Nelliyampathy Tourism

Nelliyampathy is a charming hill station with all the necessary perquisites, high hills, mist and rain, verdant topography, orange, coffee and tea gardens, pockets of gooseberry trees nelli is Malayalam for gooseberry, a dense jungle packed with elephants, cats, bison and deer, peaks affording awesome views. A quiet haven, in fact.

Getting there is just as much fun. The roads are jaw droppingly smooth you pass modest sized hills one seemed perennially covered in cloud, rather like Tolkien’s Misty mountain and there are mangoes and block grapes being sold at ridiculously low rates once you are in the Coimbatore area. The Walayar Forest you need to traverse to reach palakkad makes for a scenic route. Red-tiled houses, parrot green paddy fields, swamps of palm groves, blue-grey skies an unspooling navy road, clear signposts in English and Malayalam and as you near nenmara needle slender waterfalls spurting from the mighty wall of the Western Ghats. As you take the twists and turns up towards Nelliyampathy the road affords amazing glimpses of the pothundy reservoir down below. A truly memorable drive.

There are two ways to do Nelliyampathy once you park yourself in one of the resorts, hire a jeep and hit the road. Or pull on your trekking boots and hit the road. Neither way is too easy. Some of the inclines you will traverse in a four-wheel drive are almost vertical and call for extreme fortitude. The trekking paths are rough-hewn and call for dexterity but the views from journeys end, places like seethargundu, palakkapandi, kesavanpara, karapara and even parambikkulam, which isn’t too far away, make the trek worthwhile. The Nelliyampathy hills are known for the malabar hornbill as well as the rust coloured malabar squirrel amongst other wildlife.

Maampara Peak:

Maampara is a bald peak 5,250 ft above sea level, 10 km form the center of Nelliyampathy and accessed by a track that makes a mockery of more conventional roads. At times the climb is almost vertical. The view is worth it, though it adds a new dimension to the erm panoramic. When the mists that rise from the valleys below clear the chaliyar, Meenkara and Aliyar reservoirs sperkle down below, Pollachi and Coimbatore can be glimpsed to one side and Palakkad to another and directly below lies the pastoral hamlet of Kollengode. The summit of the peak is along the route of the Palghat Gap, so the wind is more a perpetual gale that threatens to lift and carry one away. Kesavan Para is another peak, 6 km from Nelliyampathy which offers another bird’s eye view another stop almost in the eye of gale force winds.

Seethargundu Viewpoint

The improbable myth has it that Sitacame this way along with Ram and Lakshman, sat by a deep well that seemed carved out of the side of the Western Ghats and rested awhile. This then is Seethrgundu, 8 km from the center of Nelliyampathy from where you can look down upon Kollengode spread below you in a maze of paddy and stone quarries. A perfect picnic spot.

More to Do

Visit a relic of the Raj, the small Victoria Church, which stands prettily on a modest hillock with a cool breeze blowing all around. A pretty sight. Picnics down by the Ponthundy Reservoir, animal and bird watching, fishing, hiking, boat rides on the river are on offer. And of course just chilling out which could end up as the main attraction of this hills station.

Nelliyampathy’s oranges were once quite a luscious byword, down in the plains. A southern version of Himachali keenu, the truit was small bright of hue with a tang that sat well on the tongue. Orange trees grew in almost as much profusion as coffee and tea and of course the gooseberry that purportedly gives its name to the village of Nelliyampathy.

At Nelliyampathy’s government orangery, piles of passion fruite and guava lie piled, ready to be made into preserves and squash. The nursery across the road stocks some fine apecimens of plants and flowers, notably hydrangeas, lilies, orchids and anthurium. There is a notable lack of enthusiasm when the talk veers to oranges. The agricultural officer shrugs helplessly when aked why they persist with orange cultivation when they could well move on to another fruite that grows and sells better. Therein of course, lies the catch 22 situation of Nelliyampathy’s orange groves. It doesn’t do well, but they continue to grow it.

This little known hill station has some charming options, across all budgets.

Air Nearest Airport: Coimbatore (101 km/3.3 hrs). Serviced by India Airlines and Jet Airways. An ambassador taxi to Nelliyampathy from here would be Rs1,500 approx.

Road almost international standard roads on NH7 and NH47 from Bangalore via Hosur then via the coimbatore bypass onto palakkad and to nenmara which is the base of the hill on which Nelliyampathy sits.

Rail Nearest Railhead: Palakkad Junction (54 km 2 hrs). Hire a jeep for approx Rs 900 to take you up the hills. KSRTC buses leave at 4.30, 7 and 7 am, noon, and 1 and 5.30 pm to Nelliyampathy Village. Tickets are just Rs 30 and an auto from Palakkad station to the bus stand is Rs20.