Friday, December 4, 2009

Yercaud - In and Around

My last post on Yercaud, Yercaud - The Drive, was about the drive to and from Yercaud.
This one is about things you could do while at Yercaud.

Some 5-6 kms from Yercaud Lake is the highest point in Yercaud, Servaroyan Hill, which is known for the Servaroyan Temple, inside a narrow and low cave.

The view from the Servaroyan Hill is, expectedly, beautiful, mostly. It is marred slightly by the presence of some barren hills. Why?


The discovery of bauxite and the mining operations around the Shevaroy hills have ensured that forest cover has been depleted in areas - as you can see from the photo below. Pity.


This is on the way down from the Shevaroy Hill.


Just before you take the right fork to go up the Shevaroy Hill, there is the Raj Rajeshwari (form of Goddess Parvati) temple on the left. Takes 15 minutes to visit, but worth going.





This is the view from Pagoda Point. Why it is called the 'Pagoda Point' I don't know. But the house below makes for a picture perfect setting. If one were the patient type, and willing to invest a few hours, you could wait for the light to get just right, and then shoot some snaps. Would likely come out fabulous.


The Sun made for some haze in the air, as you can see, especially when shooting near the end of the zoom lens' range.


From the Gent's seat (and no, I am not talking about lavatories), you get a beautiful view of the GRT Nature Trail hotel. As you can see, if you stay in one of the rooms facing the valley, you are likely to catch spectacular photos of the sunset and also of Salem at night.


Move the camera just a wee bit to the right, and I could see this woman perched quite precariously on top of an almost dead tree, axe in one hand, grabbing on to the tree with the other, and swinging away more merrily than Sehwag at Saqlain Mushtaq.


A nest on a leaf, in the Rose Garden.





© 2009, Abhinav Agarwal. All rights reserved.