I never missed any excursion trips during my school days and college life. The memories of these trips still remains fresh in my mind. But, most of the trip locations were to nearby states rather than within Kerala(the state to which, I belong). And I rarely had any vaccation trip with my family(though this is something which I wish to change in future). These may be the reasons why I missed out one of the beautiful tourist spots in Kerala - the Athirapally waterfalls.

Since I had the liberty to plan for Jamie's(my friend from US) vaccation trip, the next spot which came to my mind was Athirapally waterfalls. Anyone wondering about the first spot - please read my previous blog about our visit to Kumarakam:). Some of my collegues from office - Sunil, Khajan and Rahanesh - also joined us for the Athirapally trip.


The first spot to stop by was Kodanad - a beatiful village near Perumbavoor, situated on the banks of Periyar River . Kodanad is famous for the 'Elephant Kraal' and is of the largest elephant training centres in Kerala. We reached there by 8am, which was the correct time for us to reach coz, elephants were taken to the river side for bathing. The visitors get an opportunity to pamper the small elephants.


The 1 year old elephant took the attention of all the tourist and there was a queue for taking snaps with her. I felt so happy to stand near her, but got little tensed when she tried to catch my camera:)). By around 9am, the elephants were moved back to their resting place, while one of them was taken for the elephant ride. All my friends, except myself had an elephant ride. I felt it would be more comfortable to have a ride with my family later some time, or, to be honest, i was afraid to have a ride alone:).


The next destination was Paniyely, a favourite destination for those who cherish nature and peace. Here, we could view the Periyar river flowing out after the journey through the densely forested areas. We had to walk for about 20 minutes to view the Paniyely river. This walk was awsome as it is surrounded by the bamboo groves and majestic ethnic trees. The vistas of the river and the forests and the distant mountains, the cool river breeze and the majestic silence of the environment makes it a favourite destination for nature lovers. Since we visited during the rainy season, the rock surfaces were slippery, which prevented us from having the full view of Periyar river. We relaxed there for some time, this place is really a beauty!

We later proceeded towards the final destination of the day - Athirapally waterfalls. We could hear the roaring sound of water even at the entrance of Athirapally. Athirapally is located at the entrance of Sholayar ranges. The water falls from a height of 80 feet is splashing into the rocks below. The powerful, misty waters falling down with the backdrop of thick green forest and rocky terrain gives a scintillating experience to the visitors. Unfortunately, we couldn't watch the beauty of the waterfall for long, as we were drenched in the monsoon after a few minutes. Though I couldn't enjoy the real beauty of the fall, I decided to visit these places with my family sooner. On the way back to home, I realised why Kerala is mentioned as the 'God's own Country'. I really felt, i am lucky to belong to this beautiful place.