To the 'Ooty of Kerala'; Ranipuram

Tripoto
24th Jun 2018
Photo of To the 'Ooty of Kerala'; Ranipuram by Soumya Hari

It was a suddenly planned trip a month before when I was in Mangalore. A friend of mine is there in Payyanur and we both wanted to go for a one day trip convenient for both. As per her suggestion, we decided to go to Bekal fort, which is one of the main tourist destinations in Kasaragod. But spending a whole day in Bekal Fort was not a good idea. So after some research, we decided to go for a trek to Ranipuram also. We were so excited and thrilled to meet up and to make memories that last forever. On June 24th, 2018 early morning I started the journey from Surathkal. Our entire trip was dependent on public transportation. So I reached Mangalore bus stand from Surathkal by bus at 7:00 am and got into a Kasaragod bus and further another bus to Bekal fort from Kasaragod. I reached Bekal fort by 9:30am. There, my friend was waiting for me at the bus stop. The fort is 300m from the bus stop. Since there's no hotel there, we had a snack breakfast from a stall inside the fort. There were only a few visitors there on that day. So the fort was very calm and quiet. The fort is very beautiful and the view of the sea from the fort is breathtaking. After spending enough time there, we headed to Kanhangad by 11:00am. We already had an idea of which bus we should get in to reach Ranipuram through our research. So without much delay, we got into a bus heading to Panathoor from Kanhangad bus stand at 12:00pm and got down at Panathadi bus stop by 1:30pm. There is about 8km from Panathadi to Ranipuram. There are jeep services available there. You can get there by auto rickshaw also. So we didn't wait for the jeep because we have to get down as soon as possible. The rickshaw fare was ₹200. On the way, the rickshaw driver told us that there will be no transportation services to get down from Ranipuram to Panathadi. That made us worried a little. So we bought that rickshaw driver's mobile number to call if we don't get any taxi or jeep. He was a very nice person. We reach Ranipuram by 2:00pm. The trek was an easier one. It's about 2km to get the top of the hill. The hill was fully covered by fog and the green grasslands and the dense forest was super awesome. The rain made it even more beautiful. We were aware of the leeches(Leeches are very common there; especially in rainy season). But luckily we didn't find a single one there. We took almost 3 hours to complete the trek. We completed the trek by 4:30pm. We called that rickshaw driver since there were no taxi services available from there to Panathadi. By 5:00pm we reached Panathadi. The trip was super fun and memorable. *Now a special mention about the people we met in our trip~ The guard there in the Bekal fort; he is a nice man. We had a friendly chat with him and he's a very responsible guard. Then the rickshaw driver; he is very helping and his genuine concern made us feel so safe and comfortable. Now the guide therein Ranipuram who helped us to reach the top of the hills and clicked some pictures of us. This kind of good people I meet while traveling is the best part of my travel stories...

Bekal fort

Photo of Ranipuram, Kerala, India by Soumya Hari

View from the stall.

Photo of Ranipuram, Kerala, India by Soumya Hari

View from the fort

Photo of Ranipuram, Kerala, India by Soumya Hari

Bekal Fort

Photo of Ranipuram, Kerala, India by Soumya Hari

Bekal Fort

Photo of Ranipuram, Kerala, India by Soumya Hari

View from the top, Ranipuram

Photo of Ranipuram, Kerala, India by Soumya Hari

The walk through the forest, Ranipuram

Photo of Ranipuram, Kerala, India by Soumya Hari

Ranipuram

Photo of Ranipuram, Kerala, India by Soumya Hari

The Grasslands, Ranipuram

Photo of Ranipuram, Kerala, India by Soumya Hari

The fog, Ranipuram

Photo of Ranipuram, Kerala, India by Soumya Hari

Ranipuram

Photo of Ranipuram, Kerala, India by Soumya Hari

Fog and rain, Ranipuram

Photo of Ranipuram, Kerala, India by Soumya Hari