Palchuram In Wayanad - A Beautiful Ghat Section

Panoramic view of Palchuram

Palchuram is new road opened from Wayanad towards Kottiyoor. My first ride with my car before I was an experienced driver was through this dangerous narrow ghat way. The drive through the ghat road was to attend one of my friend’s wedding function at Allakodu. He was my colleague at Marymatha [[link]] and there were 4 people with in the car including me. The dangerous curves and narrow road made me feel great that I decided in my mind at that time to visit this place again with a camera.

Dangerous hair pin bends at Palchuram

Before I went to this place with a camera, I had visited this place one or two times with my mother just for the purpose of sight seeing. A visit to this place is exotic, especially during rainy season and winter season. The whole mountains will be covered with snow and the chilling cold climate makes you feel wonderful.

A picture showing the depth of the valley

Near one of the hair pin bend of this ghat section there is a tea shop where I never missed to have a tea/coffee. I still remember the chilling water on my face; washing the face and hands with the chilling water brought through small pipes from some natural springs on the top of the mountain is really a different experience.

An over all view of the mountains and the valley

Some point of the road down the mountain is too dangerous that if a vehicle comes from the opposite side there is no way to give side. It becomes more dangerous when heavily loaded trucks, loaded with more than allowed weights climbs up. If they had to stop due to a vehicle coming from the opposite side, then they won’t be able to resume the drive up the mountain. Suppose such a vehicle stops in between and if the helper of the driver is not able to jump down and put a stopper beneath the wheels, then the outcome can be disastrous.

Streams flowing down forming small fall

Even though Palchuram is a narrow road, it connected Wayanad to many parts of Kannur district. Streams from the top of the mountain forms lot of beautiful small water falls here and there. After reaching half the way through this ghat section, there is a narrow mud road that leads to such a water fall, I forgot the name of the fall. There is the danger of getting bitten by leaches always, especially during rainy season.

View of the Waterfall

When I took the photos published here, it was rainy season and I couldn’t get a photograph with a clear blue sky. Some parts of this location are inhabited by humans. On the way to the water fall I found some areca nut plantations, but a good percentage of the trees were affected by some kind of disease; you can see the picture of the trees with out any leaves. The thick ever green forest makes this a wonderful sight seeing place.

Headless arecanut trees

I haven’t told by any body that there a chance of any animal attack in this location, I haven’t spotted any animals other than monkey from this location. But I am sure that the forest will be the inhabited by wild animals. It needs to be protected.