Nilgiri mountains

Nilgiri Hills
View of Nilgiri Hills
Elevation	2,637 m (8,652 ft)
Translation	Blue Mountains (Sanskrit)
Location
Location	Tamil Nadu, South India
Range	Western Ghats
Geology
Type	Fault[1]
Age of rock	Cenozoic, 100 to 80 mya
Climbing
Easiest route	NH 67 (Satellite view) or Nilgiri Mountain Railway

The Nilgiri (Tamil: நீலகிரி, Badaga: நீலகி:ரி or blue mountains), often referred to as the Nilgiri Hills, are a range of mountains with at least 24 peaks above 2,000 metres (6,600 ft), in the westernmost part of Tamil Nadu state at the junction of Karnataka and Kerala states in Southern India. They are part of the larger Western Ghats mountain chain making up the southwestern edge of the Deccan Plateau.

Location

The hills are separated from the Karnataka plateau to the north by the Moyar River and from the Anaimalai Hills and Palni Hills to the south by the Palghat Gap. The Nilgiris District of Tamil Nadu lies within these mountains. Its latitudinal and longitudinal dimensions are 130 km (Latitude: 11° 08' to 11° 37' N) by 185 km (Longitude: 76° 27' E to 77° 4' E). Central location is: 11°22′30″N 76°45′30″E / 11.375°N 76.75833°E / 11.375; 76.75833. It has an area of 2,479 square kilometres (957 sq mi).^[2]

Conservation

The Western Ghats, Nilgiri Sub-Cluster (6,000⁺ km²), including all of Mukurthi National Park in the south-eastern corner of the Nilgiris, is under consideration by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee for selection as a World Heritage Site.^[3]

The Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, which includes the Nilgiri Hills, is part of the UNESCO World Network of Biosphere Reserves.

History

Map of Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve, showing Nilgiri Hills mostly covered by multiple contiguous protected areas

A Toda family and their home, from, Richard Barron, 1837, View in India, chiefly among the Neelgherry Hills

The first recorded use of the word Nila applied to this region can be traced to 1117 AD in the report of a general of Vishnuvardhana, King of Hoysalas, who in reference to his enemies, claimed to have “frightened the Todas, driven the Kangas underground, slaughtered the Pallavas, put to death the Malayalas, terrified King Kala and then proceeded to offer the peak of Nila Mountain (presumably Dodabetta) to Lakshmi, Goddess of Wealth.^[4]

The original inhabitants of the Nilgiri Hills were the Toda, Badaga, Kota, Irula and kurumbas. The Nilgiri Hills were part of Chera Empire in ancient times. Later, the area came under the rule of the Western Ganga Dynasty, and then Hoysala empire in the 12th century. They then became part of the Kingdom of Mysore of Tipu Sultan who later surrendered them to the British in the 18th century.

The first Europeans to attempt the grueling climb to the Nilgiris included an enigmatic Jesuit priest, Father Fininicio, in 1603. They struggled up the mountains, avoiding elephants, tigers and other wild beasts, and met the Todas at the top.

From 1799 these mountains were seen daily by the British authorities from the plains of Coimbatore. Revenue was collected from them for the British East India Company by a native renter. Excepting Dr. Ford and Capt. Bevan, who traversed the hills in 1809 with a party of pioneers, and some deputy surveyors under Colonel Monson, who partially mapped the area, no British had ventured to explore the all but unknown region.

In 1814, Mr, Keys, a sub-assistant, and Mr. McMahon, an apprentice in the Survey Department, ascended the hills by the Danaynkeucottah Pass, penetrated into the remotest parts, made plans, and sent in reports of their discoveries. As a result of these accounts, Messrs. Whish and Kindersley, two young Madras civilians, ventured up in pursuit of some criminal's taking refuge in the mountains, and proceeded to reconnoitre the interior. They soon saw and felt enough favorable climate and terrain to excite their own curiosity and that of others.^[5]

In 1819, John Sullivan, the British Collector of Coimbatore, set out to explore the Nilgiris after obtaining an order from the British East India Company charging him to investigate the "origin of the fabulous tales that are circulated concerning the Blue Mountains to verify their authenticity and to send a report to the authorities".

