Bonacaud- An evergreen village

Like to explore places? If yes then you have to read this. Its a short travelogue about a small, isolated, unpolluted village in trivandrum district.
The village I am talking about is called Bonacaud. Haven't heard the name? Don't worry, not much people know this place.
It was created in the British Raj period and was named as Bon-Accord. Later in due time it became Bonacaud. The Britishers run tea estates here and was one of their settlement areas along with Braemore. Horses were used to reach estates and horsetracks are still there, protected in Pandipathu, a trekking spot near Bonacaud. There is even a concrete horse shelter built which was earlier used to tie horses. There was a huge British bungalaow, the resting area for them. Now only some remaninings are there and revamped by the forest department.
We a group of five people in 3 bikes went to explore the village having a vague idea about how the journey will be. It was heard that the route to Bonacaud is through jungle, oopz! And the interesting thing is that jungle is well known for the loners, the notorious elephants! Keeping these things in mind we started our journey.
At 7am we started from attingal and reached vithura at 9am. Took a right deviation and entered the vithura-bonacaud road. Going straight from vithura leads to the ponmudi hillstation. We were not bothered of that route, it's only Bonacaud in mind. It is 20 km away from vithura.We continued the ride. At the beginning there were colonies on both sides to a few distance and as the ride progressed gradually the route entered into the forest area.

A distant view of Agasthya hill ranges enroute

Well, it was the first time experience for us. Then we reached the forest checkpoint where the road divides into two, one that we came through going deep into the forest towards our target and the other one leads to the vazhvanthol waterfalls which is a 5 km trekking route, wanna try that next time! The gaurds at the checkpoint told us there is nothing to see at Bonacaud and the route is dangerous too. Duh!! But we didn't lose hope and continued. That was actually the entry to the forest area. Moved a bit and we realized that the path we came through was just a starting of the forest reserve. The thick forest cover and the eerie silence welcomed us and brought some strange feelings in us, not getting words to explain it! We continued without hesitation.

Entry to the forest area

Luckily the condition of the road became better as we advanced and thank God, if any case of puncture or breakdown occured we would got stuck in the midst of forest! No settlements nearby, no range for mobiles though and the only things left were some giant wild trees and a not-too-bad road which is running deeper into the forest. Frankly speaking, we thought of returning to home at a stage too! Riding through the narrow and winding roads through the jungle was an unforgetable experience, the road was decent due to less human interventions here.

Narrow roads going deeper into the forest

Tourists are also limited here. Nobody takes the risk to go through forest, maybe. Therefore the greenery and scenic beauty are pristine. At a point we spotted elephant dung which seemed to be a few days older. Ofcourse, it's wild elephant's because what is the need of domestic ones here? Obviously we were slightly frightened but decided to move on. Well, at another point a much recent dung probably a few hours older was spotted! Oh my God! Stopped there for a while to have a discussion whether to move further or not. We made a funny interpretation-those elephants may be brought here to pull woods upto Vithura! Funny, isn't it? It was funny but helped us to move forward with some cheers at our faces. Travellers being attacked by elephants is a common thing here. Thus we made a prominent decision- turn back at once if the 'loners' are spotted at any distance.

View of Agasthya hills through the forest

Riding at a medium pace through the jungle while enjoying the natural beauty is something that is impossible to explain, you have to do it to experience the actual feel. The only noises were the engine sound of our bikes and the chirping of birds. Enjoyed it for the first time and, voila, we found the famous landmark on the way! It is a small temple of sage Agasthya Muni. Agasthya Muni was one of the seven saptharishis of the Hindu mythologies. There is a mysterious history behind this temple. It consists of a block of  rock as base with some ancient carvings and a statue of the sage atop the base. The pilgrims of the sage and the trekkers do poojas here before they start their trekking to the mighty Agasthyarkoodam hills, which was once the home of Agasthya Muni. We prayed to make our journey comfortable, took some photos and left the temple.

A small temple od Agasthya muni, one of the saptharishis of Hindu myths

Again another thing happened which brought smiles on us. We met a 'human'! Slightly exclaimed because we met no people since we left the forest checkpoint! He was a fish seller carrying fishes to Bonacaud village. Well, we were happy to see him and told us about the routes that we should take further and prompted us that there is a high watchtower nearby. We left it for the return trip and continued to Bonacaud. Gradually the thick forest cover seemed changing to an open area as we went through.

