Thenmala, a distant uphill tourist destination, is quite illustrious for its treasure trove of natural trails. The place is set alongside the Thenmala Dam and river where lie the intriguing landscapes modified into trivial tourism targets. But, to err on the side of caution, I forewarn adrenaline junkies to stay away from the place, because Thenmala is rather passive fun as opposed to roller-coaster ride. As in… watch some of the birds and butterflies, get draped amid the profuse greenery, take some amazing snaps, view the dam from a distance and just gulp in some of that fresh air form the virgin panorama. The place is a near half-done nirvana for nature enthusiasts. If it wasn’t for the scorching heat, Thenmala could have easily soared, chart-busting to the top tourism places in India. For the time-being, it’s an easy drive getaway for people from neighbourhood districts.
My wife and I took off on the 90 minute drive on a Friday night last month. We reached Thenmala by 9 and checked into the Thenmala Eco Resort. There aren’t many good resorts in Thenmala that flash a flair of finesse or are couple-worthy. But to our surprise, this one exceedingly fitted the bill. We were walked to our room through the meandering terrain. For just Rs 3000 a night, we got an outstanding villa. Our room had the elegant exquisiteness a star-hotel would offer. The rustic wooden finishes of the furniture, warm lighting and modern fixtures really rendered our money’s worth. It had all the amenities.
The villa was tucked away into a green corner, the beauty of which was not discernible at night. But at daybreak, it dawned on us as a palace of our own in the midst of a miniature garden. Our spot and the resort, as a whole, were stunningly captivating.
Our only distress was the baking sun and humidity. A few minutes in the heat was triggering a truck load of perspiration.
I asked around and learned more about the resort. The place was a new installment, just a few months old, in a picturesque valley-like terrain. Run by the duo of Alex and Sunderlal, their vision to create a classy hideaway amalgamated into the green, is a downright success. The resort currently has a few cottages, dormitories and a restaurant. But it seems they are just half-way with their design. They told me that they have big plans for big upgrades.
To a tourist’s plight, Thenmala is not a place to snatch great food, or even average food for that matter. But, fortunately for us, the restaurant of the resort offered some of the best food we had ever encountered. The entrepreneur had, in his possession, an exceptional cook who fixed us up with some traditional dishes in their best form. We breakfasted on wonderful appams, parathas, egg roast, potato goulash and pressed lichi extract.
Fully satisfied, we proceeded for our voyage around Thenmala.
We drove for 5 minutes to the Deer Park- A tranquil reserve for the serene creature. We saw two types of deer here- the spotted common deer and the Sambur deer. But that’s all. The deer park is just another passive place which is a onesie-fun. But still a good payload. The reserve is a 500m circular walk around an enclosed space, barricaded with an 8ft high wire mesh fence and a pathway bordering the outside of the fence. Within the fence, is the swarm of deer frolicking, but only in the first 100m stretch. The rest of the stretches are mostly devoid of any life, except for the humungous trees with the intimidatingly huge trunks. The places lacks maintenance, activities or a refreshment kiosk. We were safe to carry essentials in our sundries.
We then drove to the Eco Tourism Information Center office. It is the information center to Thenmala’s tourism hotspots. They give out package tickets and have some souvenir stalls. I asked them about the butterfly park in their campus and they replied that it’s not butterfly season, so there aren’t any butterflies. I heard that they have a night-show that was quite interesting, so we bought our tickets to the show. The people running the office are a bit sluggish and the souvenir shops are seldom opened. So we didn’t stay there much long. We took our 5-minute crash course and sped off to our next spot.
We drove to the Elevated Walkway. The walkway is a 10-min walk on a raised platform through the woods of the Thenmala Adventure zone. The path is made of heavy steel sections that rises 20ft above ground. Again, this is another passive shutterbug spot. The elevated walkway has a running length of 300m. It took us through the canopies of the gigantic trees from where we saw the adventure zone below. We reached a road up top of the walkway, then walked 50m ahead and took some steps down a rugged stone pathway to the adventure zone. Nature lovers may find it amusing. It won’t go down in my most cherished memories but is an acceptable diversion.
