Ooty
Ooty (; officially Udagamandalam (), Anglicisation, anglicized: Ootacamund , abbreviated as Udagai, ) is a town and municipality in the Nilgiris district of the Indian States and territories of India, state of Tamil Nadu. It is located northwest of Coimbatore, and is the headquarters of Nilgiris district. Situated in the Nilgiri Mountains, Nilgiri hills, it is known by the epithet "Queen of Hill Stations", and is a popular tourist destination. Originally occupied by the Toda people, the area came under the rule of the East India Company in the 18th century. It later served as the summer capital of Madras Presidency. The economy is based on the hospitality industry serving tourism and agriculture. The town is connected to the plains by the Nilgiri Ghat Roads, Nilgiri ghat roads and Nilgiri Mountain Railway. Etymology The region was earlier known as ''Ottakal Mandu'', with ''Otta-kal'' meaning 'single stone' in Tamil language, Tamil, a reference to a sacred stone revered by th ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Government Botanical Garden
The Government Botanical Garden is a botanical garden in Udhagamandalam, near Coimbatore (Ooty), Tamil Nadu state, India laid out in 1848. The gardens, divided into several sections, cover an area of around , and lie on the lower slopes of Doddabetta peak. The garden has a terraced layout. It is maintained by the Tamil Nadu Horticulture Department. It ascends the slopes of the hill at an elevation of 2250–2500 metres above mean sea level. The garden enjoys a temperate climate, with an average rainfall of 140 cm, the most of which is received during south-west monsoon, with frosty nights from November to February. The maximum and minimum temperatures are 28 °C and 0 °C respectively. History The Government Botanical Garden, Udhagamandalm, was established in 1848. Its architect was William Graham McIvor. The Marquis of Tweedale prepared the initial layout during the late 1840s. The gardens were established by a subscription of Rs 3 per month amongst th ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Nilgiris District
The Nīlgiris district is one of the 38 List of districts of Tamil Nadu, districts in the South India, southern Indian States and union territories of India, state of Tamil Nadu. Nilgiri () is the name given to a range of mountains spread across the borders among the states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala. The Nilgiri Mountains, Nilgiri Hills are part of a larger mountain chain known as the Western Ghats. Their highest point is the mountain of Doddabetta, height 2,637 m. The district is contained mainly within the Nilgiri Mountains range. The administrative headquarters is located at Ooty (Ootacamund or Udhagamandalam). The district is bounded by Coimbatore district, Coimbatore to the south, Erode district, Erode to the east, and Chamarajanagar district, Chamarajnagar district of Karnataka and Wayanad district, Wayanad district of Kerala to the north. As it is located at the junction of three states, namely, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Karnataka, significant Malayali and Kannadi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The Nilgiris District
The Nīlgiris district is one of the 38 districts in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Nilgiri () is the name given to a range of mountains spread across the borders among the states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala. The Nilgiri Hills are part of a larger mountain chain known as the Western Ghats. Their highest point is the mountain of Doddabetta, height 2,637 m. The district is contained mainly within the Nilgiri Mountains range. The administrative headquarters is located at Ooty (Ootacamund or Udhagamandalam). The district is bounded by Coimbatore to the south, Erode to the east, and Chamarajnagar district of Karnataka and Wayanad district of Kerala to the north. As it is located at the junction of three states, namely, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Karnataka, significant Malayali and Kannadiga populations reside in the district. Nilgiris district is known for natural mines of Gold, which is also seen in the other parts of Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve extended in the n ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ooty Lake
Ooty lake is an artificial lake near Ooty in the Nilgiris district of Tamil Nadu, India. It covers an area of . The boathouse on the lake is a major tourist attraction. History Ooty Lake is an artificial lake constructed by John Sullivan in 1824. The water flowing down mountain streams in the Ooty valley was dammed to form the lake. The lake became empty on three occasions when it breached its bund. Originally, the lake was intended to be used for fishing, with ferries being used to travel across the lake. It gradually shrunk from its original size, giving place to the current bus stand, race course and the lake park. The Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation, on behalf of the Tourism Department, took possession of the lake in 1973 to provide boating facilities as a tourist attraction. Features The lake is surrounded by groves of Eucalyptus trees with a railway line running along one shore. During the summer season in May, boat races and boat pageantry are organised ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Nilgiri Ghat Roads
Many Ghat Roads can be found in the Nilgiris District of Tamil Nadu, Southern India. Nearly all of the district is located in the Nilgiri Hills, part of the Western Ghats mountains. This area borders the states of Karnataka and Kerala. The hills consequently can be reached by road from three states. Most of these Ghat Roads go through heavily forested mountains and contain a number of sharp hair-pin bends. Route Descriptions There are five main Ghat Roads leading into the Nilgiris: Kotagiri Ghat (State Highway 15) Route: Erode-Gobichettipalayam-Sathyamangalam-Mettupalayam, Coimbatore, Mettupalayam-Aravenu-Kotagiri-Ooty The Kotagiri Ghat is the oldest known route into the Nilgiris. It approximately follows the route taken by John Sullivan (British governor), John Sullivan on his discovery trips in 1819. The distance between Mettupalayam and Kotagiri on this road is 33 km and it has only 4 hair pin bends. This road is part of State Highway 15 (Tamil Nadu), State Highway 1 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Nilgiri Mountain Railway
