Wayanad - This trip vs. last trip
A trip to Kuruva Islands in Wayanad, Kerala has been on our list for quite some time this year as it got postponed a couple of times after scheduling. We had also visited Wayanad area previously once, in May 2008. This is our second trip to Wayanad.
During the previous time, we went to the Lakkidi area that is near Vythiri. Lakkidi is at the southern end of Wayanad. But Kuruva Islands, where we went this time, is at the northern end of Wayanad. Basically,
Kuruva Island is about 50 KM north of Lakkidi area .
At Lakkidi last time, we stayed at a very nice resort called
Stream Valley Cottages. That was a great experience and we visited many places like Pookote lake, Lakkidi view point, Chembra peak, Soojipara water falls, Edakkal caves, etc. Drive during that road trip route was also very scenic from Mysore via Nanjangud, Gundlupet, Bandipur wildlife sanctuary, Sultan Bathery and Kalpeta. We undertook that trip much before I started this blog, so I do not have a travelogue of that trip on my blog. However, I had earlier posted a thrilling experience that we had at that time,
here.
About this trip...
This time, we had booked at this small resort called
Pepper Green Village / PGV resorts
which we found on the internet and booked in advance. PGV is at the
northern end of Wayanad, just across the Kuruva Islands separated by a
small stream of Kabini river. It is located at a small village called
Palvelicham, and it is just ~30 KM inside Kerala from the Karnataka
border town of Kutta. We drove from Bangalore via Mysore and Hunsur.
The
shortest route from Mysore to PGV
is the 98 KM route through State Highway 33 that passes through towns
like Hampapura, Madapura etc., and goes adjoining Kabini river and
Nagarhole forests. However, several stretches of that road is said to be
very bad. The
better route is 125 KM long from Mysore via Hunsur and Kutta that goes like this: Mysore – Hunsur – Kutta – Tholpetty – Kattikulam – Palvelicham – Pepper green
village. So we took that route via Hunsur and Kutta shown in
this map here.
I did my standard preparations for my road trip. Checked fuel, air, lube, etc. Took note of some of the Maruti service center details at Mysore and Hunsur, just in case it becomes necessary. My car's next service was due another 2000 KM away, so I felt this ~650 KM total trip should not have any issue. We halted at Hotel Dasaprakash Gandhi Square, Mysore on Friday night and then proceeded from Mysore on Saturday morning.
It was totally a 3 nights and 3.5 days trip, though we stayed at the resort only for 2 nights and 2 days. We visited Kuruva Islands (a.k.a. Kuruvadweep), Thirunelli Temple, and Iruppu water falls during this trip.
Here is how the trip panned out...
