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| Ooty |
The establishment of numerous tea estates made Ooty famous. Lofty mountains, dense forest, sprawling grasslands and miles and miles of tea gardens greet the passengers on most routes. Botanical gardens are a major tourist attraction for those who visit Ooty, one of the most popular hill stations of India. They sprawl over 50-acres and lie on the lower slopes of Dodabetta peak, which is the highest point in Ooty.The Government Museum at Ooty, Mysore Road, Ooty has items of tribal objects, district's ecological details and representative sculptural arts and crafts of Tamil Nadu.
The Wildlife Sanctuary boasts of very rich flora and fauna, and is home to many endangered species. Though tigers and Leopards are only seen by the fortunate few, elephants, giant squirrels, sambhar, chital, barking deer and flying squirrels are a common sight. The Sanctuary is also a great place to see many kinds of birds, including colorful parakeets, black woodpecker, Malabar trogon and crested hawk eagle. Kotagiri is a little village of East of Ooty, which is about 28km from the popular hill station. It is a beautiful hill resort that has wonderful tea estates and is definitely worth a visit. The beautiful Kolhatty waterfalls are about 100 feet in height and are located on the kalhatty slopes.
The Sim's Park is spread over an area of 12 hectares and is situated in Upper Coonoor. The park it is believed has more than 1000 plant species, including many flowering plants, pines, ferns and shrubs. The Rose Garden is situated about 3 to 4-km away from Charring Cross. Mini garden is also situated on the way to the boathouse where the children amusement park is housed. Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary and National Park. The Mysore - Ooty highway runs through the sanctuary, following the course of the Mayyar River, which separates Mudumalai from Bandipur.The beautiful Ooty Lake is a favourite haunt of tourists.
The name Nilgiri was due to the blue haze, which envelops the range with most distant hills of considerable size. This Nilgiri territory came into possession of the East India Company as part of the ceded lands, held by Tipu Sultan, by the treaty of Srirangapatnam in 1799.The hills were developed rapidly under the British Raj because they were almost entirely owned by private British citizens, unlike the rest of India. Ooty served as the summer capital of the Madras Presidency, and had winding hill roads and a complicated rack railway system built by influential and enterprising British citizens with venture capital from the Madras government.
John Sullivan, Collector of Coimbatore district in 1819, first brought this beautiful botanical Garden a heaven to the public eye. But prior to this in 1812, the first Englishmen who were sent up the Nilgris by the Collector of Coimbatore were Mr. Keys, Assistant Revenue Surveyor, and his Assistant, McMahon. John Sullivan obtained Rs 1,100 from the Board of Revenue for laying a bridle path up the hill from Sirumugai to Kotagiri and its neighboring village, Dhimatti In March 1819. The work was executed by McPherson in a period of 2 years starting 1821. This was the only route to the Nilgris from Coimbatore until 1832, when the first Coonoor ghat road was laid, thanks to the then Governor, S.R. Lushington, who got the work executed by Lehardy and Capt. Murray.
The Coonoor-Mettupalayam road was extended to Udagamandalam, covering a distance of about 15 km. The Kotagiri-Mettupalayam road, which was 8 ft wide, to begin with, was widened to 17 ft in 1872-75 with a gradient of one in 17 by the Dist. Engineer, Major Morant R.E. and handed over to the District Board in 1881. A Swiss engineer, M. Riggenback and Major Morant of Kotagiri road fame prepared an estimate of 1,32,000 pounds for laying the rack railway and floated a company called The Rigi Railway & Co Ltd. Since capital was not forthcoming, Mr. Richard Wolley of Coonoor came forward to advance money on the condition that the Government of Chennai would entrust the contract to Mr. Wolley.
Udagamandalam considered a sanatorium and hill resort by the Europeans, has come to be like any other district.Ooty is highly accessible by road and rail and hence travel is very comfortable. Ooty tour also entails a trip to nearby place like Conoor, Kotagiri, Kalahatty Waterfalls, Sim’s Park, and Dolphin’s Nose and so on. The Flower show at Botanical Gardens is a must watch during your Ooty travel. Travel to Ooty also entails accommodation facilities in some of the famous hotels and resorts. The potential for tourism in this enchanting hill station was realized long before and hence the place is blessed with a proper infrastructure for tourism. Enjoy your visit to Ooty this season and we promise you that the experience would be unforgettable.
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