Palghat district, is one of the places I love to visit every year. Every time I visit this place it gives me a different experience. We had our kerala breakfast in a hotel near by railway station, they served excellent breakfast ( appam, vegetable curry, dosa). After breakfast we decided to go to place called Dhoni Hills which is 8km from Railway station(Auto Charge: Rs.80).
Dhoni Hills:
The entry fee for Dhoni hills is Rs.10 per person, which you need to pay in the Forest Department check post after registering your name and phone no. The forest officer instructed us to not to take bath in the waterfalls as it was raining heavily for the past 2 days and return before 5p.m. because of animals problem in that area. You need to trek about 5 km uphill from the check post to reach the Waterfalls in the forest. Rain was accompanying us throughout the trek. We were drenched in rain as we did not carry raincoats with us. After 2 hours we reached the spot, water flow was very high in the falls and it was still raining. At first we thought of taking bath in the falls, but after seeing the falls in its full flow, we changed our mind. We spend about 45 minutes in the falls, since it was pouring heavily, we decided to go downhill. Descending from the hill was very easy (took lot of shortcuts), we reached the basement within 1.5 hours. From Palghat we took a bus to Cherpulassery town (my friend’s home town). We enjoyed the delicious kerala food prepared by my friend’s parents and had a good sleep that night.
Kanjirapuzha dam and Meenvallam Falls
On 2nd day we went to Kanjirapuzha dam via Mannarkad. The dam is surrounded by beautiful breathtaking misty mountains on one side and the park on the other side. It was a perfect place for family outing. After spending 2 hours in the dam area, we went to Meenvallam waterfalls which is around 30 kms from there. I have already been to this place last year, but this time it had new surprises for me. Rain was following us even on day two. I had never enjoyed rain like this before in my life. From the forest checkpost you have to travel 3 km to reach the main falls. We took a 4wheel jeep to reach near the falls area. Since the rain was pouring heavily, we decided not to go any further. We picked the spot, which was equally beautiful and had a bath in the flowing stream water. In a short time we had company of leeches and heavy rain. We decided to pack our wet clothes and leave the place immediately. The rain was pouring heavy till we reach Palghat at 5.30. We headed directly to hotel soorya international near station, said cheers to each other with a chilled beer mugs in our hands to celebrate the trips success.
