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The serene Avalanche

Back from Ooty, Pooja Bhula relishes her experience of a safari at the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve

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Clockwise: Lakkidi Lake in Avalanche; the evergreen sholas look like brocolli from a distance; on the way to the reserved forest
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Snow-capped peaks, landslides and loss of lives come to mind when you think of an avalanche. But 'Avalanche', the recently popularised eco-tourism site in the Nilgiris, is a vibrant reserve forest.

Opened five years ago in 2012, entry to Avalanche is restricted because of 'Maoists', claim foresters. From Ooty to Avalanche check post, it's a 25-kilometre scenic drive that takes you past villages, the famous Good Shepherd School, slope after slope of tea plantations, rows of trees, dipping valleys and the lovely Emerald Lake with open, blue skies.

As private vehicles are not allowed beyond the check post, you have to park outside the forest department's office and buy tickets for the tour. You can choose between a 26-seater bus or eight-seater jeep safari, both at Rs 150 per head. As you make your way inside, dense thickets stand tall alongside shrub-laden grasslands; just the kind of place you see in a National Geographic documentary, home to spectacular wildlife. And it is. We're told it has over 2,000 birds. Lucky ones can spot tigers, panthers, gaur, sambar and sloth bear among others. But with an average of 100 tourists visiting per day during the week and 300 on weekends, the probability dwindles.

The first stop is past the kaccha roads to a point from where you can view the sholas. Our driver tells us it's appeal lies in the cauliflower-like appearance of the shola trees. Indeed, from a distance you feel like you're seeing broccoli covered hills. Their ecological importance lies in the fact that they are evergreen, keep the water cycle alive and support a number of endemic plant and animal species.

Completely deserted, except for us, the forest is so silent, you can hear the nearby waterfall even before you see it, bringing out the selfie-devils in us. A few kilometres ahead, we stop at Bhavani Amman temple. It is captivating
to watch the river Bhavani, Tamil Nadu's second largest river and a major tributary of the Cauvery, gush down over large, smoothened rocks from its birth point Thalai Bhavani.

Before revealing the final and main attraction – Lakkidi Lake – the safari gives you enough time to savour the fascinating landscape. If one slope is covered with barren trees, the next is dense with conifers and the one after has patches of delicate, flowering catci…

Loosely called Avalanche Lake, Lakkidi, which forms the backwaters of the Upper Bhavani Dam, is a shimmering blue vision when the sun is high, surrounded by moss-covered slopes on one side, conifers on the other and lush hills meeting the sky far ahead. The water is as pure as it looks. This lake is just one of those gifts of nature that you can't take your eyes off.

But why is such a lush, sultry location called 'Avalanche' ? A forest officer has more answers than the internet that I surfed in vain. Apparently, around the time of the British rule, when the area was covered with snow from December to February, it had seen an avalanche. The forest officer informs us, "now it only snows in December, and not as much as it would have in the 1800s." Is it open to tourists in winter as well? "We keep it closed on Mondays for maintenance and sometimes in June or July because when it rains too much, trees fall and block the road. Otherwise, it's open all year round. Frankly, in the past three years, we haven't received much rain."

Around the lake, he tells me, it's so windy that placards fly away. Soon the forest department will install a new digital information screen to give curious travellers more insight – I'm hoping into Avalanche's topography, wildlife and biodiversity. Many environmentalists, he says, are pushing the government to close Avalanche to the public. While only time will tell how that pans out, the forester wants the government to limit the number of visitors to 100 a day, as recommended by some, so that "we can control the crowd and maintain the place". One hopes so too. It would be a terrible loss to have such a lovely place undergo the kind of degradation that most of our tourist-frequented sites do.

Plan your trip

The tour starts at Avalanche check post and covers the cauliflower or shola forest view, Thalai Bhavani and Lakkidi lake
Jeep Tour with 8 people: Rs 1,200Bus tour with 26 people: Rs150/per head Closed on Mondays for maintenance

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