• Jilling Estate TravelWithaCouple Unny Radhakrishnan Bindhu Unny
    Birdwatching - Flora - Hikes - Nature's Wonders - People - Places

    The Renegades of Jilling

    May 21, 2017 - By 

    (Originally published in The Indian Express Sunday Magazine, 21st May 2017) “What if you two drive off a cliff and die? All business is now done through internet and smartphones; and I have hardly learned to send an SMS,” Steve Lall said aloud with wonder. Apparently, he put this question to his daughter and son-in-law, to whom he had handed over the reins of Jilling Estate. A self-described renegade with 72 summers behind him, Lall still laughs like a child and one can’t resist his infectious energy and warmth— never mind that he’s in a wheelchair, just off a three-month…

  • Urakkuzhi Water Falls, Kakkayam dam, Kerala, TravelWithaCouple
    Flora - Nature's Wonders - Places

    Kuttyadi & Kakkayam – The Dam Tour

    October 31, 2015 - By 

    One full day in Kozhikode. Nothing planned. Western Ghats always in mind. So we hired a taxi and set off with a rough idea of where to go but not much about what to expect. Our first stop after an almost 2-hour drive through bad traffic in Kerala’s ‘rurban’ roads was Peruvannamoozhi. This small village has a dam, which is part of the Kuttyadi Irrigation Project. That the dam was open made the visit worth it. It was giddying to watch the water gushing down. The village is beautiful but like any other such villages in Kerala. A small, neglected…

  • Saputara Dangs TravelWithacouple
    Flora - Nature's Wonders - Places - Sanctuaries

    The Magnetic Dangs

    October 11, 2015 - By 

    Our last trip to Dangs district in Gujarat was unplanned. So was the last weekend’s trip. Two consecutive 3-day weekends. A much-longed trip to Bhandardhara in monsoon was planned for the first one. But work commitments came in the way and we had to cancel it. It was too late plan for the second weekend long weekend. So we just packed the bags and drove lazily along the Mumbai–Ahmedabad Highway until evening with a stopover at Dandi. Thus, Surat became the destination of the day. The tidy town deserves a separate post. Next day, we drove to Purna Wildlife Sanctuary/Mahal…

  • Sarovaram Bio Park Calicut TravelWithaCouple Unny Radhakrishnan Bindhu Unny
    Flora - Places

    Sarovaram: A bio-park and some nostalgic thoughts

    September 10, 2015 - By 

    The name Sarovaram Bio Park piqued our curiosity, as this is a recent addition to the tourist map of Kozhikode. With a little skepticism about this conservation effort, we decided to check Sarovaram out. In no time, our skepticism vanished as we admired the commendable work. Sarovaram is aimed at protecting the mangroves and green cover in the city. As we moved around inside the park through well-laid pathways flanked by tall trees and thick undergrowth, a stark realization struck us. Sarovaram looks and feels exactly like the places around our homes where we grew up in the 70s and…

  • TravelWithacouple Edakkal Hermitage Wayanad
    Birdwatching - Flora - Heritage - Hotels - Places

    Edakkal Hermitage and India’s only Cave Restaurant

    April 4, 2015 - By 

    Hermitage, by definition is a remote, small dwelling for living in solitude. Down the the slopes of Ambukuthy hills in Wayanad and near the pre-historic caves of Edakkal, Hermitage seems to be the right name for this resort. Cosy cottages built around boulders and nestled among coffee plants and under the foliage of large trees, the wilderness has a homely feel to it as well. May be because, we grew up in Kerala. Or may be it was the absence of the typical resort like setting with far too many artificial props and service staff running around. The non-intrusive service…

  • Kintamani, Bali, Indonesia, TravelWithacouple
    Flora - Food - Places

    A Farm Worth a Visit @Kintamani, Bali

    October 7, 2014 - By 

    Agritourism, farm tourism, and the likes have become gimmicks to mislead the unsuspecting tourists to pay money and view someone’s mediocre farm. The loot is usually shared with the driver who takes the tourists there. A driver from Kerala shared this secret with us, who said tourists who throng Munnar are often preys to this scam. So we were skeptical of visiting one of the agritourism centres on our way back from the Mount Batur trek at Kintamani to Ubud, Bali. Our co-passengers in the vehicle were from Canada, and they were keen to visit a farm as well as…

