Niagra Falls Ain't Got Nothing On Athirampally

 WARNING:  Long post, sorry in advance for the time you spend reading this. 






On Saturday, five of us - Kat, Peter, John, Jason and I - took a trip to Kodanad Elephant Training Center and to Athirampally Waterfalls.  We started out leaving the hotel around 7am which was pretty early...but we were told to get to the Kodanad first thing in the morning and it was at least an hour away.

Kodanad is the one and only training center for elephants in the state of Kerala.  I was super excited to book an elephant ride which cost only 200 Rs (about $4) for up to 4 people for 30 mins...but was sadly let down when we were told the elephant was sick.  Entrance into the park, or zoo rather....was only 2 Rs/person and each camera was 25 Rs.  Everything is super cheap here which is kinda nice...but I'd rather them charge a bit more and put the money to good use in the zoo.  It wasn't very clean and most of the animals had small cages.  

We got to get pretty close to a few of the elephants and take some pictures.  Afterwards, the trainers came up to us "tip, tip...  tip".  We tipped him more than what it cost for us to get in there simply because we had no smaller change.  And what's a buck, anyway?  This elephant wasn't so sure about us getting close and taking pictures.  The trainer had a stick and would yell at him if he tried to get away or move his trunk at us.  I wasn't so sure about standing close because I didn't want to get hit... or for it to get hit.

Kodanad also had many other animals, mostly caged though.  This monkey was pretty smart and somehow got out.  No one seemed to mind and it was entertaining watching it chasing another around.  Once it found the food, it was kept looking both ways then sticking its' arm in to get food.  One smart little monkey :)





After leaving the elephants, we went to Athirampally Waterfalls.  Again, it cost us a whopping $4 for 5 of us plus 3 cameras.  I tell ya, these trips might break the bank.  I might have to get a job while we're here.  Oh wait, one of the waiters already told me I needed to get a job when I was at lunch the other day.  How nice of him.  He said I can only read so many books ( I was on my third book already and always take it to lunch if I'm eating by myself) and spend so much time on the computer.  I agreed with him... maybe I should start reading the classifieds.  hmm...

View from the top

Okay... so we were told that Athirampally Waterfalls were better than Niagra Falls.  I wasn't sure and figured the guy that told us this had probably never even come close to seeing Niagra Falls. I was wrong, he had in fact been there.  So.. I still figured it was an exaggeration, but thought that this must be pretty cool if he's comparing the two.  We've never seen Niagra Falls, but this seemed not even close to what I would imagine it would be like.  Athirampally was pretty neat although it was starting to rain while we were there...which makes it hard to get pictures to come out clear, even with my expertise camera skills.  (haha!)

Once we admired Niagra...I mean, Athirampally Falls from the top entrance, we proceeded down the trail for the full view, up close and personal.  But this time, it was raining.  Good thing we brought our rain jackets.  We were not only getting slightly rained on, but also getting the mist from being so close to the water falls.  It made it difficult to take the pictures while trying to keep the camera from getting soaked.   

Ohh Yeah...

Athirampally Falls

Up top, there were monkeys roaming around like they owned the place.  Seriously.. I guess they do.  There a few stands by the entrance that sold drinks and snacks....  then close by you have monkeys who are hungry.  Not such a good combo.  There was one just sitting there mealing on popcorn that someone had left it. 

HI DAD!!  When did you get to India?  Good to see ya...

While we were watching this one eat the popcorn for fear of someone taking it from him, another one came close by and tried to grab a bag of chips from Peters hand.... then proceeded to find me with my bag of stale popcorn that only cost 10 Rs.  It chased me until some Indian guys got it to stop while Jason and everyone else was laughing.  In retrospect, it was funny.  At the time though, I was afraid of the little shit, even though I could have easily kicked it out of the way.  It kept following me and making this awful hissing/growling sound.  I swear the people who own the snack stands just sell food to watch the foreigners get attacked by the monkeys.  I know I would if I were them :)


....and a very HAPPY 10th BIRTHDAY to my favorite little guy, my nephew - Travis!!
(from your FAVORITE Aunt!)  hehe