No Internet, No Cell Phone- The Best Place To Enjoy Nature Luxuriously !!
A few weeks back I was just looking for some new interesting place to explorer and I stumbled upon this amazing package by Escapes Club - Three-night stay at a luxurious jungle resort set amidst the beautiful Nilgiri Forest in the Western Ghats Of India. Although I am not a fan of booking tours and packages (they are too expensive!!) I enjoy the whole planning before starting a trip but this time it was difficult to ignore the package.
The place looked amazing, living in a jungle would be a whole new experience and the package was ridiculously cheap!!! So, I thought of giving it a try and so I started my 2453 km long journey from Delhi to Devala.
How To Reach The Wild Planet Resort
The closest airport to the place is Calicut International Airport, you can also reach there from Bangalore, Coimbatore or Mysore Airport but I wanted to travel less by road so I opted for the closest one.
From Calicut Airport the only way to reach Devala is by a cab. Uber is not available there and Ola Cabs is a little expensive. Before starting my journey I had already contacted a number of local taxi services but I got the best deal from Gozo cabs. They offered hassle-free service and the cab was waiting for me before I came out of the airport.
From the airport, it’s a 91 km ride to the resort. According to Google, it should take 3 hours to reach the place but it took me around 4 hours to reach the resort. Till Devala the road is pretty smooth but from Devala to the resort i.e. 4-5 km, there is practically no road just a muddy path carved out in between tea plantations ( because the resort is completely secluded).
You can reach by cab only up to the main entrance of the resort, after that the resort sends a jeep to take you till the reception.
Wild Planet Jungle Resort - Disconnect From The World
The resort is located at the border of Karnataka and Kerala. As I already told you the place is set in the heart of Nilgiri forest and is also a part of Mudumalai Tiger Reserve. But don’t get your expectations high you won’t see a tiger there during your stay. But the reason I was instantly drawn to this place was it has no internet, no mobile network and its secluded from the rest of the world. To some, this may sound scary but to me, it was the perfect place to relax and believe me, you have to go there to know how peaceful and refreshing this place is!!
Set on a hilltop and surrounded by tea plantations and forest, this is among the top five places in India with the Freshest Breathing Air. Being a Delhiite, nothing could be better than cutting off from the constant noise of horns blowing, the traffic, the never-ending calls from work and the pollution.
Plan Your Trip Anytime
The Nilgiris or popularly known as the Blue mountains are also the Cherrapunji of the south. If you are not aware Cherrapunji is the wettest place on earth with just one season- monsoon. The Nilgiri forest is a tropical rainforest, so expect rain anytime there. I visited this March and on the second day, I started my morning with slight rain.
The weather is pleasant so you can visit Nilgiris at any time of the year. But I would recommend avoid July and August due to heavy rains.
Don’t Forget To Carry These
If you are planning on visiting the resort do carry your sports shoes, track pants and swimming costume. Other than that you are good to go. Don’t worry about the rain, there are umbrellas outside every room.
Tons Of Activities!!!
Well, first of relax, catch up on your sleep, take in as much pure oxygen as you can and then relax some more!!!
If you are already getting paranoid at the thought of just sitting and sleeping, don’t worry you can kill your time eating. They have a huge buffet for all three meals and evening Hi-tea. They serve some delicious authentic south Indian dishes such as puttu, ghee roast, Kerala style chicken curry etc. (some of them I can’t even spell).
Jokes apart, they have tons of activities, so you won’t miss the internet or your mobile phone ( They do have open wi-fi access in the reception area though).
You can go through the list of activities they offer.
I opted for the trek on the first day. A bus comes in the morning to pick you up and drop you at the location from where the trek begins. There will be 2-3 people from the resort to guide you through the trek. Although it's a short 500-meter trek, it will be equivalent to your 1-hour workout (and since I have been stuffing myself three times a day at the buffet this was seriously required).
The path is very steep and the soil is loose, so I had to literally crawl my way up and down the trek holding the tea plants for support. But the view you get when you get to the top is worth the effort ( even the effort you are going to put in later when you wash your muddy clothes and shoes!!).
I checked out their indoor games section also, not really impressive though but you can still get nostalgic playing carrom and ludo. Their outdoor sports section is beautiful, you can even see it from the hill-top. Set at the bottom of the valley, you can enjoy badminton, football, basketball, and horse riding. They even have friendly football matches daily!!
They also have an amazing pool located at the edge of the hill.
The second must try activity is their Rain Forest Walk. This was my favorite part of the whole trip. It’s a short 1 hour round through the jungle. As you walk along the group, a guide will tell you all about the different animals and trees, the ecosystem and many other interesting facts about the jungle. You will be listening to a lot of different birds and animals as you walk around but you will hardly see any.
Although guide told us there are mostly Mountain langurs, monkeys and mountain pigeons in that part of the jungle, they have some times spotted leopards and some very poisonous snakes also. There are a lot of insects flying around so avoid wearing shorts, you might end up scratching yourself by the end and you never know what lies on the forest floor.
Don’t Expect This!!
Don’t expect to see any wild animals in the jungle. You might see some birds and will listen to the mountain langurs and monkey while walking through the rainforest. But other than that you won’t see any animal (apart from a cute little turtle just near the reception and a beautiful horse named ‘Queen’ in the outdoor activity area).
There have been sightings of leopard in that area, so you are not allowed to go out of the resort premises after 6 pm.
I didn’t try In-room dining service and I am not sure if its available there but the buffet is really good and you will be so full all the time that you won’t even feel the need for In-room service.
Amazing Hospitality !!!
I have been around most parts of India and to a few places outside India but the level of hospitality at this resort was simply outstanding. The only thing that beats the natural beauty of this place is their hospitality. The resort staff is very polite, smiling all the time and always ready to help (even if it’s not their concern). I have never seen a staff more courteous and polite than that at the wild planet.
I was supposed to reach the resort by lunchtime ( 1-3 pm) but I reached around 4 pm and I was surprised to see they kept waiting for me and didn't close the buffet till I reached!!!
To sum up, the whole ‘living in the jungle’ experience was fabulous. It’s a great place to rejuvenate yourself and come back all pumped up.