  • Urmodi Dam, Satara, Travelwithacouple
    Flora - Nature's Wonders - Places

    Monsoon Secrets of Maharashtra #1 – Roads to Nowhere Around Urmodi Dam

    October 1, 2014 - By 

    The landscape of Maharashtra gets a makeover every monsoon. As the parched earth soaks up the rainwater, the brown plateaus, hills, and valleys change to varied shades of green. That it’s such delightful scenery is an understatement. Urmodi was no different. This monsoon, we chose to explore around Satara. One of the routes we selected wound around the Urmodi dam, a magnificent waterbody fed by numerous waterfalls from the surrounding hillocks. Urmodi is around 17 km from Satara, via Parali village. The dam was commissioned in late 2000s as a major irrigation project. There are a few villages around the…

  • Hoolongappar Gibbon Sanctuary
    Birdwatching - Flora - Nature's Wonders - People - Places

    The Primates and Other Surprises of Hoolongappar Gibbon Sanctuary

    February 9, 2014 - By 

    Our five-day trip to Kaziranga (by Nature India) had a day set aside for Hoolongappar Gibbon sanctuary. With so much being written and spoken about Kaziranga, the wildlife sanctuary remained the hero and we didn’t care too much about the Gibbon sanctuary near Jorhat, Assam. So very unlike of us, we didn’t do much research or reading on the Gibbon sanctuary. But nature has its own way of throwing surprises. ‘Pleasant’ is not the adjective. Enticing. Fascinating. Exciting. Surprising. What was originally a part of the vast forest ranges in the north east state of Assam and extending till Nagaland,…

  • Wild Wayanad
    Flora - Sanctuaries

    The Wild Wayanad

    January 12, 2014 - By 

    The north-east of India with its unique mountain ranges, forests, flora, and fauna has always been in the travel lovers’ must-do list. Wayanad is Kerala’s own north-east. Literally. Nestled in the mighty Western Ghats, with dense forests, valleys, tea and coffee plantations, and paddy fields, Wayanad forms an important part of the Nilgiri biosphere. Once inaccessible forests with tribal hamlets, it is said that Wayanad forests have been inhabited for over 3,000 years. Situated at the tip of the Deccan Plateau and geographically at the confluence of three modern states, Kerala, Karnataka, and Tamilnadu, Wayanad once was also a part…

  • Jupuri Ghar, Kaziranga
    Birdwatching - Flora - Food - Hotels - Places - Sanctuaries

    stay @Jupuri Ghar

    August 9, 2013 - By 

    During our travels, more often than not we have seen that the state tourism resorts/hotels tend to be the best place to stay—they get the advantage of being an early mover and hence access to a prime location in the area. Though often not so luxurious or fancy, they tend to be very spacious—rooms as well as the property. Jupuri Ghar by Assam Tourism at Kaziranga too lived up to this promise. Tucked behind a small tea estate and abutting the forest is Jupuri Ghar with its 8 cottages and a nice restaurant. The cottages are laid around a central…

  • Flora - Nature's Wonders - Places - Sanctuaries

    An Impromptu Journey to Wild West(ern Ghats)

    November 16, 2012 - By 

    When Western Ghats tempts you with its grandness, it’s a challenge to resist it. We happily give in almost all the time. Once spread across a good part of Kerala and host to many endangered species of flora and fauna, Western Ghats is now dwindling, forcing UNESCO to tag many parts of it as natural heritage areas. This Diwali season’s Western Ghats delight for us was Athirapally Waterfalls and beyond. After the Nilgiris, the Western Ghats take a break at Palakkad gap, the natural plains that cuts the mountains and connects Kerala and Tamil Nadu. And beyond the gap, toward…

  • Flora - Nature's Wonders - Places

    The Ethereal Kaas

    September 12, 2012 - By 

    Lalu’s ears. Sita’s tears. American softhead. Coat button. Mickey mouse—funny they may sound but these are some of the ethereal beauties of Kaas Plateau, near Satara in Maharashtra. Lying underground for most of the year, these plants pop their heads up as soon as monsoon drenches the red laterite soil with elixir of life. Home to more than 400 varieties of plants, Kaas is one of Unesco’s World Natural Heritage sites where nature works overtime to weave a carpet of oft-changing colours. As the monsoon recedes, the plateau gets carpeted with a million flowers—blue Sita’s tears, purple jambhala, white pan-gend,…