Ooty and Beyond

The train rolled across Kerala, away from the lush green coast and onto the drier foothills of the Western Gahts. While changing trains at Coimbatore we experienced the extremes of India in the 19th Century washrooms and the 21st Century Internet Café. On to Mettapulayum where we stayed in a railway retiring room that was probably last re-modeled during the British Raj.

We woke at dawn when the first train pulled into the station, but still had to rush to get our stuff all packed and downstairs for the 7am departure of the Niligiri Passenger to Ooty. We managed to get our bags stuffed into the tiny compartment we shared with two Indian honeymoon couples. The toy train to Ooty is a delightful ride right from steam filled departure and seeing the sparks flying from the boiler in the dawn light. We were concerned about a five hour trip in the small compartment, but we were able to get out to stretch during each of the stops to take on water, and of course during the tea stop. Most fellow passengers were Indian tourists, but there was very enthusiastic group of British rail buffs always vying for the best angles for pictures.
Spectacular scenery unfolded bend after bend and through each tunnel as we climbed ever higher into the mountains. The cog engine averages about 20 km/h on the steep climb through so we had plenty of time to admire the distant mountains and deep ravines. By noon we were among the cedars and eucalyptus trees, the hillsides were covered with bright green tea plantations, and we were in Ooty. Officially the name was changed to Udhagamandalam a few years back during the move to Indianize names, but our taxi driver said that everyone still uses Ooty.
We came to hike so we chose another “faded raj” hotel on the outskirts of town and found a trail that led straight back into the hills. Like everything in India, even hiking means one is never out of sight of people, but we enjoyed being out in the cool air and the scenes of villages and tea plantations. Apart from hiking and a great restaurant, Ooty had little to offer us, so after one very cold night (I wish I had bought that Rs10 toque) we decided to head down to Mudumulai a day early.
Mudumulai is a wildlife sanctuary lower in the Niligiri hills, which is home to wild elephants, tigers and other animals. We splurged on a taxi for the 37 km trip that took 90 minutes to navigate the 36 hairpin bends on the steep descent into the very dry Deccan Plain below. As with many Indian government institutions, getting a room in the national Forest was a lengthly ordeal, but eventually we were settled into a remote and very “faded Raj”, but comfortable lodge which Ann said made her think of Out of Africa. Included was a cook who was able to make tea, rice, dhal, dosa and chapattis as many times a day as we wanted.
The first night the girls were woken by an elephant at their window at 3am and we saw hundreds of monkeys, as well as some deer, wild boar and peacocks, but no tigers. We had fun on the 30 min elephant ride and it was quite something to see the elephants being fed and washed. The best part was that Mudumulai was very peaceful so we stayed an extra day there catching up on reading, writing and sleep.