With a detachment of Europeans and Indian sepoys, he set out on his mission on January 2, 1819. The journey involved crossing rough and harsh terrain, steep precipices and danger from wild animals. After an expedition that lasted for six days and loss of the lives of some of the expedition members, Sullivan finally reached a plateau from where he proudly hoisted the British flag.^[6]

In May, 1819, the same tourists from Coimbatore, accompanied by Monsieur Leschnault de la Tour, naturalist to the King of France, repeated their excursion. They asserted the temperature in the shade to be 74 °F (23 °C) at a time when the temperature of the plains was up to 100 °F (38 °C). Such a climate within the tropics was considered so great an anomaly that few at first believed its existence.

Front of Stonehouse, 1905

John Sullivan occupied the area by buying land from the native tribes people, often buying up many square kilometres in a day for the price of a few meals. In 1822, he began construction of the first house in the Nilgiris on a hillock in Ooty, to the east of the hollow where the racecourse now lies. In 1823 his wife, who had the distinction of being the first European woman in the Nilgiris, and his infant son moved into the house called Stonehouse. Government House was soon built a few meters away. Stonehouse now serves as the administration building for the Government Arts College, which is the former Government House.

After the early 1820s, the hills were developed rapidly under the British Raj because most of the land was by then privately owned by British citizens. It was a popular summer and weekend getaway for the British during the colonial days. In 1827 Ooty became the official sanatorium and the summer capital of the Madras Presidency. Many winding hill roads were built. In 1899, The Nilgiri Mountain Railway was completed by influential and enterprising British citizens with venture capital from the Madras government.^[7]

Indian subcontinent

An oil painting of Khair-un-Nissa by George Chinnery. c. 1805. She was an Indian Hyderabadi noblewoman who married the British Lieutenant Colonel James Achilles Kirkpatrick.

The Indian subcontinent has a long history of inter-ethnic marriage dating back to ancient history. Various groups of people have been intermarrying for millennia in South Asia, including groups as diverse as the Dravidian, Indo-Aryan (Indic), Iranian, Austro-Asiatic and Tibeto-Burman peoples. This was particularly common in the northwestern and northeastern parts of the subcontinent. In the northwest (mainly modern-day Pakistan), invading Persians, Indo-Scythians, Indo-Hephthalites, Indo-Greeks and Mughals often took local wives in that region during Antiquity and the Middle Ages.

According to the Indo-Aryan migration theory, Indo-Iranian nomadic groups (Aryans) from Central Asia migrated to India more than 3,000 years ago. In turn, the Indo-Iranian languages are descended from the Indo-European languages speakers from who may have origins around the Black Sea. According to 19th century British historians, it was these Aryans who and established the caste system, an elitist form of social organization that separated the light-skinned Indo-Aryan conquerors from the conquered dark-skinned indigenous Dravidian tribes through enforcement of racial endogamy. Much of this was simply conjecture, fueled by British imperialism^[8] British policies of divide and rule as well as enumeration of the population into rigid categories during the tenure of British rule in India contributed towards the hardening of these segregated caste identities.^[9] Since the independence of India from British rule, the British fantasy of an "Aryan Invasion and subjugation of the dark skinned Dravidians in India" has become a staple polemic in South Asian geopolitics, including the propaganda of Indophobia in Pakistan.^[10] There is no decisive theory as to the origins of the caste system in India, and globally renown historians and archaeologists like Jim Shaffer, J.P. Mallory, Edwin Bryant, and others, have disputed the claim of "Aryan Invasion"^[11]

