This was out very first visit to Valparai...having heard rave reviews of it from many of our nature loving friends, this is one destination that was on the cards for a long time for me and AJ. This April we had a special reason to celebrate and travel- we were soon expecting a baby and needed a nice quiet place to visit on our 'babymoon'. Given the complicated pregnancy I was going thru we decided against taking a flight and hence when scouting for places near Chennai accessible bu rail/road our obvious choice was - Valparai.
Tickets done and reservations in a small cosy retreat made, I was eagerly looking forward to this trip...afterall the babymoon is supposedly your last trip in a while!! Also, I think I have always been excited about visiting any new place... have been traveling since I was 15, and there are very few places in south of India that I haven't visited. Hence going to a 'new' place itself made me feel super curious and thrilled!! :-)
We left on a thursday evening by the Shatabdhi express to Coimbatore. From there we had the retreat guys pick us up in an Innova. The driver who came to pick us up was extremely helpful and stopped at the right local place for a sumptuous breakfast. Then thru the route from Coimbatore to valparai he stopped at all the right kind of places that we'd be interested in- he chatted up with AJ for ten minutes and sized us up as nature and bird lovers! :-) So made all the right stops for us. (The Alayar Dam, the nearby village to spot some lion tailed macaques, monkey falls, Solaiyar Dam). Just as we arrive near Valparai you realize this is a tea garden haven...mountains and mountains of tea estates make for such a scenic drive. it made me wonder how it had taken us so many years to get here! unlike a Munnar (which is a fav with me and AJ) this place is totally undiscovered and non touristy!! Making it an ideal getaway for a nature lover like me and a wildlife photographer like AJ. We made the driver slow down his drive so we could enjoy the scenery. By around 12PM we were at our Whispering Falls Retreat. A very small retreat with some parts still under construction. However the owner and the staff were extremely accommodating of our needs and in the peak touristy season we wanted to be away from the madding crowds. Hence hadn't booked into one of the more popular tea estate bungalows in Valparai.
Tickets done and reservations in a small cosy retreat made, I was eagerly looking forward to this trip...afterall the babymoon is supposedly your last trip in a while!! Also, I think I have always been excited about visiting any new place... have been traveling since I was 15, and there are very few places in south of India that I haven't visited. Hence going to a 'new' place itself made me feel super curious and thrilled!! :-)
We left on a thursday evening by the Shatabdhi express to Coimbatore. From there we had the retreat guys pick us up in an Innova. The driver who came to pick us up was extremely helpful and stopped at the right local place for a sumptuous breakfast. Then thru the route from Coimbatore to valparai he stopped at all the right kind of places that we'd be interested in- he chatted up with AJ for ten minutes and sized us up as nature and bird lovers! :-) So made all the right stops for us. (The Alayar Dam, the nearby village to spot some lion tailed macaques, monkey falls, Solaiyar Dam). Just as we arrive near Valparai you realize this is a tea garden haven...mountains and mountains of tea estates make for such a scenic drive. it made me wonder how it had taken us so many years to get here! unlike a Munnar (which is a fav with me and AJ) this place is totally undiscovered and non touristy!! Making it an ideal getaway for a nature lover like me and a wildlife photographer like AJ. We made the driver slow down his drive so we could enjoy the scenery. By around 12PM we were at our Whispering Falls Retreat. A very small retreat with some parts still under construction. However the owner and the staff were extremely accommodating of our needs and in the peak touristy season we wanted to be away from the madding crowds. Hence hadn't booked into one of the more popular tea estate bungalows in Valparai.
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