiger Reserve : Mudumalai National Park also a declared Tiger Reserve is the first wildlife sanctuary in southern India. It was established in the year 1940 and it covers about 60 kilometers. Now the area is extended upto 321 kilometers. Gray langur and the bonnet macaque are both living in the park. But you can also see fauna such as tigers, leopards, striped hyenas, dholes, sloth bears, Asian elephants, and Golden Jackals. It is also home to different species of birds.Crested hawk-eagle, the crested serpent eagle, the Malabar Trojan, and the Malabar grey hornbill are some of them. The Moyar River and Nilgiri River flow through the reserve.The sanctuary received its name from the word 'Mudumalai' which means 'situated on the first hill'. It is sorrounded by the tropical evergreen forest, shrub and swamp, moist teak forest, moist mixed deciduous, dry teak forest and secondary grassland. It is one of the main tourist destination spot.
Mudumalai is organized with well-planned paths and is best explored by jeep or open vans.Several trails skirt waterholes where exciting animal activity can be watched. No private vehicle is allowed inside the Sanctuary
The distance from Ooty bus stand is 10km. Try to go in early morning so you can visit other places in the afternoon, Awesome view. The highest in south India. You can enjoy some carrots, corn cob, some mangoes and some peanuts and chill fresh air
Abounding 360 degrees of beauty. Ooty City on one side. Kotagiri on the other side (far away). You can spend an hour easily in the surroundings. The atmosphere is simply beautiful and refreshing. You get to see Gods own Art as Clouds array themselves in formations and the Sunrays peek into valley thru clouds. you get a 360 degrees Horizon of peaks & valleys below you. You observe that the Nilgiris are truly Blue Mountains. Be prepared for a short climb to reach the place from the car park. You have to climb several well placed and long steps. The path goes down in the centre with climb at both ends therefore you have to go thru it while going as well as comming.
The Nilgiri region is renowned for its tea and most of the areas in Ooty are surrounded with the tea plantation. The tea estate or plantation is one of the tourist attraction and the tourist enjoys to go for a walk in the tea estate which gives them peacefully. The place which is most popular for its tea estates is Glenmorgan which is one of the old tea estate and also Glenmorgan is one of the famous picnic spots.
In Ooty, there are own tea factories for their tea plantations. The tourist is even allowed inside the tea factories and has a inflict. You can snap photographs and make it as a memorable moment in your lifetime. There is also no entry fees and also you need not get any permission from any of them so that you can enjoy the view of the tea estate.
The establishment of several numbers of tea estates made Ooty famous. Most of the hotels, resorts, cottages are all located near tea estates because it gives a wonderful view to the tourist. So if you are a nature lover you can inflict tea estate which gives you a peaceful and blissful trip.
You are not allowed to pluck the tea leaves from the tea estate.
The Wax World Museum in Ooty is a great alternative to sightseeing mountains and natural valleys of Ooty. Situated just 2 kilometers from the main town of Ooty, this is a place that you would want to visit during your vacation in Ooty. It makes for thoroughly enjoyable and informative experience especially for kids who get a visual treat of wax statues. The Wax World Museum is situated within a 130-year old Colonial Mansion in Ooty close to the Ooty Lake and the Ooty Town Centre. Wax museum that houses life-size look-a like wax statues of personalities of Indian history, culture and heritage house.
Ooty boat house also called as Ooty lake, 1 km distance from Ooty busstand, opened by the Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation. Boating is the prime attraction at the lake.
The boat house offers boating facilities with Paddle boats, Row boats, and Motor boats. It also features a garden, a mini train and an amusement park. Ooty lake is an artificial lake constructed by John Sullivan, in 1824.
The water flowing down mountain streams in the Ooty valley was dammed to form the lake. The lake was originally intended to be used for fishing with ferries being used to travel across the lake. It gradually shrunk from its original size giving place to the current bus stand race course, and the lake park.
The Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation on behalf of the Tourism Department took the possession of the lake in 1973, for providing boating facilities as a tourist attraction. The lake is surrounded by groves of Eucalyptus trees with a railway line running along one shore. During the summer season in May, boat races and boat pageantry are organized for two days.