Some researchers claim that genetic similarities to Europeans were more common in members of the higher ranks. Their findings, published in Genome Research, supported the idea that members of higher castes are more closely related to Europeans than are the lower castes.^[12] According to the research invading European populations were predominantly male who intermarried with local females and formed the upper castes i.e. the local females had upward mobility in caste which was denied to local males. However, other researchers have criticized and contradicted this claim.^[13] A study by Joanna L. Mountain et al. of Stanford University had concluded that there was "no clear separation into three genetically distinct groups along caste lines", although "an inferred tree revealed some clustering according to caste affiliation".^[14] A 2006 study by Ismail Thanseem et al. of Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (India) concluded that the "lower caste groups might have originated with the hierarchical divisions that arose within the tribal groups with the spread of Neolithic agriculturalists, much earlier than the arrival of Aryan speakers", and "the Indo-Europeans established themselves as upper castes among this already developed caste-like class structure within the tribes."^[15] A 2006 genetic study by the National Institute of Biologicals in India, testing a sample of men from 32 tribal and 45 caste groups, concluded that the Indians have acquired very few genes from Indo-European speakers.^[16] More recent studies have also debunked the claims that so-called "Aryans" and "Dravidians" have a "racial divide". A study conducted by the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology in 2009 (in collaboration with Harvard Medical School, Harvard School of Public Health, Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT) analyzed half a million genetic markers across the genomes of 132 individuals from 25 ethnic groups from 13 states in India across multiple caste groups.^[17]

Many Indian traders, merchants and missionaries travelled to Southeast Asia (where Indianized kingdoms were established) and often took local wives from the region. The Romani people ("Gypsies") who have origins in the Indian subcontinent travelled westwards and also took local wives in Central Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. Genetic studies show that the majority of Romani males carry large frequencies of particular Y chromosomes (inherited paternally) that otherwise exist only in populations from South Asia, in addition to nearly a third of Romani females carrying particular mitochondrial DNA (inherited maternally) that is rare outside South Asia.^[18][19] Around circa 800, a ship carrying Persian Jews crashed in India. They settled down in different parts of India and befriended and traded with the local Indian population. Intermarriage occurred, and to this day the Indian Jews physically resemble their surrounding Indian populations due to intermarriage.

There are even cases of Indian princesses marrying kings abroad. For example, the Korean text Samguk Yusa about the Gaya kingdom (it was absorbed by the kingdom of Silla later), indicate that in 48 AD, King Kim Suro of Gaya (the progenitor of the Gimhae Kim clan) took a princess (Princess Heo) from the "Ayuta nation" (which is the Korean name for the city of Ayodhya in North India) as his bride and queen. Princess Heo belonged to the Mishra royal family of Ayodhya. According to the Samguk Yusa, the princess had a dream about a heavenly fair handsome king from a far away land who was awaiting heaven's anointed ride. After Princess Heo had the dream, she asked her parents, the king and queen of Ayodhya, for permission to set out and seek the foreign prince, which the king and queen urged with the belief that god orchestrated the whole fate. That king was no other than King Kim Suro of the Korean Gaya kingdom.

In Goa during the late 16th and 17th centuries, there was a community of Japanese slaves and traders, who were either Japanese Christians fleeing anti-Christian sentiments in Japan,^[20] or Japanese slaves brought or captured by Portuguese traders and their South Asian lascar crewmembers from Japan.^[21] In both cases, they often intermarried with the local population in Goa.^[20] One offspring of such an intermarriage was Maria Guyomar de Pinha, born in Thailand to a Portuguese-speaking Japanese-Bengali father from Goa and a Japanese mother.^[22] In turn, she married the Greek adventurer Constantine Phaulkon.^[23]

Inter-ethnic marriages between European men and Indian women were very common during colonial times. According to the historian William Dalrymple, about one in three European men (mostly British, as well as Portuguese, French, Dutch, and to a lesser extent Swedes and Danes) had Indian wives in colonial India. This was primarily because the European men came to India when they were young and there were very few white women available in India. One of the most famous intermarriages was between the Anglo-Indian resident James Achilles Kirkpatrick and the Hyderabadi noblewoman and descendant of prophet Mohammed, Khair-un-Nissa. During the British East India Company's rule in India in the late 18th century and early 19th century, it was initially fairly common for British officers and soldiers to take local Indian wives. The 600,000 strong Anglo-Indian community has descended from such unions. There is also a story of an attractive Gujjar princess falling in love with a handsome English nobleman and the nobleman converted to Islam so as to marry the princess. The 65,000 strong Burgher community of Sri Lanka was formed by the intermarriages of Dutch and Portuguese men with local Sinhalese and Tamil women. Intermarriage also took place in Britain during the 17th to 19th centuries, when the British East India Company brought over many thousands of Indian scholars, lascars and workers (mostly Bengali) who settled down in Britain and took local British wives, some of whom went to India with their husbands.^[24][25] In the mid-19th century, there were around 40,000 British soldiers but less than 2,000 British officials present in India.^[26]

