Ooty is a popular hill station located in the Nilgiri Hills. Located in the Western ghats at a height of 2240m, Ooty is the headquarters of the Nilgiris district where the two ghats ranges meet. Nature has been generous with this region, which is by far the most beautiful in the state. Apart from coffee and tea plantations, trees like confiers, eucalptus, pine and wattle dot the hillside Ooty.
Government Botanical Garden
This garden was laid out in 1847 by the Marquis of Tweedale, the then Governor of Madras and is spread over 22 heactares ascending the slopes on the hill at an elevation of 2400 – 2500 metres above M.S.L.
Ooty Lake
The Ooty Lake is the pride of the Blue Hills. It is Central and strategic attraction. Mr.John Sullivan formed this artificial lake in the year 1824 the then Collector of Coimbatore. The Ooty lake which extends to an area of 65 acres.
Deer Park
The Ooty Deer Park is a unique wilderness situated on the fringes of the Ooty lake. It is one of the high altitude animal park in India.
Rose Garden
The Rose Garden is situated in the lower slopes of the Elk Hill and on the North – Western side, facing the Udhagamandalam town.The rose varieties planted in this park were assembled from different sources. Initially, 17,256 rose plants from 1919 varieties have been planted. Lated on some more varieties are added marking the total as 20,000 with 2241 varieties.
Coonoor
Situated at an altitude of 2000 ft and only 17 kms from Udhagamandalam, this is the first of the hill stations. Coonoor is a small town with an equable climate that has made it popular as a hill resort in its own right. The main attraction is the Sim’s Park, which is a small well-maintained botanical garden that has several varieties of plants not to be found in the other hill stations. Viewpoints and picnic spots around Coonoor include Lambs Rock, Lady Canning’s Seat, Dolphin’s Nose, St Catherine Falls, Law’s Falls, Ralliah Dam and Droog.
The construction of the Nilgiri Mountain Railway, a 46-km long metre-gauge single-track railway in Tamil Nadu State was first proposed in 1854, but due to the difficulty of the mountainous location the work only started in 1891 and was completed in 1908. This railway, scaling an elevation of 326 m to 2,203 m, represented the latest technology of the time.
