Pollachi – August 2024

After a lazy morning, the plan was to head up to the Waterfall Tea Estate to sample and purchase some fresh tea for one to take back to the UK, simple right? Of course not!

As I mentioned, one wanted to save money in preparation for our final destination, Kochi hence decided to book a conventional taxi. We gave the Ibex an address to drive us to, however, the taxi driver seemed to have other ideas.

In order to reach the Waterfall Tea Estate from Pollachi, you are required to drive along the interior road of the Aliyar Reserve Forest. To enter, you are required to, once again pay and show your passport. The estate is situated high above the clouds meaning that hairpin bends are plenty…

Said bends do present spectacular views however…

As we ascended higher into the clouds, the tea estate came into view. We reached the sales outlet shack where we thought that the driver would drop us off but no, he simply kept driving through the Waterfall Tea Estate…

After reaching the summit, the driver pulled over and simply said ‘We go down now’. By this time, one was a little hungry as we had expected at least some kind of food, luckily there was a roadside shack at the summit selling snacks…

It was then back down through the Aliyar Reserve Forest stopping at another roadside shack to purchase tea, not how we envisaged the day going but there we go…

Tomorrow we get our wheels back (the accessible van which has been driven back from Chennai to Coimbatore over the weekend…definitely putting the miles on that thing!) to drive another 5 hours to our final destination, Kochi on the west coast of India.

To answer the all important question, no, we didn’t see any tigers on the faff of a ‘jeep’ safari, let me explain.

When booking the taxi to the Anamalai Tiger Reserve, the Ibex informed us that it is best to visit as early as possible to avoid the queues i.e. 6am. Before you enter said reserve, you are required to purchase a ticket from a roadside shack and show your passport. This only allows you to drive through a certain part of the reserve before you are required to purchase another ticket, show your passport AND visa! It was shortly after this that a monkey kindly decided to jump inside the taxi to steal the majority of food that we had substituted for breakfast.

When planning this trip, ATR informed me that the safari leaves every 2 hours or when it is full. Whilst this is true, it’s very disjointed and the ‘jeep’ safari actually uses clapped out buses instead. Its lucky that one has always wanted to ride on an old Indian bus, can’t fathom how they are used in major cities…

Anyway, just after we embarked on our 3 hour safari, the guide informed us that tiger sightings are rare, however we pressed on regardless. During our 3 hour excursion, we were fortunate to see deers, peacocks and Indian Goats roaming free…

One of the other attractions at ATR is the elephant camp which is, typically, closed for refurbishment leaving little to do. At least we got to experience the reserve for which over half is open to vehicles meaning that Superbunny could have joined.

Tomorrow we head to the Waterfalls Tea Estate in the hope of trying fresh tea. As one is attempting to save money for Kochi, we have booked a conventional taxi although it seems like it could be accessible for an electric wheelchair…

It’s difficult for one to fathom that just 24 hours ago, we were amongst the hustle and bustle of Chennai and now the only sounds one can hear is the tweeting of birds and crickets (and kids but we will dismiss that!).

As mentioned previously, The Swarga Foundation assisted one in booking the Ibex River Resort and ensuring that the hotel purchased ramps etc (one seems to be initiating the need to purchase ramps around the world recently?) in preparation for our arrival. The Ibex is situated within the grounds of a coconut farm and possess 14 rooms giving it a more intimate feel than your usual resort…

Although accessibility wasn’t at the forefront during construction, the rooms are pretty spacious, very easy to roll around…

Even the bathroom is rather spacious albeit a little outdated…

And you have the balcony overlooking said river…

The plan for today was to explore the resort and it’s surroundings. Unfortunately, in order to access the river, one has to navigate a fairly chunky step, far too big for the portable ramp. However, during prior research, it turns out that there is a road bridge over the river around a 15 minute walk from the resort down a few ‘lanes’…

(This photo also demonstrates the stark difference between country life compared to the cities of India!)

Tomorrow we head to Anamalai Tiger Reserve to board a jeep safari in the hope of seeing a few elephants and tigers. For the first time on this trip, Superbunny won’t be joining as the jeep is in no way accessible. Despite this, I don’t think that we are doing too bad thus far proving that you can travel the majority of Southern India in an electric wheelchair with a little creativity here and there?