Road leading to an open area

Voila, the forest cover vanished and opened into the picturesque village. Roads became stony and a bit difficult to ride but the pleasing atmosphere and the landscapes made us to forget the condition of the road.

Look at the small road running through the hill side

 The narrow curving roads through hill sides further added beauty to this place.

Sight seeing was awesome

Sound of waterfalls are audible from everywhere

The greenery is perfect. It consists of a wide variety of plants and trees. Ruined tea plantations are a common sight found here.

Road went through hill sides

There we found another forest checkpost but the officials were gone somewhere and the checkpost was in opened state. We searched around for the officials but couldn't find anyone. We thought that they will be on the other side of the checkpost and could seek permission when met. Thus we continued beyond the checkpost.

Beyond the second checkpost. View of Agasthya hills

Wide variety of trees can be seen there

The roads went through the hills and valleys so we too. And about the sceneries, I can't even describe it, we got stunned at it! Sound of the waterfalls, chirping of birds, small streams running down the hills, distant views of mountain ranges and the evergreen nature everything provoked us and felt in love with it. Many trails were running through the greeneries uphill probably leading to much more interesting places. There is also a trail somewhere leading to the base of peppara reservoir but we were unable to spot the right one, so continued through the hill roads.

The valleys offered a visual treat to our eyes

The never ending hill roads!

Once again I repeat, the sight seeing is one of the best in the world, I promise. There were some ruined tea plantations enroute. Britishers built a tea factory here, it still exists but in a poor abandoned condition. As we went through we saw a day care centre, I wondered what's the use of such a place here, it's far from the settlements too. Then a lady working there warned us not to continue the route that we took because the area is prohibited. She told there is a bungalow nearby and to reach there we have to turn back and take the left trail on the way. Well we took that route with curiosity to see that bungalow.

The nature is pristine

The trail went through tea plantations and saw some workers busy plucking tea leaves. They all looked at us strangely for some time, may be they haven't seen a group of people in bikes riding there. We rode from there enjoying the fresh air.

View through the tea plantations

Distant view of peppara dam, not clear due to heavy mist

Once a pilgrimage to kurisumala was conducted here and the cross belongs to that

As we further moved the atmosphere began to change indicating a heavy rain will pour on us in a few hours! The clouds became darker and darker, made us to stop our venture because we had no protective gear to get away from the rain.

The beauty is untouched and untold

We were unable to explore the beauty of this village fully but decided to come again with all the things like rain coats, foods etc because there are many trekking places nearby which are only accessible by foot. There is the spectacular waterfall called Bonafalls which can be reached by trekking 4km through the jungle which is again famous for the notorious elephants! Pandipathu and Agasthya malai are two hardcore trekking areas here. So we stopped the exploration, turned back and the return journey was even more thrilling. The sky became ferocious grey as we went through, the landscapes became more spectacular in the presence of rain clouds. he tea pluckers rushed to finish their works.

Bonacaud has a rich flora to its account

Suddenly a man came to us in a bike and enquired whether we took the permission to access these places from the checkpoint. He said that recently some guys came here and attacked the bungalow, so strict restrictions were made by the forest department. We said the things happened at the checkpost earlier. Anyhow we convinced him that we came to see the places and I think he might have realised that we are good guys from our talk, nice thing, isn't it? Again the return trip continued and reached the checkpoint which is now closed with a security person aside. We once again explained the things. Fortunately nothing bad happened and he let us go. The return path is downhill so we turned off our engine and moved slowly took photographs, entered the forest cover saying goodbye to Bonacaud and increased our speed to reach vithura quickly before the rain hit the floor. But we spared some time to have a view from the watchtower mentioned earlier. We parked the bikes and done a short trekking to reach the tower and atop it offered panoramic views of beautiful Bonacaud, enchanting Agasthya hill ranges and a partial view of peppara dam.

Mighty Agasthya malai as viewed from the watchtower

Partial view of peppara dam from the watchtower

Had some photoshoots and quickly got to our bikes, said goodbye to the Agasthya Muni temple enroute, said goodbye to the huge frightening kind of trees and the narrow not-too-bad roads. Finally we reached vithura at around 3pm.

Frankly speaking, it is a must visit place in Trivandum if you love nature and love to travel and explore. Not much people know the existence of this place and therefore the place is untouched.
The photos are taken with mobile camera, so only average quality. Photos alone won't do justice to a place like this, it should be seen with our naked eyes.