The Nilgiri Mountain Railway (NMR), colloquially called the "Toy Train" by locals, is a railway in Nilgiris district, Tamil Nadu, India, built by the British in 1908. The railway is operated by the Southern Railway and is the only rack railway in India. The railway relies on its fleet of steam locomotives. NMR switched to diesel locomotives on the section between Mettupalyam and Udhagamandalam. Local people and visitors led a campaign to return to steam locomotives in this section. In July 2005, UNESCO added the Nilgiri Mountain Railway as an extension to the World Heritage Site of Darjeeling Himalayan Railway. The site then became known as Mountain Railways of India. History In 1854, plans were made to build a mountain railway from Mettupalayam to the Nilgiri Hills. However, it took the decision-makers 45 years to cut through the bureaucratic red tape and complete the construction. The line was completed and opened for traffic in June 1899. It was operated first by the Ma ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Pykara
The Pykara is a river from Ooty in the Indian State of Tamil Nadu with a village by the same name nearby. The Pykara River is considered very sacred by the Todas. It rises at Mukurthi peak, flows northwards, and then turns to the west after reaching the edge of the plateau. The river flows through Mukurthi, Pykara and Glenmorgan dams, and forms part of an important hydro-electric power project. It is a tributary of the Moyar river, which in turn is a tributary of the Bhavani river, which itself is a tributary of the Kaveri river. The river flows over a series of waterfalls, the last two of and being known as Pykara Falls. The falls are approximately from the bridge on the main road. There is a forest rest house at Pykara. A boat house on the Pykara reservoir is an added attraction for tourists. Pykara has well-protected, fenced sholas, Toda settlements, large grassy meadows and good wildlife habitat. The Pykara Dam, falls and reservoir attract many tourists. Climate Py ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Hill Station
A hill station is a touristic town located at a higher elevation than the nearby plain or valley. The English term was originally used mostly in Western imperialism in Asia, colonial Asia, but also in Africa (albeit rarely), for towns founded by European colonialists as refuges from the summer heat as historian Dane Kennedy observes about the Indian context, "the hill station (...) was seen as an exclusive British preserve: here it was possible to render the Indian into an outsider".Kennedy, Dane. The Magic Mountains: Hill Stations and the British Raj. Berkeley: University of California Press, c1996 1996. , http://ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft396nb1sf/ The term is still used in present day, particularly in India, which has the largest number of hill stations, most are situated at an altitude of approximately . History In South Asia Hill stations in British Raj, British India were established for a variety of reasons. One of the first reasons in the early 1800s, was for the p ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India by population, sixth largest by population, Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, who speak the Tamil language—the state's official language and one of the longest surviving Classical languages of India, classical languages of the world. The capital and largest city is Chennai. Located on the south-eastern coast of the Indian peninsula, Tamil Nadu is straddled by the Western Ghats and Deccan Plateau in the west, the Eastern Ghats in the north, the Eastern Coastal Plains lining the Bay of Bengal in the east, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait to the south-east, the Laccadive Sea at the southern Cape (geography), cape of the peninsula, with the river Kaveri bisecting the state. Politically, Tamil Nadu is bound by the Indian sta ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Madras Presidency
The Madras Presidency or Madras Province, officially called the Presidency of Fort St. George until 1937, was an administrative subdivision (province) of British India and later the Dominion of India. At its greatest extent, the presidency included most of southern India, including all of present-day Andhra Pradesh, almost all of Tamil Nadu and parts of Kerala, Karnataka, Odisha and Telangana in the modern day. The city of Madras was the winter capital of the presidency and Ooty (Udagamandalam) was the summer capital. The Madras State was neighboured by the Kingdom of Mysore to the northwest, the Kingdom of Cochin and Kingdom of Travancore to the southwest, the Kingdom of Pudukkottai in the center, and the Hyderabad State to the north. Some parts of the presidency were also flanked by Bombay State ( Konkan Districts) and Central States (modern Madhya Pradesh). In 1639, the English East India Company purchased the village of Madraspatnam and one year later it establis ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Climate Of India
The climate of India consists of a wide range of weather conditions across a vast geographic scale and varied topography. Based on the Köppen climate classification, Köppen system, India encompasses a diverse array of climatic subtypes. These range from arid and semi-arid regions in the west to highland, sub-arctic, tundra, and ice cap climates in the northern Himalayas, Himalayan regions, varying with elevation. The northern lowlands experience subtropical conditions which become more Temperate climate, temperate at higher altitudes, like the Sivalik Hills, or continental climates, continental in some areas like Gulmarg. In contrast, much of the south and the east exhibit tropical climate conditions, which support lush rainforests in parts of these territories. Many regions have starkly different microclimate, microclimates, making it one of the most climatically diverse countries in the world. The country's meteorological department follows four seasons with some local ad ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Climatic Regions Of India
The climate of India consists of a wide range of weather conditions across a vast geographic scale and varied topography. Based on the Köppen system, India encompasses a diverse array of climatic subtypes. These range from arid and semi-arid regions in the west to highland, sub-arctic, tundra, and ice cap climates in the northern Himalayan regions, varying with elevation. The northern lowlands experience subtropical conditions which become more temperate at higher altitudes, like the Sivalik Hills, or continental in some areas like Gulmarg. In contrast, much of the south and the east exhibit tropical climate conditions, which support lush rainforests in parts of these territories. Many regions have starkly different microclimates, making it one of the most climatically diverse countries in the world. The country's meteorological department follows four seasons with some local adjustments: winter (December to February), summer (March to May), monsoon or south-west monso ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |