This was our first visit to Sterling Wayanad and one of the best and memorable ones. Also we were taking a vacation as a family after 3 years and feel very contented that we chose this destination for our vacation.
We drove in from Bangalore on July 16, took us about 7 hours with breaks at the local karnataka thatte idli shops and Chettaas chai kadai where he introduced us to these tasty ‘Nendram Pazham Bajjis’! A very fun pleasant drive as we drove through sunflowers and the Bandipur and muthanga wild life sanctuaries where we spotted elephant, deer and monkeys on the road.
On reaching Sterling Wayanad, We were welcomed by a smiling Alex and Christy who made the checkin process quick and easy. We were taken in a buggy to our rooms. The property looks new (acquired in 2018) and excellently maintained. The cottages are beautifully interspersed with lots of greenery, flowers and huge jackfruit trees. Right in the middle of the monsoon season, the trees and plants looked luscious and green. We made it to lunch after a quick wash, and treated ourselves to a sumptuous spread of lunch buffet. Alex introduced us to Kishor, the chef and Sadalakshmi. Little did they know that we would have several special food requests in the next few days! From puttu kadala curry to jackfruits to aappam stew, they ensured each of our palate requests were fulfilled. We signed up for one each of their breakfast, lunch, dinner buffet package and the variety was excellent and none of the dishes were repeated. The spread and fare was perfect and I appreciate that the resort takes enough care to minimise wastage, both food and water. There were enough salads, eggless pastries, noodles and pasta, vegetarian subjis and Kerala specials, to cater to vegetarian customers.
Post lunch, we spent an hour at the discovery zone playing board games, which I hadn’t played in years! Dileep at the games room, an exuberant, lively and expressive gentleman, listed out many activities; zipline and the nature and loop walk, attracted us the most. On the final day of our checkout, Dileep customised a 3 hour walk for us, which combined the nature and loop walks, a 6 km walk, a very informative and beautiful walk, despite some slushy paths due to the rains. As Sterling is nestled amidst the forests, we saw deer within the property as well as outside, heard the barking deer, saw a few giant squirrels and beaver nests, spotted a langoor, And several elephant footprints, while Dileep also educated us with botany lessons of several trees, plants and fruits, including tamarind, pepper, coffee, rubber, teak, bamboo and Arika trees. We had this super tasty and herbal organic black coffee at Chackos, and also met some of the villagers who were carrying fresh milk to supply to the co-operative. We got some bamboo rice and wild forest honey at another local villagers store. Our ‘aappam’ chettaa was not available this morning sadly, but Kishor and Lakshmi at Sterling quickly whipped up the aappams for us when we returned to the resort, to ensure we weren’t disappointed. Dileep brought us back through a shortcut as we were getting late, but the rains gods were kind to us and we had a bright and rainless morning walk, and all hungry to devour the aappams.
I also managed to squeeze in a Abhyanga massage and steam bath at the Spa where Reeja did a thorough job leaving me refreshed and rejeuvenated.
I guess having come with my young adult boys, we managed to cover the Edakkal caves trek, the Muthanga wild life safari on two of the days. Also managed to do a zipline at the resort itself. Happy I didn’t have to go looking for one outside. Many resorts don’t have wifi in the rooms because of the expanse, but Sterling had pretty decent wifi in the rooms and all across the resort. Since It was in the middle of the forest, mobile signal
Was literally zero for all providers, except for Jio. Wifi saved our day to stay in touch with each other and with family at home. We all managed to take ample rest, enjoy the rains from our balconies and play a few games of monopoly and uno and watch a Malayalam movie too amidst this packed memorable holiday.
Special thanks to everyone at Sterling and the friendly shops and the villagers, who went the extra mile to make our vacation such a special one.