Some Chinese convicts deported from the Straits Settlements were sent to Madras in India, the "Madras district gazetteers, Volume 1" reported an incident where the Chinese convicts escaped and killed the police sent to apprehend them: "Much of the building work was done by Chinese convicts sent to the Madras jails from the Straits Settlements (where there was no sufficient prison accommodation) and more than once these people escaped from the temporary buildings' in which they were confined at Lovedale. In 186^ seven of them tjot away and it was several days before they were apprehended by the Tahsildar, aided by Badagas sent out in all directions to search. On the 28th July in the following year twelve others broke out during a very stormy night and parties of armed police were sent out to scour the hills for them. They were at last arrested in Malabar a fortnight later. Some police weapons were found in their possession, and one of the parties of police had disappeared—an ominous coincidence. Search was made all over the country for the party, and at length, on the 15th September, their four bodies were found lying in the jungle at Walaghát , half way down the Sispára ghát path, neatly laid out in a row with their severed heads carefully placed on their shoulders. It turned out that the wily Chinamen, on being overtaken, had at first pretended to surrender and had then suddenly attacked the police and killed them with their own weapons."^[27][28][29] These escaped Chinese convicts had children with Tamil Paraiyan women and lived with them in the Nilgiris mountains, they were documented by Edgar Thurston.^[30][31] Paraiyan is also anglicized as "pariah".

Edgar Thurston described the colony of the Chinese men with their Tamil pariah wives and children: "Halting in the course of a recent anthropological expedition on the western side of the Nilgiri plateau, in the midst of the Government Cinchona plantations, I came across a small settlement of Chinese, who have squatted for some years on the slopes of the hills between Naduvatam and , Gudalur, and developed, as the result of ' marriage ' with Tamil pariah women, into a colony, earning an honest livelihood by growing vegetables, cultivating cofl'ce on a small scale, and adding to their income from these sources by the economic products of the cow. An ambassador was sent to this miniature Chinese Court with a suggestion that the men should, in return for monies, present themselves before me with a view to their measurements being recorded. The reply which came back was in its way racially characteristic as between Hindus and Chinese. In the case of the former, permission to make use of their bodies for the purposes of research depends essentially on a pecuniary transaction, on a scale varying from two to eight annas. The Chinese, on the other hand, though poor, sent a courteous message to the effect that they did not require payment in money, but would be perfectly happy if I would give them, as a memento, copies of their photographs."^[32][33] Thurston further describe a specific family: "The father was a typical Chinaman, whose only grievance was that, in the process of conversion to Christianity, he had been obliged to 'cut him tail off.' The mother was a typical Tamil Pariah of dusky hue. The colour of the children was more closely allied to the yellowish tint of the father than to the dark tint of the mother; and the semimongol parentage was betrayed in the slant eyes, flat nose, and (in one case) conspicuously prominent cheek-bones."^{[34][35][36][37][38]} Thurston's description of the Chinese-Tamil families were cited by others, one mentioned "an instance mating between a Chinese male with a Tamil Pariah female"^{[39][40][41][42][43]} A 1959 book described attempts made to find out what happened to the colony of mixed Chinese and Tamils.^[44]

Peaks in the Nilgiris

Topographic map of Nilgiri Hills
showing some peaks

View of Nilgiri hills from Doddabetta

Doddabetta Peak, 4 km east south east from Udhagamandalam,11°24′10″N 76°44′14″E / 11.40278°N 76.73722°E / 11.40278; 76.73722 (Doddabetta Peak), with a height of 2,637 metres (8,652 ft) is the highest point in the Nilgiris and the southern extent of the range. . Hecuba (height: 2,375 metres (7,792 ft)), Kattadadu (height: 2,418 metres (7,933 ft)) and Kulkudi (height: 2,439 metres (8,002 ft)) are closely linked peaks in the west of Doddabetta range and nearby Udhagamandalam.

