Saturday, June 14, 2008

Kolli Malai Trip . . .

Though I have travelled to many hill stations and tourist spots before nothing has tempted me to write about them because everybody knows many things about them already. Kolli Malai is a unique place less travelled and explored and it gave me new experiences thats why it made me to write about it.

Historical References
The Kolli hills are featured in several works of classical Tamil literature such as Silappathigaram, Manimekalai, Purananuru and Ainkurnuru. The region was ruled by Valvil Ori around 200 A.D., who is praised as one of the seven great philanthropists of ancient Tamil Nadu. His valor and marksmanship are sung by several poets, and his exploits are a popular part of folklore. Ori is said to have killed a lion, bear, deer and a boar with a single arrow.
The hills are said to be guarded by Kollipavai or (ettu kai amman), the local deity. According to legend, the sages chose Kolli hills when they were looking for a peaceful place to do their penance. However, the demons invaded the hills to disrupt the penance when the sages began their rituals. The sages prayed to Kollipavai, who according to the myth, chased away the demons with her enchanting smile. The Kollipavai is still worshipped by the people here and her smile is revered. The mountains have several mythological legends associated with them, and often come across as an eerie place in contemporary tales due to the unexplored and less traveled terrain.
Travel Experience
Our Trip travel time was like this
Friday night 10 PM bus from Chennai to salem.
Reached salem by Saturday morning 6.15 AM
From Salem to Namakkal another 1.30 hours of travel.
Then From Namakkal to kolli malai 3 hrs travel in government bus.
The last bus stop in kolli malai is Arapaleeswarar Koil stop. We reached there by saturday 12 PM noon.
So it is recommended to take travels vehicle from namakkal to go to kolli hills that would be much comfortable and less time consuming. Transportation in kolli hills is the big problem. If we have a bike or a travels vehicle we can go to most of the places there with the help of a local area person with in a day or two. If we dont have our own transportation its difficult to travel to different places on top of the hills.

Main Attractions in Kolli Malai are

1. Arapaleeswarar Kovil
2. Agayagangai water falls
3. Ettukai amman kovil or Kolli Pavai Kovil

Other places are
9 th century Shivan temple, Korakkar Kugai . . .and list of places shown in picture below



These locations are less travelled in kolli hills because only the local hill dwellers know where those places are. Seeing all these places in the list needs little search on the hills.

Our Stay at Kolli Hills

Places we visited are Arapaleeswarar Kovil, Agayagangai Water falls . . .
As I have told above we reached the top of kolli hills near arapaleeswarar temple by saturday noon 1 PM. After reaching there the first search was for the place were we are going to stay that night. In kolli malai there is a place called Semmedu where there were few places for lodging apart from that the other place is the Youth Hostel near the Sivan temple where we stayed that night. The price of a room there for one day is Rs 110/- per head. Seven person can stay in a single room, the room wll actually be like a hall with seven beds in it. We were 5 members so our lodging cost was 550 Rs. Apart from these two places there is no other place in hills where you could stay. After we got the room to stay we dumped all our bags in the room and started our journey towards the falls.
The way to the water falls has approx. 1000 steps down the mountain starting from near the Arapaleeswarar temple. The steps were very steep at certain places, on the way down to the falls there is view point which gives a nice scenary for your camera. As we continue down we were able to hear the flow of water gradually even before we reached the falls. We finally reached the falls took a nice bath and climbed up to the temple. We visited the Arapaleeswarar temple and settled in our rooms by evening 6.30 PM

That evening it started to rain . . .The power system in kolli malai is so poor that if it rains they cut the electricity supply . . .There was no power so we were jus hanging on inside the dark room waiting for the rain to stop so that we can go and get some food for dinner but rain didnt stop. Before coming to the room we ordered for food in the canteen there . . .So we have to go and collect it the time was around 8 PM everybody were hungry we dont know what to do . . . We had a umbrella with us so we thought of getting a torch light from the room maintenance person and go to the canteen to collect our food . . .We got the torch and started our walk towards the canteen its near the shivan temple and our hostel is some 1 km distance from that place. The path way was very beautiful in the morning . . .but in the night accompanied by rain, lightning and strong wind it was terrific and thrilling. Me and one of my friend walked to some distance throught the path way holding the torch there were no street lights nothing it was full dark only two feet ahead of us could be seen. We somehow managed and walked for some distance . . . then came the turning point after some distance the two sides of the path was just a valley suddenly a very heavy thunder and lightning flashed the entire surrounding jus flashed before eyes with a black and white effect and the entire path way was silverish in colour when the lightning flashed. We were shocked by that sight so we stopped proceeding further and returned back to room. Later one of our neighbour having a car were crossing us so we got into the car and went to that canteen and collected the food. Since there was no power we had a candle light dinner totally different eperience. Then somehow manged to get some sleep. Next morning again we planned to go down to the falls to take photographs since it rained the previous night water was gushing out through many places on the mountain. The falls was very violent such nobody could go near it and take bath. So we stood some distance away and took photographs and returned back.
If it rains in kolli malai then the force and amount of water in the falls will be very violent and huge . . . in that case there is another small falls just a few steps down besides the temple. we can take a quick bath there. So we took bath in there. That was also superb.
Then we took the bus down to namakkal and visited the namakkal anjaneyar temple and yoga narasimhar temple. Finally the namakkal fort. Then took the same route back to chennai.
Thats a short story of our trip . . .

