Ooty Trip II
The second day and a half of our trip were spent doing the touristy things within Ooty.
Tuesday morning we got a fairly early start and headed out to the Botanical Gardens. It was the off season so most of the over 1000 variety of plants were dormant, but the grounds were still very verdant and lush. There were many couples and college students about, and more then a few college couples sneaking out to have some “quiet time.”
My understanding is that the Botanical Gardens were another “British import” from their time here, but the gardens have continued on and the 50 or so acres are maticulously kept.
Another Angle
In an attempt to stay brief here is a web-site with some more detail about the garden and other sites in Ooty here.
After a quick stop back at the hotel for lunch, we hired a car to drive us down the western slopes of the Ghats into the Mudumalai Wildlife sanctuary. After about an hour descending some 9000 feet, around 36 hairpin turns (they were numbered), we arrived at the park, brakepad fumes filling the air. (Just kidding, the driver never slipped out of second gear which was admirable.)
At the wildlife park we bought tickets for the government run “safari” tour. We were told it would take an hour and a half, and were excited to see some wildlife. The tour was conducted on a mid-sized tour bus with about 40 people on board.
As soon as we left the center we encountered 4 elephants right on the side of the road. This was before we even entered the park so things were looking up for us!
The trip actually only took about 45 minutes or so, but we saw several indiginous animals such as Bison, Spotted Deer, Elephants, Monkeys, and Peacocks. Most impressively at the very end of the tour (quite possibly a plant) there was a huge elephant just hanging out beside the road. All and all it was a good trip, and kind of exciting to see such beasts just roaming about. When we returned to the car, the driver chuckled and asked if we saw anything. When we told him we did he was very surprised and told us that most people don’t see anything. He said we were lucky to be on the first tour of the evening as our bus would have scared the animals off for the remaining groups of the day. (he could have told us this before we left! :-) )
Okay this draft has been sitting without edits or completions since Sunday. Things are kinda hectic too much to do in too few days… Perhaps I’ll have some time to get caught up later this week, but we can’t make any promises…
Here are the second set of photos from our Ooty Trip