Snowdon (height: (2,530 metres (8,301 ft)) 11°26′N 76°46′E / 11.433°N 76.767°E / 11.433; 76.767 (Snowdon) is the northern extent of the range. Club Hill (height: 2,448 metres (8,031 ft)) and Elk Hill (height: 2,466 metres (8,091 ft)) 11°23′55″N 76°42′39″E / 11.39861°N 76.71083°E / 11.39861; 76.71083 (Elk Hill)are significant elevations in this range. Snowdon, Club Hill and Elk Hill along with Doddabetta, form the impressive Udhagamandalam Valley.

Devashola (height: 2,261 metres (7,418 ft)), notable for its Blue gum trees, is in the south of Doddabetta range.
Kulakombai (height: 1,707 metres (5,600 ft)) is east of the Devashola. The Bhavani Valley and the Lambton's peak range of Coimbatore district stretch from here.

Hullikal Durg (height: 562 metres (1,844 ft)), 11°19′N 76°53′E / 11.317°N 76.883°E / 11.317; 76.883 (Hullikal Durg) in the Kannada language, Hulikal Durg means Tiger Rock Fort. The Sanskrit name of his place is Bakasura Parvata. It is 3 km. south east of Coonoor. Tropical Pine forest flourishes at the base of this hill, while the valleys support green foliage.

Coonoor Betta (2,101 metres (6,893 ft)) is also called Teneriffe. It is on the northern side of the gorge, accommodating the Nilgiri Mountain Railway to Coonoor.

Rallia Hill (height: 2,248 metres (7,375 ft))11°25′N 76°53′E / 11.417°N 76.883°E / 11.417; 76.883 (Rallia Hill) is in the midst of a reserved forest and almost equidistant from Udhagamandalam and Kotagiri.

Dimhatti Hill (height: 1,788 metres (5,866 ft)) 11°26′N 76°01′E / 11.433°N 76.017°E / 11.433; 76.017 (Dimhatti Hill) is above the Gajalahatti pass, which provided a short cut from Mysore to the Carnatic plains and was of much strategic importance in the eighteenth century. This peak, dedicated to the Deity Rangaswamy is considered holy by the people of the surrounding villages.

Nilgiris Peaks in Mukurthi National Park

On the Nilgiri Plateau, the Kundah range of the Nilgiri hills is a ridge on the south-western side of Mukurthi National Park bordering Kerala. With elevations greater than the general level of the plateau, the range possesses some peaks close to the height of Doddabetta.

Avalanche hill of this range has the twin-peaks of Kudikkadu (height: 2,590 metres (8,497 ft)) and Kolaribetta (height: 2,625 metres (8,612 ft)).
Derbetta (or Bear Hill) (height: 2,531 metres (8,304 ft)) and Kolibetta (height: 2,494 metres (8,182 ft)), south of the Ouchterlony valley, are a continuation of the Kundah range.

Mukurthi Peak

Mukurthi Peak 2,554 metres (8,379 ft)) 11°23′29″N 76°31′38″E / 11.39139°N 76.52722°E / 11.39139; 76.52722 (Mukurthi Peak), Pichalbetta (height: 2,544 metres (8,346 ft)) and Nilgiri Peak (height: 2,474 metres (8,117 ft)) 11°24′0″N 76°30′4″E / 11.4°N 76.50111°E / 11.4; 76.50111 (Nilgiri Peak) are the important heights of this area. These 3 hills of the Wayanad district are generally low in relation to other heights of the district; but are distinguished in relation to the generally uniform level of this area.
Maruppanmudi hill (height: 1,528 metres (5,013 ft)) 11°31′N 76°27′E / 11.517°N 76.45°E / 11.517; 76.45 (Maruppanmudi hill) is 10 km. northwest of Gudalur.