We reached the Adventure park. Now this was a passably amusing adventure zone. We went on the board walk, rope cross, rope tunnel, boating, flying fox, river cross, cycling and shooting. The area is low on maintenance. We saw a kid flipping on one of the bicycles when it broke in two. The inflatable ball which was meant for rolling in the water was ironically deflated. The vertical net climb was all torn apart. The kids’ park was totally out-of-use due to zero repairs. But, nonetheless, we had some laughs. We got three rounds of firing in the shooting area. My wife bellowed at the 30-second quick descent on the flying-fox ride. The board walk wires were a cool sport. The place was a mere half-day escapade. Not more than that. We had our fill of adventure and then departed.
It was just about lunch-time. So we were back at our resort and had an appetizing meal with Kerala vegetarian dishes, Fish fry, prawns roast and chicken curry. Again, the cook aced it. “We got more than what we bargained for”, I told my wife, chuckling. We took an afternoon nap and were ready for our next chore.
Mr Sunderlal and Alex drove us to a private fish farm about 8 kms away and threw us a pair of fishing rods. They hooked the rods with chicken meat as bait and we tried our luck in the pond. Call it beginner’s luck, but we caught at least a 15 Thilopias and were exhilarated in our victory. Mr Sunderlal too caught some really big pomphret. We had a witty winning streak. Alex made the owner of the farm wrap up the catch for dinner.
We then headed back to the resort, cleaned up, and it was 7- time for the night-show at the Office we visited in the morning. We punched in our tickets and entered into an open-air amphitheater overlooking a stage. Suddenly, radiances and noises start popping out of every corner. To our amazement, it was a light-&-sound show. It explained to us the history and evolution of Thenmala through visual effects, props, narration, video projection and music. It was educating- A sufficiently interesting act in Thenmala.
We were done for the day. We went back and thought of having a quick dinner and hitting the bed. But, amazingly, Alex had organised a show. It seemed that we luckily arrived on a special weekend when the tribals were performing their cultural night ‘mudiyaattam’- Our second show of the night. We had a bonfire and an outdoor dining setup. Alex opened up a bottle of Frattelli wine just for us, served us some grilled fish that we caught earlier along with some duck and chicken preparations. We got theatricality and dinner, all on the house. My wife and I had a memorable night with some singing of our own.
Finally, we hit the bed and went into deep sleep in seconds.
We woke up the next day, freshened up and, again, had a great breakfast at the restaurant, as expected. We then drove to the Leisure Zone near the dam of Thenmala. It was a walk through a garden stretch along the edge of the Thenmala river that culminates in the view of the dam. Not a very awe-inspiring place but a quick walk on the one-way loop was a flaccid kill-time. The pathway goes uphill and downhill though a slopped terrain and then back to the main gate. Along the way, we came across some weirdly curated sculptures that inspired little interest. First, it started with dinosaurs… then abstract human figures… then some hindu mythological characters like eklavyan… then some dance forms.
Finally, we came by the hanging bridge, which was in the park itself. The bridge connected nothing to nothing, but we walked onto it just for the splendor of the view of the valley and dam. The other end of the bridge was closed, so we just went up till the center of the bridge where the sway was more, and grabbed some amazing pics. We then exited the park and returned to the resort.
We rested for an hour and then packed our bags for check-out. Our weekend fete was over. My wife and I took a last walk through the resort and their amenities. They had a lake downhill with a wooden bridge and a cute tree-house. The landscape was adorned with fancy bushes and flowering shrubs. The landscape was a jewel of a place in the midst of Thenmala’s superb topography. We had a blast in Thenmala beyond all our hopes.
Our time was up. We came around the reception with our luggage, and said our goodbyes. We expected to have a below-average experience before we arrived, and left bellies and hearts fulfilled. Alex said that they would complete their first phase of rooms and infrastructure towards the end of this month. They are further stepping up the place with more cottages, tree houses, elevated cottages, infinity pool, play area, party zone and much more. I couldn’t wait to get back to the place when it is fully upgraded.
A word to all the Local Guides- The tourism in Thenmala has a lot of voids for improvement. But despite all such sightseeing in Thenmala, I think it is the handsome geography, especially the beauty of the resort, which would really captured your hearts. It was a remarkable retreat for us couples and a real liberation for us city-dwellers.