Holiday Differently with Sterling Holidays, Wayanad – Day 1

When you get embraced from the God’s own country you never say no. That’s exactly what happened with me as well. I was very excited to experience the magic of lush green paddy fields, tall coconut trees, surrounding hills and a new perception towards travel and experience with Sterling Holidays.

Best of the Beast: A View of Sterling Wayanad

Monday morning: The journey started at 6.20 am from Bangalore. Mysur highway was as busy as it always used to be. Cutting through the highway traffic and enjoying the serene surroundings we reached Hotel MidWay highway restaurant for the breakfast at 8 am.

Breakfast time. SJCam has become my travel partner

Somewhere before entering Bandipur Tiger Reserve

After breakfast, everyone fell asleep only to wake up near Bandipur Tiger Reserve.  While everyone’s eye was eagerly looking at the window, I was lost in old memories of my previous ride through this stretch on my bike. It was a thrilling experience to ride on this stretch on the bike. As soon as we entered Kerala state we were greeted by the paddy fields on either side stretching till the horizon. The lush green paddy fields are the reason behind the name of the place Wayanad (Valay- Paddy, Nadu – Land).

Passing through Bandipur forest

Paddy fields on either side are the indication that you are in Kerala

Sterling Holidays: After 7 hours of the long journey, we reached Sterling Wayanad. We were welcomed in traditional style with staff wearing typical Malayali style attire with a bright smile on their face. The welcome drink (lemon tea) was effective enough to nullify the tiredness. The reception area was decorated with the rustic chairs and vibrant paints with antique pieces showcasing Theyyam style of dance culture.

Getting welcomed in Traditional style. Featuring: Currylines

The reception area of the resort

The cozy sofa gives you the comfort and homely feeling

The wall is decorated colorfully with Theyamm antic artifacts

The middle photo is the Theyyam traditional costume and the surroundings are the artifacts used by them

The Rooms: Soon after the formalities, we checked in to the rooms. The rooms were beautiful, spacious and clean. Apart from the basic facilities like a cozy bed and TV, the room had a balcony, a walk-in wardrobe, safe locker, and a very clean washroom. My room had a balcony where one can sit and grab a cup of coffee while enjoying the beautiful view of the resort and the greenery surrounding it. 

The beautiful room and the welcome surprise

After getting freshened we proceeded for the lunch. The restaurant is on the other side, we could either choose to walk or take a buggy ride. We decided to walk and explore the resort thoroughly. Nested in Muthunga Wildlife sanctuary the resort looked majestic and ample greenery around.

The resort has been nested in the green forest

The balance between the structures and the greenery is worth appreciating

Lunch Time: The spacious multicuisine restaurant looked elegant with the entire place lit up serving a wide range of dishes including exotic Kerala cuisine. After a sumptuous lunch, we proceeded for the ziplining activity.

The restaurant looks elegant and classy with the beautiful interiors and soothing atmosphere

Always camera eats first. Featuring: Phenomenal taste

The spices of Wayanad

The lunch of the day.

Ziplining: The first activity of the day was Zipline. The resort has Zipline setup inside the property itself. It was my first time to do zip line so I was really excited. After wearing safety gears I was ready to jump. Flying through the property I covered around 200 meters in a matter of seconds. I was tempted to do it again but time was the constraint. 

Ziplining for the first time

Tribal visit: We proceeded for the next activity – Tribal village visit. Little did I know was Sultan Bathery is a homeland of various tribal communities. The tribal village was just 2 km away from the resort. After a kilometer of the drive, we walked to reach Paniya tribe.  It was a colony of 4-6 houses with the basic facility like drinking water, electricity, rainwater harvesting provided by the government. We met a Tribal lady who was in her 80’s but looked half her age. She walks 5 km a day and cooks her own meal which gave me a new perception towards fitness. While 10+ cameras were pointing at her to capture the portrait, she gave a bold expression like a model. For a moment I felt I captured the Nat Geo cover shot.

Walking through the Tribal Village

The Tribal lady giving pose like a model. She’s 85 but looks half her age who walks 5 km a day and cooks her own meal.

National Geography cover shot

Paddy fields: We crossed a couple of more tribal settlement and landed into the paddy field. Waynad is known for its green paddy fields and beautiful landscape. It was a bliss to walk through the paddy field. It became dark by the time we reached back to the bus. After reaching the resort we went for the High Tea.

Lush green paddy fields. Featuring: Chilly studio and Vandytheblogger

When you say “GoPro take a pic” and GoPro throws you back with amazing clicks

High Tea: It is the British tradition of drinking tea while sitting in high-backed chairs at a table full of plated items. The theme for the day was coffee so we had all the items in coffee flavor. Every item was delicious. The tea was one of the best tea I had in recent times. We proceeded to our respective rooms after this.

Coffee was the theme for the day

All the items were coffee flavored

That’s a photographer’s plate

Dinner: We had some exotic Kerala dishes for the dinner including the Kerala rice and Bamboo Biriyani. I was overwhelmed by the dinner.

Exotic kerala dishes on my dinner plate

The irresistible deserts

It was 10.30 pm by the time we finished our dinner. I so much tired that I went to my room and just crashed on the bed only to wake up to the beautiful morning on the next day.

The resort looks even more beautiful at night

Read my Day-2 post where we did lots of fun activities in the resort, visited the Jain temple and church and had a barbeque dinner.

For booking you can visit Sterling resort’s official website.

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