You can see the slide show of pictures taken by us below . . .
Click on the picture to view the album in picasa web albums.





18 comments:

  1. Dear Hari,

    I immensely enjoied reading your recent trip to Kolli hills. I am a Scientist working on cancer biology. Recently, I got interested in Eastern Ghats and began reading about it and came acros your description. I hope to make a trip one day to Kolli hills.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks very much Jayakumar . . .Let your kolli travel wish come true. . .
    Plan with ample time to explore the hills . . .

    ReplyDelete
  3. I read about your trip and its really enjoyable. I tried so many times to go there, but couldn't. After reading this, surely I go very soon
    Regards,
    Veera

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Veeramani thanks for your comments . . . wish you good luck too to reach kolli hills

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  5. Dear Hari,
    I also enjoyed my kolli hills visit so much, but faced with the same kind of problem and so decided to open a small six swiss tent cottage resort near a lake in Semmedu. Hope this will be a small step in promoting kolli hills as a ecotourism centre.

    ReplyDelete
  6. A well known resort called "Nallathambi Resorts" has been operating for the last 15 years. It is situated in the highest point of the hills and offers medium and high end budget accommodations.

    Nallathambi Resort
    semmedu, kolli hills
    9443256381
    9943204426
    www.nallathambiresort.com

    ReplyDelete
  7. Best place to stay in kolli hills with star class facilities

    Nallathambi Resort

    for more info kindly visit www.nallathambiresort.com

    ReplyDelete
  8. i was in dilemma in selecting the tourist place for 2 days package. i instantly selected kolli hills after reading your blog. cool one dude.

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  9. Invite all your kind atten. to pay a visit to kollihills once and you will feel the difference compared to any other hill stations

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  10. Nice blog....good to hear we are looking for some time to go to kolli hills in coming months....got some good information about the place....

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  11. Kalaimani.
    Nice experience, thrilling. ..

    ReplyDelete
  12. Kalaimani.
    Nice experience, thrilling. ..

    ReplyDelete
  13. In 1994, during my college days I visited over there. Now, 20 years over. I'm eager to see again and couldn't find time. Hope I will make it again. It is really a wonderful place. I heared abour another one water falls in Kolli Hills called as "Masilla Aruvi (Pure - Dirt free - waterfall)".

    During that 1994 trip, we travelled by Govt. local bus as it stopped in passing villages, it was nice panaroma to see our Hilly villages and their life. It is still in our memories and we friends always recollect about it. We didn't get impressed even in Kodai or Ooty and Kollihills is the best one.

    ReplyDelete
  14. #Kollimalai is one of the finest places in #tamilnadu for #tourism. If you wanna make your journey more safe and fun book #ULO #hotels #resorts #rooms #bungalows and #cottages in #Kollimalai.

    http://www.ulohotels.com/hotels-in-kollimalai/kollihills.php

    ReplyDelete
  15. Nice post about your travel experience. Thanks for sharing your travel experience. Excellent information about unknown facts of Kolli Hills. If anyone want to explore the same book your tickets in Bus Tickets.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Hi
    Kolli Hills is visited by nature lovers, hikers, trekking clubs, tourists and meditation practitioners among hill stations in Tamil Nadu.[1] Agaya Gangai is the waterfall situated near the Arappaleeswarar temple.

    Very interesting post, we enjoyed each and everything as per written in your post. Thank you for sharing this article because it’s really informative. If you are planning for your holiday and searching for the beautiful place to spend your time then you can wander around this vibrant city. It really helps people to plan for future trips. If anyone want go to visit these places and your online bus ticket booking advance in Bus Ticket Bookings and get more < Bus Ticket Offers.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Hi
    Kolli Hills or Kolli Malai is a small mountain range located in central Tamil Nadu in Namakkal district of India. The mountains rise to 1300m in height and cover an area of approximately 280 km². They are part of the Eastern Ghats, which is a mountain range that runs mostly parallel to the east coast of South India.

    Very interesting post, we enjoyed each and everything as per written in your post. Thank you for this article because it’s really informative. If you are planning for your holiday and searching for the beautiful place to spend your time then you can wander around this vibrant city. It really helps people to plan for future trips. If anyone want go to visit these places book your online bus tickets advance in Chennai to Madurai Bus and get more offers.

    ReplyDelete