We were 2 families (11 people) staying at the Sterling Ooty Fern Hill resort in the Christmas week. On the very first day, we reached the resort around afternoon and decided to explore amenities on the property. The kids spent time at the activity club. It is here that we met Vignesh who organizes birdwatching, nature walks and other activities for guests.
After some sightseeing on our second day, we made a plan to go for a nature trek with Vignesh around the resort. This started off on the road outside the resort entrance, diverged off at the Coonoor – Ooty toy train track which is really close to the property and completed with a closed loop approaching the resort from the other side. The toy train track is surrounded by indigenous flora and fauna (birds). Vignesh worked hard to show us specific birds – mynahs, jungle crows etc. However, we soon realized that a group as noisy as ours was not really set up well for birdwatching. Vignesh also went out of his way to help us experience the walk fully – even went off the track to get us some Nilgiri leaves / flowers.
There is an authentic Todha shrine close to the track. Todha’s are a native tribe to Ooty. The shrine is a hut built out of natural materials and is at the edge of a meadow. Buffaloes are sacred to this tribe and Vignesh made sure we took off our footwear before stepping on the grass. When we were preparing to move on, we heard the toy train hoot and rushed back to the track to catch the train on its evening run to Ooty.
We later took a detour that led us to Lovedale train station. It is a picturesque location and we snapped a bunch of selfies / groupfies there.
The whole trek took about 2.5 hours (mainly due to all the photo stops). We had 2 senior citizens and 1 toddler with us – Vignesh took care to pace us to accommodate them.
We loved the experience so much that we did another trip to Vignesh’s village the next day where we explored the local farming. We even visited his house, met his extremely talented (artist) and friendly mother and harvested carrots and beet from his farm.
These experiences are way more memorable than the standard tourist destinations that we visited around Ooty. Really glad to have met Vignesh and grateful to the resort for organizing these activities.