Parssons Valley:
Before traveling to Ooty I asked my friends on the places to see in and around Ooty. Rather the popular tourist attractions. Once I gathered that information, I decided that these places can be visited at a later stage in life, when I would be claiming the educational cess 
Or better, when I don’t have the choice of places to visit: P
The main reason I chose Ooty was for this place called Parssons valley. Having heard from my friend Arun about this place, I didn’t want to miss it. When I mentioned this to the resort guys, they were bit surprised as no one goes there. Very good, I say! I hired a jeep since that’s the only vehicle that can go there.
The roads are pathetic, but the approach route is very scenic. Many times you wonder where on earth you are. This is the Pykara waterbody. And the hut you see is a typical Adivasi hut. You can see a small fence around the hut. Kumar, my jeep driver and guide, said that the areas where Adivasis stay are called as Mandhu.
After a journey of around 25 kms(45 mins to 1 hour depending on the no of stoppages) you reach Parssons valley. This area consists of the waterbody which supplies water to Ooty. And it is maintained by TNEB since they generate hydel power out of the water.
The beauty of this water body is that the water is so clear, and it takes its color from the surrounding. For instance, it’s green in the first photo and blue in the next. I don’t remember how long I spent here, but it was worth it. All you hear is the chirping of birds and wind rustling the leaves of the trees. The water is so still. Nice place to spend couple of hours, doing nothing.
It was only 12 in the afternoon, and I wanted to explore more. I asked Kumar if there were any such places around. He told me of a place called Porthi Mund and western catchment some 15 kms beyond Parssons valley. I said yes, and we rushed to those places before it starts raining (Black clouds were forming at a distance). By the way Porthi Mund plays a very crucial role in one of the most popular tamil movies Actually on most of the days, you can travel through parson valley dam itself to Porthi Mund. But TNEB had closed the gates on Saturday, and we had to take a 6 KM detour. I would suggest you to take that 6 KM detour. It’s worth it. There are chances of spotting some wild animals, and the forest is thick.
After some distance, you get to see the western catchment. Unfortunately the forest department refused to permit anyone inside that area since the forest minister and some officers were visiting that area. Nevertheless the approach route was worth it.
In half hours time we reached a view point for Porthi Mund. You will see a board called Audit Porthi Mund. You need to take a right turn there. But the thing is, the trees are quite high. And I had to climb on top of the jeep to get a better view. I was ready to climb a tree, if the view from Jeep was not good enough Luckily I got a decent view from the jeep top. By this time it started drizzling, and I wanted to reach one place before heavy rains started. Kumar told me that rains in these areas were very ferocious and it is very tough if you are caught in it.
The rain was steadily increasing and I rushed to the spot where the climax of a popular movie was shot.
Are you able to guess which movie? Ok. In the top right you see a green cover right? One software engineer Rishi who has held by the terrorists will run from there and meet his pattikaadu wife, who will be standing on the bridge. The dam was closed and it was raining. So I could not go to the other side and take the photographs. It’s a very beautiful place. The photos of the mountains and water body are taken ½ km away from this dam.
It started raining heavily and I had to literally run like Arvindswamy to the jeep as I didn’t want my camera to get wet. Once we entered the jeep kumar wasted no time and started driving pretty fast. The jeep has no shock absorbers. Add to it the visibility was slow. And there were chances of landslide as well. But it was thrilling nevertheless.
After some distance, the rain eased out and the same forest looked majestic with so many miniature waterfalls. Everything looked so refreshing.
The last two photographs are in my all time favorites. I tried manual focus for first time, and it took quite sometime to get it the way I wanted it 
If at all you are visiting Ooty, please check out Parssons valley. The complete set here
Details.
1.You can contact Kumar(Jeep driver) at +919486175610. He knows the area very well, since he was born in a small village around Parssons valley. He knows the forest department officials very well and can get you the approval letter for visiting western catchment
2.Nothing is available in Parssons valley. So carry your food and water
3.Best time to visit this place is between September to December
4.Carry an umbrella, as it might rain anytime
5.Don’t even think of taking your car or bike on this road. Even a scorpio cannot venture in these roads.
