Botanical Gardens have become like MG Road, there’s one in every city ! 😛 But then again, every city has different environment, different weather that ensure there’s something haṭke in every garden. And more often than not, these gardens are one of the best places to do a photo shoot. (At least at the ones that are well maintained !) Earlier I had been to Botanical Garden in Araku and recently at the Botanical Garden in Ooty. After visiting the Tea Gardens and Dolphin’s Nose, it was time to explore the beautiful SIM’s Park in Coonoor.
Charming SIM’s Park in Coonoor
The garden is located in the opposite direction of Dolphin’s nose. It’s like if you take a right you get to see Tea Gardens, Dolphin’s Nose etc. While you have the SIMs Botanical garden on the left. The garden – like any other – is crowded and has an entry fee. As far as I remember, it was 30 for an adult and 50Rs for a camera. There are many differences between the Botanical Garden in Ooty and SIM’s Park in Coonoor. The one in Ooty has a lot of grass. However the one in Coonoor lacks the grass. Moreover the one in Ooty is on a plain, so walking is easier, but the SIM’s Park is on a hill – going downstairs is easy compared to climbing back up. It took quite a while to reach the exit, as climbing back wasn’t east. There isn’t much variety of flowers in Ooty, while there are many in SIM’s Park.
SIMs Botanical Garden – Perfect place for photographers
With a variety of flora and fauna in place at SIM’s Park, it makes a great place for photographers. From capturing some unique and colorful flowers to mighty trees. One can easily spot butterflies and honeybees and can capture them. There’s a separate Rose garden which has roses of various colors. If you are watchful and are carrying a good set of zoom lenses, you’ll be able to capture some great photos of birds in the park. I managed to capture few of them and boy the photos are good.
Overall, the SIM’s Park in Coonoor is a quite and calm place. It’s a place where you can relax for a few hours and spend some time close to nature. The garden also has boating facility, but the area is very small. I’d say give it a miss. Since it was already 3pm and we had a train to catch at 4pm, we left SIM’s Park. There are buses and autos plying to the main bus stand (near railway station) every 5 minutes. So if you are taking the Nilgiri Express like I did, take the bus and reach the station in time.
End of Exploring Ooty and Coonoor Series
That’s all from my trip to Ooty and Coonoor. Hope you enjoyed the entire series as much as I did writing them. I know it was a tad late but it gets tougher to join work and blog at the same time. I took time to pen down my experience and identify photos so that you get the best experience on my blog. In the end, if you think I missed out on sometime or anything that could have been better, please mention in the comments below or tweet to me at @atulmaharaj