I also think the same way. this is the best of all i have seen.

Ravi & Pavan,

I am shocked to know bloody I am living in a place close to these places and not even aware! and you guys coming all the way down from Hyderabad to TN & Kerala !!. Mind blowing ! Can you please tell me how much you would have spent for the whole trip ? If not here pls PM me.

All pics are really cool and beautiful......you guys are seems like having heaven journey.... Wanted to ask you one thing, Which camera r u using???????

Thanks Kiran, I am glad you liked the pictures. Western Ghats are beautiful in rainy season.


Krishna, Thanks for liking the pictures. Many xBhpians from Chennai like Ananth and others ride to these places occasionally. Join them on xBhp Chennai offline G2G thread. You get all the details from them. I have been trying to ride to these places since 5 years; I am glad it finally happened. Regarding expenses, fuel expenses around 6000 and another 6000 for stay and food expenses, per head.

Satish, thank you! It was indeed a blissful journey for us. As for the camera, I carried two cameras, Nikon P7100 and Panasonic Lumix LX3. The Nikon P7100 did 80% of the job, and LX3 was used mainly for wide landscapes as it has 24 mm lens. I know I could have got better quality pics with DSLR, but I prefer carrying small cameras for convenience. Nevertheless, I am happy with the output that I got from these cameras.

Day 8: Kattappana - Calvarai Mount - Kulamavu - Vagamon - Kumily - Meghamalai


Route Taken:

Kattappana - Calvarai Mount - Cheruthony - Kulamavu - Moolamattom - Vagamon - Kumily - Meghamalai = 220 kms

Route Map:




The night before initially we decided to pay a visit to Calvarai Mount in the morning and check our luck again. After that, ride back to Kattappana and reach Meghamalai by afternoon and meet Srinivasan Rajagopalan who would be riding to Meghamalai a day before the rest of the Chennai xBhpians. But later I thought why don’t we do a round-about Idukki reservoir and check Vagamon too. If we are lucky and if there is no mist, we would get to see all the places, at least from the road. This way, we would reach Meghamalai by evening. So, we zeroed in on this plan. I woke up by 6:30 a.m. and it was still very much cloudy and drizzling. I was ready by 7:30 a.m. and while Pavan getting ready, I went down and cleaned the bikes off water and checked the air pressure. The air in rear tire is still holding good and was happy about that. Went up and ate the huge Kerala banana that we bought yesterday. And, just one was enough to fill my stomach. From the window I saw Sun peeping from clouds slightly and told Pavan to get ready fast as the mist might clear at Calvarai Mount.

We were on the road by 8:30 a.m. Calvarai mount is around 25 kms from Kattappana, and as the road was good, of course wet, we were able to reach in half-an-hour. I had one heart-in-mouth incident, if I were not lucky, I wouldn’t have been writing this log. At a blind corner, a passion guy was overtaking a bus which was coming opposite to me. He was at very high speeds, and despite me honking loud, he came on to me and almost collided and just zipped away by narrow margin. He was coming down the hill and would be at 70 kmph easily.


Climbed up the Calvari mount and I was disappointed to see it filled with full mist.


I was badly wanting to get the view from there and I was really disappointed. We thought we would wait there and see. I was praying that the mist should clear at least for a few seconds so that we get to see the view and then click a photo. I didn’t want to leave the place without getting one photo, after all we rode down 1500 kms to see this. After around 45 minutes of waiting, Pavan told me something visible through the mist, and yes the mist was clearing a bit, but not full. We were anxiously waiting for the mist to clear full, and it happened. The view you get while the mist clears was ‘THE MOST AMAZING SCENE’ I have ever seen. You have to see in real to enjoy it. It was easily one of the highlights of the trip. The mist was on and off for quite a bit of time and the mist cleared for good 5 minutes and then it was covered with dark rainy cloud and it started drizzling. That 5 minutes was enough for us to enjoy and click loads of pictures and enjoy.

A small video of the Idukki reservoir.



The mist was about to clear; you can see a little of the lake down there.


It cleared a bit more now



And finally cleared well to give us beautiful breath-taking views



and Pavan has to do that, no stopping.



A little bit of Sun arrive for few moments.


After it started drizzling, we immediately climbed down with happy faces. The view from there was still fresh in our minds. Pavan went down initially and while I was negotiating the off-road, the front tire skidded and the bike leaned to right and I my right had to take the full weight of the bike. It pained initially but later it was fine.


Pavan clicked this picture while I was climbing down on to the main road.



This was taken from the cement road going up to Calvarai Mount from the 10^th Mile.


Rest of the day will be continued

ahhh... just came to office and saw this pics what a start to the day

Brilliant pics. Cant imagine how beautiful the place would have been.

Its my own state, and quite close to Cochin, but I haven't seen them as yet. Have to plan a ride now to these places before it gets commercialized.

Thanks Ravi for this trip log. Just mind-blowing travelogue.

Bloody Awesome. Can just imagine how amazing these places must be... Funtastic !

