Ooty
Udhagamandalam is
a town, a municipality, and the district
capital of the
Nilgiris district in
the Indian state of Tamil
Nadu.
It is located 80 km north ofCoimbatore. It is a popular hill station located in
the Nilgiri
Hills.
Government
Rose Garden:
The Government rose
garden (formerly known as the Jayalalithaa Rose Garden, Centerary Rose
Park and Nootrandu Roja Poonga) is the largest rose garden in India. It
is situated on the slopes of the Elk Hill in Vijayanagaram of Ooty town
in Tamil Nadu, India. at an altitude of 2200 meters. Today this
garden has one of the largest collection of roses in the country with more than
20,000 varieties of roses of 2,800 cultivars. The collection
include hybrid tea roses,Miniature Roses, Polyanthas, Papagena, Floribunda, Ramblers,
Yakimour and roses of unusual colours like black and green.
The
22-acre (89,000 m2) Ooty Botanical Gardens was laid out in
1847 and is maintained by the Government of Tamil Nadu. The Botanical Garden is
lush, green, and well-maintained. A flower show along with an exhibition of
rare plant species is held every May. The Gardens have around a thousand species, both exotic and indigenous, of plants, shrubs, ferns, trees, herbal and bonsai plants. The
garden has a 20-million-year-old fossilized tree.
Ooty lake covers an area of 65
acres The Boat house established alongside the lake, which
offers boating facilities to tourists, is a major tourist attraction in Ooty.
It was constructed in 1824 by John Sullivan, the first collector of Ooty.
The lake was formed by damming the mountain streams flowing down Ooty
valley.The lake is set among groves of Eucalyptus trees with a railway line
running along one bank. During summer season in May, boat races and boat
pageantry are organised for two days at the lake.
Stone House is the
first bungalow constructed in Ooty. It was built byJohn
Sullivan and was called as Kal Bangala by the tribals
(Kal means stone in local tribal language). John Sullivan started building
Stonehouse in 1822, acquiring land from the Todas at one rupee an
acre. Today, it is the official residence for the principal of
theGovernment Arts College, Ooty.
There are a few Toda huts on the
hills above Botanical Garden, where Todas still dwell. There are other Toda
settlements in the area, notably Kandal Mund near Old Ooty. Although many Toda
have abandoned their traditional distinctive huts for concrete houses, a
movement is now afoot to build tradition barrel-vaulted huts and during the
last decade forty new huts have been built and many Toda sacred dairies
renovated.
The Nilgiri Mountain Railway was
built by the British in 1908, and was initially operated by the
Madras Railway Company. The railway still relies on its fleet of steam
locomotives. NMR comes under the jurisdiction of the newly formed Salem
Division. 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. after it satisfied the necessary criteria, thus forcing abandonment
of the modernisation plans. For the past several years diesel locomotives have
taken over from steam on the section between Coonoor and Udhagamandalam.
Local people and tourists have led a demand for steam locos to once again haul
this section.
St. Stephen's Church is located on the
road to Mysore in Ooty, in the state of Tamil Nadu,
India. It is one of the oldest churches in the Nilgiris district. The
church dates back to the 19th century. Stephen Rumbold Lushington, the
then Governor of Madras, who keenly felt the need for a cathedral
exclusively for the British, in Ooty, laid the foundation for the church on 23
April 1829, to coincide with the birthday of King George IV. St. Stephen's
Church was consecrated by John Matthias Turner, Bishop of Calcutta,
on 5 November 1830. It was thrown open to public communion on Easter
Sunday 3 April 1831. It came under the Church of South India in
1947. The architect in charge was John James Underwood, Captain, Madras
Regiment, 
A wax museum that houses life-size
look-alike wax statues of personalities of Indian history, culture and heritage
housed in a 142-year-old bungalow. Located in the Ooty-Coonoor road.
The Tribal Museum is part of the campus of
Tribal Research Centre which is in Muthorai Palada (10 km from Ooty town).
It is home to rare artifacts and photographs of tribal groups of Tamil Nadu as
well as Andaman and Nicobar Islands and anthropological and archaeological
primitive human culture and heritage. The Tribal Museum also displays houses
belongs to Toda, Kota, Paniya, Kurumba and Kanikarans.
Deer Park is located on the edge of Ooty
Lake. It is considered as one of the high altitude zoo in India aside from the
zoo in Nainital, Uttarakhand. This park was formed to house a number of species
of deers and animals for travelers to view.
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