Other heights deserving notice are: Needle Rock, Hadiabetta Hill (height: 1,155 metres (3,789 ft)), Glulur hill (height: 1,148 metres (3,766 ft)).
Chinna Doddabetta (height: 2,392 metres (7,848 ft)) 11°28′N 76°45′E / 11.467°N 76.75°E / 11.467; 76.75 (Chinna Doddabetta) is about five km. south of Udhagamandalam.

Konabetta Peak

Konabetta: (height: 1,880 metres (6,168 ft)) 11°30′N 76°46′E / 11.5°N 76.767°E / 11.5; 76.767 (Konabetta) is about 5 km, north-northeast of Udhagamandalam. This is also called Sigur Peak.
Koodal Betta (height: 2,183 metres (7,162 ft)) 11°28′N 76°50′E / 11.467°N 76.833°E / 11.467; 76.833 (Koodal Betta) means Echoing rock. It is about 13 km north-east of Udhagamandalam.
Kundah Betta (height: 1,998 metres (6,555 ft)) 11°07′N 76°43′E / 11.117°N 76.717°E / 11.117; 76.717 (Kundah Betta) is About 10 km south-southwest of Udhagamandalam.
Kundah Mugi (height: 2,344 metres (7,690 ft)) 11°24′N 76°51′E / 11.4°N 76.85°E / 11.4; 76.85 (Kundah Mugi) is about 11 km east of Udhagamandalam,

Dolphin's Nose 11°22′N 76°51′E / 11.367°N 76.85°E / 11.367; 76.85 (Dolphin's Nose) is a promonotory over the Kotagiri valley about 6 km east-northeast of Coonoor. The place provides an excellent view of the Catherine falls and a vast expanse of verdant plains.
Ibex Hill 11°27′N 76°35′E / 11.45°N 76.583°E / 11.45; 76.583 (Ibex Hill) is about 17 km., west-southwest of Udhagamandalam. It is a straight cliff in the proximity of Sigur Pass.

Muttunadu Betta (height: 2,323 metres (7,621 ft)) 11°27′N 76°43′E / 11.45°N 76.717°E / 11.45; 76.717 (Muttunadu Betta) is about 5 km, north northwest of Udhagamandalam.
Tamrabetta (Coppery Hill) (height: 2,120 metres (6,955 ft)) 11°22′N 76°48′E / 11.367°N 76.8°E / 11.367; 76.8 (Tamrabetta) is about 8 km. south east of Udhagamandalam.
Vellangiri (Silvery Hill) (height: 2,120 metres (6,955 ft)) is 16 km west-northwest of Udhagamandalam. ^[45]

List of peaks in the Nilgiri Hills

Kilkotagiri bettu

Waterfalls

The highest waterfall, Kolakambai Fall, north of Kolakambai hill, has an unbroken fall of 400 feet (120 m). Nearby is the 150 feet (46 m) Halashana falls Second is Catherine Falls, near Kotagiri, with a 250-foot (76 m) fall, named after the wife of M.D. Cockburn, believed to have introduced coffee plantations to the Nilgiri Hills. The Upper and Lower Pykara falls have falls of 180 feet (55 m), and 200 feet (61 m), respectively. The 170 feet (52 m) Kalhutti Fall is off the Segur Peak. The Karteri Fall, near Aruvankadu had the first power station which supplied the original Cordite Factory with electricity. Law's Fall, near Coonoor, is interesting due to its association with the engineer Major G. C. Law who supervised building of the Coonoor Ghat road.^[2]

Flora

Wattle plantations in Nilgiris

Over 2700 species of flowering plants, 160 species of fern and fern allies, countless types of flowerless plants, mosses, fungi, algae, land lichens are found in the sholas of the Nilgiris. No other Hill station has so many exotic species.^[46]

