On Nilgiri hills of Western Ghats, Tamilnadu, Ooty or Udagamandalam is a popular hill station in India . Its altitude is 2240 meters above sea level. It was originally a tribal land of Toda. It was founded as British summer resort during British rule. Nilgiri hills or blue mountains is so named because Kurunji flower which blooms every twelve years giving the slopes of the hills a bluish tinge.
We started from Mysore by a hired car at early morning. After one and half hour, we passed Bandipur tiger reserve forest and saw some elephants, peacocks, languars, deers in the forest . After half an hour, we passed another forest, Madumalai. After Masinagudi , we were able to see the view of green Nilgiri hills and proceeded towards the hills. We took the shorter route with 36 hairpin bends. We enjoyed the lovely scenic beauty and steep hairpin bends on the hills and finally reached Ooty. We checked into a hotel and after an hour left for sightseeing.
After half an hour drive we reached ‘Doddabetta’ peak. It is the highest peak located at 2634 meters in the Nilgiri hills and the meeting point of Western Ghat and Eastern Ghat mountains and offers beautiful vistas of the Nillgiri Hill ranges. We walked to the View point and took the view of lush greenery of the mountains. We also took the telescopic view of the lovely scenario. The view point is managed by Tamilnadu Tourism. After visiting a Tea factory at Doddabetta, we came to Ooty city and after lunch we visited Rose Garden.
The Rose Garden was established in 1995 at Vijayanagaram of Ooty on the lower slopes of Elk hill. There are varieties of colourful roses in this garden of 4 hectares. We strolled in the garden for an hour.
The last place to see on that day was the Botanical garden of Ooty. From the Rose garden we reached the Botanical garden within half an hour.
This Botanical garden was established by William Graham Mclvor in 1848 AD in an area spreading 22 hectares . The British used the garden for producing kitchen vegetables. The garden is now maintained by Tamilnadu Govt. Horticulture Department.
On entering the garden, we found lush green lawns, big trees, exotic and rare species of flora. We saw the fossilized tree— which is 20 million years old. We went to ‘Italian garden’ which is an attractive and beautiful part of the park with variety of colourful flowering bushes . Some trees were nicely converted to various types of birds! We saw Fern house with varieties of ferns and orchids . By that time it was evening and we came out from the Botanical garden.
After taking coffee and buying some homemade chocolates from local market ,we left for the hotel by the car.
Travels by Arnab De 
Arnabda, very nice pictures and useful information. Enjoyed reading
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