6.Don’t try to walk or get down from the vehicles for a long time. Wild animals roam around freely.
7.It will take close to 4 hours to visit Parssons valley, Pokurthi Mundh etc. So keep a day aside for this.
on 30 May 2007 at 12:32 am # anonymous
Didn’t think Ooty was this good until I read this write-up. Will definitely think twice before I outrightly reject visiting Ooty next time
Very good write-up and thanks for the information.
on 30 May 2007 at 1:18 am # K.Shyam
Macchi;
Good to see that you are taking the road less traveled
And, try to see if you can submit a write up to lonely planet. That would help a lot more like-minded people walk/trek up to these places.
K.Shyam
on 30 May 2007 at 1:19 am # K.Shyam
Macchi;
Are you sure Scorpio cannot go on those roads ? Even the ones with 4wd ? I think it can
K.Shyam
on 30 May 2007 at 8:57 am # Jeevan
Beautiful explanation and awesome photos!!. It’s a very useful post (even the last two post about toy train and coonoor) for me who is trying to visit Ooty this year.
on 30 May 2007 at 10:13 am # Sshhhhh
Not tired at all .. of seeing the pics.. Infact, refreshed…
As a matter of utterly useless info, this is the first travelogue that I had the patience to read fully… mostly cos of the pics and the fact it was written in parts… Good one.
on 30 May 2007 at 12:10 pm # Girish
Thats wonderful dude….You made the post so temepting for me to visit the place soon,.
on 30 May 2007 at 2:57 pm # Arun
nice update!
and thanks for kumar’s number..
/ Best time to visit this place is between September to December /
true..
also, i would like to check once how this place will look like in peak monsoon!
on 30 May 2007 at 4:21 pm # JustATravellingSoldier
Ooooootttttttttyyyyyyyyyyyyy - it is one of my favourite places which i have visited.
once when i was young (8th standard) with my parents and once after marriage..
Both times it was fantastic and you have captured the Ooty in your camera as it stands.
Dont think its an ice bar,
after panneer pushpangal, and balu mahendras movies, i think it is your photos that brings me the memoirs of Ooty to its best.
I like the last photograph very much, as it gives the freshness after rain effect very well..
Cheers.
on 30 May 2007 at 5:50 pm # kavi
Awesome Awesome ! Thanks for all the details and the sharing !
on 30 May 2007 at 8:12 pm # Vignesh
Hi Prabhu,
BTW did u check out Sivaji Trailer?
I have embedded it in my site http://vigneshram.com
Don’t miss it
on 30 May 2007 at 9:02 pm # mureli
snaps… i have explored kodai…
yet to start off with ooty…
driver info. is very helpful… thanks…
on 30 May 2007 at 9:06 pm # mureli
–> snaps are awesome
on 30 May 2007 at 10:09 pm # Laksh
Prabhu,
Awesome pics. Wonder what camera you have. Will give Ooty a shot next time am there.
on 30 May 2007 at 11:41 pm # Mayaavi
Amazing pics. Ive been to this place some 5-6 years ago and its nice to see the place is still in tact.
on 31 May 2007 at 10:40 am # Nandu
Well, u really make it feel that ooty and its surrounding places are not commercialised
on 31 May 2007 at 2:17 pm # Vijay Ganesh
Lovely picutres. Believe you got more value than the money u might hv spent in this trip. Great. Keep it up.
Reg… Vijay…
on 19 Nov 2007 at 7:23 pm # aNoop aka --xh--
looks beautuful, and worth a ride on bike
on 18 Feb 2008 at 3:45 pm # Rafnas
Thank you very much for the travelogue.
I was always dreaming of visiting Oooty and surrounding places like Coonoor. But unfortunately i couldn’t go. But after going through this, i admit i will visit Ooty without any excuse.
Nice pictures. Keep it up.
on 11 May 2008 at 6:06 pm # Swetha
Amazing write up!! N your photography rocks! I had visited the dam too but it has been close to a decade now.. and i wasn taken around ooty this way though i have visited the place many times now.. next time my trip would be exclusively for the valley! thnk you!!