Much of the Nilgiris natural Montane grasslands and shrublands interspersed with sholas has been much disturbed or destroyed by extensive tea plantations, easy motor vehicle access and ^[47] extensive commercial planting and harvesting of non-native eucalyptus and wattle plantations (Acacia dealbata, Acacia mearnsii and cattle grazing. In addition there is one large, and several smaller hydro-electric impoundments in the area.^[48] Scotch broom has become an ecologically damaging invasive species.^[49]

Threatened plants of the Nilgiris include the Vulnerable species: Miliusa nilagirica, Nothapodytes nimmoniana, Commelina wightii and
Rare species: Ceropegia decaisneana Ceropegia pusilla, Senecio kundaicus and endangered species: Youngia nilgiriensis, Impatiens neo-barnesii, Impatiens nilagirica, Euonymus angulatus and Euonymus serratifolius.^[50]

Visitor information

Foothills of the Nilgiris at Mudumalai National Park

The Nilgiri hills can be reached by the Nilgiri Mountain Railway and by motor vehicle over five separate Nilgiri Ghat Roads.

A good way to enjoy the beauty of the Nilgiris is to trek its slopes. Some of the trekking routes are:

• Ooty, Parson's Valley, Porthimund, Nilgiri Wildlife and Environment Association hut (NWLEA), Mukurthi Peak, Mukurthi Dam, Ooty.
• Ooty, Upper Bhavani, Emerald, Avalanche via Kolaribetta, Ooty. (Accommodation at Upper Bhavani Forest guest house)
• Ooty, Western Catchment 2, via T.R. Bazaar, Nilgiri Peak, Mukurti Peak, Sispara Pass via Western Catchment-2 and 1, Bangitappal, Ooty.
• Ooty, Ebbanad, Segur, Anaikatti, Sirur, Theppakadu, Ooty.
• Ooty, Pykara, Glenmorgan, Singara (Hydro PowerStation), Mudumalai, Solur Village, Ooty.
• Coonoor, Lamb's Rock, Lady Canning's Seat, Dolphin's Nose, Law's Falls, Droog Fort.

The best trekking seasons are April–June and September–December.^[51] Application for trekking permits should be made in advance with the Wildlife Warden, Mahalingam buildings, Coonoor Road, Udhagamandalam – 643 001 ; Phone: 0423- 2444098^[52]

The Tour of Nilgiris is a week-long annual bicycling tour that traverses the Nilgiris mountains with the twin objectives of exploring the Nilgiris while promoting cycling as an eco-friendly mode of transport and leisure.

See also

• Nilgiri Mountain Railway

Notes

References

The District Collector, Collector's Office, Udhagamandalam, The Nilgiris District, Tamil Nadu, retrieved 9/2/2007 Welcome to Queen of Hills - The Nilgiris

External links

Media related to Nilgiris at Wikimedia Commons

• Rock Galleries, Frontline, Volume 24 - Issue 12 :: Jun. 16-29, 2007
• A Manual of the Nilagiri District in the Madras Presidency, 1880

v t e Tourism in The Nilgiris Gardens and parks Botanical Garden Ooty · Rose Garden Ooty · Sim's Park Coonoor · Mukurthi National Park · Mudumalai National Park · Bandipur National Park · Droog Fort · Lady Canning's Seat Viewpoint Doddabetta · Lamb's Rock · Dolphin's Nose · Needle hill viewpoint · Ketti Valley view · Kodanad View Point · Rangaswamy Peak and Pillar · Needle Rock View Point · Frog Hill View Point · Western Catchments Lake and waterfalls Ooty Lake · Pykara Lake · Upper Bhavani Lake · Emerald Lake · Avalanche Lake · Porthimund Lake · Pykara waterfalls · Kalhatti Falls  · Law's Falls · Katary Falls · Catherine Falls · Kamaraj Sagar Dam Other tourist spots Nilgiri Mountain Railway · Adam's fountain  · Ooty Golf Course · Stone House, Ooty · Toda huts · Ooty Racecourse · Nilgiri mountains · Ooty Radio Telescope · Gori shola Events Summer Festival Tourism in Tamil Nadu · Tourism in India · Ooty · Coonoor · Gudalur · Kotagiri