Krish, I am surprised to know that you are from Cochin and haven't been to these places. If I had been in either Kerala or Karnatak or Tamil Nadu near to these places, I would have gone at least a dozen times to all these places. Ride to these places soon, and I am sure you absolutely love the ride.

Thanks Nagesh These places are really fantastic. Of course, you have to go through bad roads sometimes and rain if in monsoons. But, I am sure thats worth.

Day 8 Continuation (Calvarai Mount to Vagamon to Meghamalai)

As I have mentioned before, my Nikon P7100 fell on mud with opened lens touching the mud, just before Munnar. It had worked for two days, and now it has malfunctioned. The mud slipped into the lens cover dried and some solid particles inside made the cover stuck. L It all started while I was shooting at Calvarai Mount. Thought I had LX3 for the remaining trip, I have sorely missed the P7100. LX3 is no match for its colour reproduction, especially reds and greens. I clicked a few pics with stuck lens cover on the way to Vagamon.


We started from Calvarai Mount with satisfied and rejuvenated souls towards Kulamavu. At Cheruthony called Praveen and got the details of the route to Vagamon. Praveen would be meeting us at Kumily. Here I clicked few photos with the malfunction lens cover.




The road between Cheruthony and Kulamavu is awesome, with superb tarmac and thick greenery on either side. It started raining making the journey more joyful.



We reached the Kulamavu Dam on Idukki Reservoir. Had some tea there and started again.



Pavan clicked few pics from the Dam, and the police stopped us and made all the photos of the reservoir delete. Pavan didn’t click any photos of the Dam; he clicked only the scenic reservoir. I was shocked when the police deleted the pictures. How silly, you can click the photos of the reservoir from elsewhere but not from the Dam.

After the Dam, we reached Nadukani View Point, from here you can get a view of the Moolamattom, which is between two hills and is just 50 meters from MSL. We were at around 900 meters high. To go to Vagamon, you need to climb the hills from other side to 1200 meters. From the view point, we could see Moolamattom and we didn’t know we were going there, and it was 25 kms from there, even though its just may be 1 km by aerial route.

At the view point, we paid 10 rupees per head, just to see mist; we could get a little view for a few seconds and then again it was all mist.



We started from there and the road was going down. The road was awesome with beautiful curves. We were able to get the views when we went a little down. Clicked few pictures on the way.



The road from Kulamavu to Moolamattom.



We were going to climb those hills again and reach that waterfall.



At Moolamattom, we saw a sign board showing right to Vagamon, and then after taking the right, we saw the road bifurcating. Pavan and me saw faces each other, with question mark as to which one to take. Asked some passer by there and took the right from there. The road passed through this place with huge and tall trees, creating almost dark environment.



The road was single lane and narrow, climbing steeply. We had to climb 1100 meters from 50 meters in short span. At some places it was too steep it put lots of pressure on the bike. We passed through a waterfall that was visible from Nadukani view point.



At one point, there were continuous 4-5 hairpin bends with steep climb and we had to go in first gear all the while. We could listen to the engines screaming.



We were finally on the hills and since then there was no steep climbing. There were dark clouds surrounding us indicating impending heavy rain.



We reached Vagamon and had our Lunch. We were very hungry as we didn’t have breakfast in the morning. Beef was in the menu everywhere in Kerala and so I decided to give it a try. It was nice with Paratha.

It was around 2 p.m. by the time we started from there. We stopped just after Vagamon to get a glimpse of meadows. I clicked three photos, and then it started to pour. Went running to the bike to secure the cameras.



In the above photo, you can see the fury of the clouds and it was sunny in the horizon. We thought the rain would stop after few kilometres. The road was not good from there with lots of potholes. Rain subsided a little when we were reaching Elappara.



While I was clicking photos just before Elappara, Pavan reached Elappara first, and when I went Elappara I couldn’t find him there. I wasn’t sure which way he went. For a moment, I thought what if he went towards Kattappana. After 5 minutes of roaming couldn’t find Pavan anywhere, I started towards Kumily. The road was good two-lane road with beautiful scenery around.



After clicking this picture, the drizzling rain converted to pouring. After around 5 kilometres, I was relieved to find Pavan at a small junction. There was a single lane road bifurcating from the main road which had sign board of way to Kumily. One local there told us it was a short cut. I was hesitant to take that route as it appears to be single lane with patchy tarmac. I reluctantly took that route. The rain increased in intensity and the road climbing hill after hill. The view from there was beautiful with heavy rain. We couldn’t take any pictures of course. After around 15 kms, we reached Pambanar and again the road was two lane from there. We were climbing down from there and were maintaining speeds of 50-70 kmph with lot of caution due to wet roads and rain. After Vendiperiyaar, the roads were being laid and we had to ride in gravel till Kumily. It was difficult riding on gravel as it was raining too. We lost a good 20 minutes there. After reaching Kumily, we headed to TN border straight away and started climbing down. As soon as we crossed the check post, it was all dry and the rain stopped.

After constant honking, I got the way and overtook a milk van but Pavan was not able to overtake it and left behind. I climbed down the hills and entered the straight roads and twisted the throttle and reached 90 kmph and it felt good after a week of ride in hills.

