Mudumalai & Ooty

Mudumalai

The Mudumalai National Park lies on the northwestern side of the Nilgiri Hills (Blue Mountains), in the westernmost part of Tamil Nadu, on the interstate boundaries with Karnataka and Kerala. At an elevation of 1000 mts, it is located in the thick forests of the northern Nilgiri Hills, where the Western ghats meet the Eastern ghats. The Moyar river flows through the park and separates it from Bandipur in Karnataka. The Mysore - Ooty highway also runs through the park. The park was created in 1940, and became the first wildlife sanctuary in southern India. Today it is a part of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve.

Ooty : Queen of the Blue Mountains

Ooty stands at an approximate height of 7,440 feet (2,268 m) above sea level. The presence of a large number of tea estates classifies Ooty as the 'land of tea gardens.' Lofty mountains, dense forest, sprawling grasslands and miles of tea gardens greet the visitors on arrival. The Botanical Gardens are full of shady trees, myriad ornamental plants and flowers. The main attraction here is the fossilized tree trunk, which is about 20 million years old. Established in the year 1848, the gardens are formally laid out with lily ponds, and there are clipped bushes in the form of elephants, with raised trunks. You can find a wide array of plants, including some thirty types of eucalyptus, in these gardens. The other adventure here is climbing up the highest peak in the Blue Mountains at 8,606 ft-Doddabetta, where the Eastern and the Western Ghats merge.