YELAGIRI A FAMOUS HILL STATION

If you are searching for a place engulfed in silence and peace then Yelagiri in Tamilnadu perfectly suits your choice, providing you cool and calm atmosphere all year round. Yelagiri is actually a cluster of small villages spread around hills. There are many tourist attractions here like a beautiful and charming lake, Mughal garden around the lake, Velavan Temple, and a children's park.But the real charm of Yelagiri lies in its calmness and uniformly pleasnt weather. The main attraction
of tourist in Yelagiri is to enjoy boating in a beautiful and small artificial lake known as Punganoor Lake. You can choose between a rowboat and a pedalboat to enjoy the scenic beauty in and around the lake. Jalagamparai Waterfalls is a lovely waterfalls about an hour's trek from Yelagiri. It has been created by the Attaru River, which flows through the Yelagiri hills. The Government Silk Farm here is famous for its mulberry plantations. The sericulture tour can provide you immense pleasure as you get a chance to see silk farming from very close.
'The wooods are lovely dark and deep,'Robert Frost said and this is true of all the hill stations of Tamil Nadu. One cannot wait to go back to them again and again.

ON WE GO TO YERCAUD

Yercaud is yet another popular hill station near Salem, Tamilnadu in the Servarayan range of hills in the Eastern Ghats. It is at an altitude of 1,500 maters (4,920 feet). The town gets its name from the lake located at its centre - in Tamil 'yeri'means lake and 'kaadu'means forest. Yercaud is known for coffee plantations and orange groves. Jackfruit, orange, guava, and species such as black peper and cardomom are the other crops raised on the coffee estate. Sandalwood, teak and silver oak are abundant too. Yercaud also has an orchidarium run by the Botanical Survey of India.

Wildlife includes bison, deer, anteater, rabbit, hares, foxes, mangoose, squirrels, partridges, snakes, bulbuls, kites, sparrows, swallows, and the bird of paradise.

COONOOR INVITES YOU

Coonoor is the second largest in the Nilgiri hills after Ooty. Sims Park is, without doubt, the star attraction of Coonoor. Spread over 12 hectares,it is small enough for a comfortable walk around and large enough to house a thousand varieties of trees, plants, flower, and a small lake. The town's infrastructure often finds itself unable to handle the tourist inflow and life turns especially chaotic when the local horicutural society holds its annual Fruit show at the peak of the tourist season, hosted at Sim's Park. There are several scenic areas around Coonoor. It provides tourists with a panoramic view of Eastern and Western Ghats along with its ravines, valleys, and water falls. There are some view points close to Coonoor notably Dolphin's Nose, Lamb's Rock, and Lady Canning's seat.

COOL KODAIKANAL

Kodaikanal is home to the unique flowering plant'kurunji' that last blooms in 2004. It is nature's gift to kodaikanal in the palani hills. It is situated at an altitude of about2,133metres and covers an area of 21.45sq.km. The hill town is reownedfor its educational insitutions of international repute. Brijam lake, one among the beautiful lakes of south india, spreads over an area of 24 hectares. Bryant's park, pillarrocks, and green valley view are among the places tourist throng. But come late afternoon andlife centres around the kodai lake! You can go to boating, horseriding, cycling, walking, or just sit on a bench and gaze at the waters of lake, finding a quiet spot along the path around lake.Kodaikanal also boasts of a famous golf club which came into existence on 17 june, 1895. The vegetables and fruits in kodaikanalare famous for their freshness and quality. peaches, pears,grapes, plums, and all the other fruit of temperate hillsare grown here. Potatoes in huge volumes, cauliflower, and other vegetables attract the pinickeres, which are seen everywhere in markets. The weather helps in cultivation of these fruits and vegetable in large volumes.
Apart from coffee estates in the plantations, cultivating orchards, flowers, blue gum, eucalyptus tree, pines, wattles, and fruit trees are most profitable business here. Among the different kinds of flowers, sweet smelling madonna lilies, daturas,dahlias,etc., are notable which are available for sale.
Summer festival programmes in the month of may includes Flower show, Dog show,and Boatshows.

MY FAVOURITE PLACE

Ooty, which is also known as Udhagamandalam, is the Queen of hill stations. It is one of the most popular tourist resorts in India. It is in the Niligiris district. Niligris means Blue mountains. The name is derived from the colour of the hills when seen from a distance on account of the eucalyptus trees that grow here. It is a land of picturesque picnic spots. It used to be a popular summer and weekend getaway for the Britishers during the colonial days. It is situated at an altitude of 2,240 metres above sea level. The establishment of numerous tea estates made Ooty famous. Lofty mountains,dense forests, sprawling grasslands and miles of tea gardens greetthe passengers on most routes. The annual Tea and Tourism Festival attracts crowds inhuge numbers. An added attraction for the tourists to Udhagamandalam is the mountain train journey, which commences from Kallar, near Mettupalayam, and wends its way through many hair-raising curves and fearful tunnels and chugs along beside deep ravines full of verdant vegetation, gurgling streams, and tea gardens.

The Botanical Gargen, an important tourist attraction was laid our in 1847 and spreads over 55 acres. Lush, green, well-maintained lawns, rare tree species like the cork tree,which is probably the only such tree in India, the paper bark tree, the monkey puzzle tree (monkeys cannot climb this tree), a 20 million year old fossilized tree, an italian style garden bordering a clear pool, a vast variety of flowering bushes and plants in myraid hues (exotic and ornamental), and a fern house with a vast range of ferns and orchids are some of the many highlights of this garden. A flower show along with an exhibition of rareplant species is held every year in the month of may at this garden.The garden is maintained by the Horiculture Department of the Government of Tamilnadu and has a very wide variety of plants that include differnt types ofroses,imported shurbs, rare flowering plants,etc.