As part of the subject ‘Environmental Studies’, a study tour was conducted by the Commerce dept. of Govt. College Attingal from 04th to 09th Jan 2008. The study tour plans and all other preparations had begun two months ago but date was a factor that was not comp
romising. This is the individual study tour report.
As decided earlier the tour party left from college at 5:30 pm. The following was the tour schedule, even though there were lots of places to be visited in the package list, some places had to be neglected due to lack of time and due to unexpected events.
Tour package:
05-01-2008: Reach Kalpatta College,
Thirunelli Temple,
Kurvadweep,
Kattikulam Wild life sanctuary,
Kalpatta earth dam,
Pookode Lake,
Stay at hotel Affas, Waynad.
Soojipara Water fall,
Muttangya- educational forest,
8pm starts to Ooty (camp fire).
07-01-2008: Ooty Dodapetta tea factory,
Botanical garden,
Dodapetta Lake Boating.
6pm at Coimbatore (purchasing),
12pm Starts to Vega land (Ernakulum).
08-01-2008: 11 am Vega land,
6pm return,
9:30pm - Cinema.
09-01-2008: 4am reach Govt. College Attingal
The study tour was conducted in order to make the participants know more about: what is meant by eco- tourism? And what is a pure nature? The aim of the tour was to ‘know nature through exploration’.
There was two bus hired for the tour. Small one was for the seventeen boys plus two Sirs. And the larger bus was for girls who were seen sleeping all the time. After a thirteen hour travel we reached Kalpatta. We reached Kalpatta College by 6:30 am were the morning accommodation was provided.
Kalpatta college campus was a wonderful one, with greenery all-around. The coffee estate near to it added beauty to the hill sight view of the campus. It was just a half an hour game for boys to get fresh.
As per the tour schedule our first destination was Thirunelli Temple. The temple was situated on top of a hill and the travel through the hill side was an exiting one. The time was just creeping in and the heat of sun was not felt yet. The factors that make Thirunelli a tourist place, are the presence of the temple itself, Panjatheerthum lake- were foot prints of Lord Maha Vishnu is encrypted on the rock, Pabanashini, and the bird wild life sanctuary situated near to the temple.
Even though it was a well noticed tourist place, it was the mercy of the tourist that kept the place clean. There were neither tourist guides nor guards to guide the tourist and to keep the place clean.
On the way to our next spot, Kuruvadweap, we were able to see some parts of Kattikulam wild life sanctuary. It was a pleasure to see the protection provided and taken by the forest dept. to the wild and to the public.
Kuruvadweap was a gifted tourist place. It is a group of protected island about 950 acres. It is enriched with herbals and wide variety of birds. This is a wonderful place for bird watch. Thousands of varieties of birds visit this place through out the year. There were many tourist guides to provide us with much information about the island. There were much material and information for environmental students to collect and know.
After spending evening at Kuruvadweap it was time to return. The day’s halt was at Affas hotel at Waynad.
On the succeeding day we visited Edakkal Caves, known for its ancient wall encrypts. It was a window opened to the present generation to tell them about the ancient Kerala. It was told by the Guide that the cave was formed after an earthquake occurred about a millions of years ago, which made a hill to split and a huge rock got struck in between the parted rocks. It is situated about 4000ft above sea level and total height of the hill is about 5000ft above sea level.
The archeological dept. with the help of encrypts was able to know about the type of life the ancient humans were having. The Cave was very much protected and all sought of protective measures was taken by the Tourism dept. of Kerala.
We left Edakkal cave by noon and left for Soochipara Waterfalls. There are three major falls at Soochipara. Entry to two falls was not provided as it was very dangerous and no safety precautions were present. It was a growing tourist place which was gathering tourist attraction in recent years. It was also noticed that the falls were not much preserved; there were neither guards nor any medical facility. But it was a wonderful place to be visited.
The third day of tour was at Ooty (Tamil Nadu). We reached Ooty at 2:30am and it was chill cold at that time. On the way to Ooty we had to pass almost 17 Km through Muttangya forest and most of us did not get the vital chance to see the forest glow at mid-night.
Our first destination point at Ooty was the Suicide point. It is the place from were we can see the entire Ooty, covered with thick fog. There is a binocular tower on top of the hill, from were we could see the Ooty town. Then we were taken to the Dodapetta tea factory. It was a tea museum too; it told us how tea reached India? And how did it gain its importance? We were also able to know the working of a tea factory, the different procedures through which the tea leaves are passed through and the wide variety of quality tea are produced. We also came across the different types of tea. And we had an opportunity to buy export quality tea products.
One of the most beautiful and biggest botanical garden of South India is located at Ooty. And we had the opportunity to visit there, and experience nature’s beauty from a single place. The garden introduced us with many types of flowers, plants, trees etc… One of the most attractive things was the rose garden, which surprised everyone’s mind with the large collection of various roses. We had boating at Ooty Lake and its beauty and thrill made us to have it twice.
Even though no one was interested to return from Ooty, they were seen enjoying themselves at the ‘Vega Land’ water theme park on the fourth and last day of the tour. We also took part in a food festival conducted at Cochin. After watching the second show of ‘Kavitha’ theatre at Ernakulum we returned back to Attingal.
We reached Attingal College at 4:30am. It was the response from all the participants of the study tour that “it has been a wonderful and informative experience. The real mean to know nature was not yet complete but we are satisfied to know little of it. The real touch of nature is nature itself and it could not be made artificially. And we are also thankful to the Professors, Teachers and all others who became part of the study tour which made it a successful one.”
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