The Hidden Valley is in Coonoor. Hidden Valley is located beyond the Wellington Golf course. Most of the tourist are not aware of this spot because you need to trek through the lush green and dense forests to reach this spot. Due to this reason there is no proper mainstream route to this region. The panorama of some of the most beautiful mountains, coupled with the sight of greenery, paints a pretty picture of the landscape in the eyes of the visitor. The picturesque scenery and the lovely atmosphere of the place will give you a peaceful trip and immense pleasure to your heart. It is a true delight for trekkers and nature lovers.
Lamb's Rock is a view point within a reserve forest about 8 kms from the Coonoor Bus Stand. Watch a sheer precipice of several hundred meters with a phenomenal view of vast stretches of forests all the way to the Coimbatore plains. Between January and March, the trees become extremely colorful. Beneath the rock, lies a vast forest reserve. On the right, there is a Hullical ravine featuring Coonoor river. It is among favoured tourist spots, which can be approached on the way to Dolphin's Nose or the Seat.
Emerald dam which is a lovely lake and it has a scenic view and the view is mesmerizing. The Avalanche and Upper Bhavani are two dams which is near to the Emerald dam. So if you plan for a trip to inflict Emerald dam you can have a trio place inflict. It is a beautiful place with pine trees and farms sorrounding the blue water of Emerald. Emerald dam is one among the major supply of water to Kundah Hydro Electric Power Station. This is one of the favourite picnic spot for the tourist and also it is one of the major attraction place for the tourist. From Emerald you have to go 1.5km to reach the emerald dam that is you need to short climb to reach the climb. It is another mind blowing place to inflict.
The Botanical Gardens in Udhagamandalam (Ooty), Tamil Nadu state, India was laid out in 1847. The Gardens, divided into several sections, cover an area of around 22 hectares, and lie on the lower slopes of Doddabetta peak. The garden has a terraced layout. It is maintained by the Tamil Nadu Horticulture Department.
Its architect was William Graham McIvor. The Marquis of Tweedale prepared the initial layout during the late 1840s. During that time Ootacamund (Ooty) was under British control. The Gardens have around a thousand species, both exotic and indigenous, of plants, shrubs, ferns, trees, herbal and bonsai plants. In the centre of the Gardens lie a fossilized tree trunk estimated to be 20 million years old.
Government Rose Garden is the largest rose garden in India. It is situated on the slopes of the Elk Hill in Vijayanagaram of Ootytown in Tamil Nadu, India at an altitude of 2200 meters. Today this garden has more than 20,000 varieties of roses of 2,800 cultivars. It is one of the largest collection of roses in India.
The Government Museum is located on the Mysore road city. It was founded in the year 1989. It is mainly established to accomplish the desire to serve the education profits to the visiting and regional people of Tamil Nadu state's and also with a view to provide education benefits to the residing and visiting population of the Nilgiris district. The Museum has various artifacts of tribal people,Tamil Nadu state's sculptural crafts and arts, ecological details of district etc.
From the name itself you can get an idea that all plants and flowers are made of thread and it looks so realistic. A popular tourist spot and a haven for all those with creative fingers, this is an innovative and aesthetic creation of an artificial garden of plants and flowers all woven by thread. It is located by the sde of North lake Road, opposite to the boat house in Ooty. All the creation is done only by hand and no machines is used. They used the technology called " Four Dimensional hand -wound Embroidery" without needles and machnes. It is one of the unique art of creating natural looking plants and flowers. The flower and plant in thread garden is more perfect and attractive than the natural flora. The main thing is that the artifacts should be protected from from direct sunlight and articial light. From all other sightseeing places in Ooty the "Thread Garden" is unique because it shows the hard work and creativity of a man.
Mukurthi National Park is a protected area. Previously it was known as "Nilgiris Tahr National Park" . It is situated on a high raised ground at Nilgiris. The park is characterised by montance grassland and shrublands. It is a home to endangered wildlife, including royal Bengal Tiger and Asian Elephant. Its main mammal attraction is the Nilgiri Tahr. It is the India's first International Biosphere Reserve. There are also leopard, sambar deer, barking deer, small Indain civet, shrew, soft furred rat. There are also birds including threatened laughingthrush, whistling thrush, woodcock etc.., Predatory black-winged kite, kestrel etc., may see in the grasslands. This area is also home to the numerous flora. The main objective is to conserve the endangered shola grasslands ecosystem and its epedemic flora and fauna.