Just after climbing down Kumily hills. There were lots of coconut fields on either side. You can see it was bright and sunny.


Saw the message from Praveen that they were leaving to Meghamalai from Kumily and with details as to how to reach Meghamalai. We were supposed to take right at Chinnamanur which was good 20 kms away from there. We were completely wet and bikes were dirty because of the rain. After some 10 minutes rest, we started riding again. Roads were being laid with gravel patches at many points. We found dark rainy clouds on the right side mountains, and Sun rays from left created a beautiful view. We got some amazing photos with perfectly exposed scenes.



I told Pavan that we might go to these hills now to reach Meghamalai, and it turned out to be true. Those hills were Maharajamettu in Meghamalai.


We fill fuel at Chinnamanuru and took right from there. There were many junctions, and the locals there directly pointed to Meghamali route even before we asked them. I guess they have seen Chennai group of riders with full gear gone two hours back, and guessed we too belong to them.

Just before climbing the hills.


We crossed check post and started climbing a range of hills. The road was with potholes and the intensity of potholes increased as we progressed towards Meghamalai and virtually there was no road at Meghamalai. Meghamalai was around 40 kms from the bottom of the hills.

We were surprised to see the hills around the road were very dry, in contradictory to what we saw from Ananth’s Meghamalai’s photos. We got some good views of the plains at a point. The sunset was like a painting created with a variety of colors.


We were climbing the hills and it was never ending. It was all dry even after 30 kms or riding in bad roads. We got a doubt if we were going in right route as there were no signboards at all. We encountered only a lorry and a car in the entire stretch. After an hour, we reached a little thick forest and it started to get a bit cool. After crossing the forest, all of a sudden it was very cold. Finally we reached a place with a sign board ‘Meghamalai’. We were finally relived that we were on right route. We wre really shocked at the way the climate changed in just half kilometre and crossing on hill. It was very dark at that time and the road was very very bad with lots of puddles of water on the road. It was dark, so we could see only the area that was lit by the headlights. We were a little scary to enter into water as we don’t know how deep the potholes were. After riding in dark in bad roads and mist for 8 kms, we were able to see some lights indicating some living. There Praveen was waiting for us on the road and recognized us by our bikes (we were meeting for the first time).

Praveen came with his friend Anthony. Praveen said even he doesn’t know where the bikers from Chennai were staying. I remembered some name with Bungalow and I told the same with him. Praveen went inside the guest house there to enquire. We waited there for more than 10 minutes for them and they came finally. I and Pavan blindly followed Praveen in the dark. Finally after 3-4 kms, we reached the guest house where the Chennai bikers were staying.

We could listen loud conversations from the balcony there and guessed they were our friends. I met Ananth before and I recognized him immediately by his tall and slender body . Recognized Srinivasan Rajagopalan too as I had seen him on the forum since long time. Introductions were done and discussed about the journey. We got a room finally after an hour, thanks to Ananth’s lobbying there.

The climate was really cold and there was mist everywhere. It was so pleasing climate, never felt anywhere even Munnar or Ooty. I was surprised to find Deepak Srigopal with whom I spoke before reaching Coimbatore during our ride. Finally met Sriram Krishnan, the ‘fearless leader’ from Chennai. I met him late as he was sleeping. Sriram and I spoke in the recent past on phone a lot regarding our bikes. It was really nice to see him in person.

After having good dinner, we all went for nice after-dinner walk in the chilling climate. It was really awesome. After lot of chit-chatting about the bikes and our experiences, we finally went to bed at 10 p.m.

Day 9 will be continued.

Wondering how you could comeback to this dull and boring life after enjoying so much beauty... mindblowing beauty...

Again wonders, Ravi.. Kudos man.. this thread will really be very helpful whoever wants to see the mightiness of western ghats..
As Mr Kiran said some places look like from Europe; on contrary, i would like to say- the pure lush green beauty of India which is not highlighted as Europe but equally mightier as of Europe.

Happy & safe riding buddy..

Bro How was this Situation handled by those vehicles ?

Anna you are a Real Pro Photographer...simply awesome Safe drive

Thanks for the comments Sirish. In fact, we visited only western ghats in southern area. The western ghats in Karnataka and Maharastra are my next plan. Of course, I rode to some of the places in Karnataka, like Jog falls, Kodachadri, Agumbe, and Kudremukh. But, next time, will have to ride at leisure to these places.

And I agree with you. The greens of Western Ghats are unique in their beauty and can't be compared to Europe. These ghats are "a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and is one of the eight hottest hot spots of biological diversity in the world."


Thanks Sri. I am not really a PRO photographer, but just a photographer.

And, the Van had to go back for around 100 meters so that they can pass.

Pranav, it was very difficult for us to come back from those places, but what can we do, we have to be back. You know, my face was fresh even after riding for the whole day in those places (except for my oily face which is he nature of my skin). If you ride in Hyderabad city for just 30 minutes, you face would become dirty and dry with itchy skin.

Pictures are awesome. I am at loss of words to appreciate you seriuosly. Will refer diction and come back

Splendid pics sire. Which camera ?