Green Paradise Resorts, Wayanad

It was a very good experience. Everybody was friendly and helping.

Best Experience: The food was excellent. The check-in time was only at 12 noon. But we arrived there at 7 AM. We were accommodated in a spare room. This was very helpful. Kudos to the resort management.

Worst Experience: None.

The Good: The resort nestled in the middle of thick jungle has a beautiful ambiance, with blooming flowers all around complementing the natural flora of the region. The location of cottages is great and a waterfall rushes right beside them. The staff is exceptionally courteous and happy-to-serve-you kind, providing a highly personalized service. The Bad: There is no proper approach to the resort and if you are driving down you will need to park 2 km away from the resort. The adventurous type will love the heart-in-the-mouth jeep ride on a narrow dirt track with jutting boulders that takes you to the resort. The so called four-wheel drive literally runs on two wheels, dangerously tilted towards the deep ravine below. The approach to the cottages is through stone steps covered with moss. I saw the staff adroitly negotiate them, but if you have any love for your shin bone do not try it, especially in the dark. Exterior lighting could have been a bit more practical and brighter. Interiors too are dully lit up, and I can't, for the life of me, figure out why hotels/resorts have to use starkly cold white lighting for the room instead of the inviting warm light of bulbs. Food is cooked with love and served liberally, but if you are looking to go à la carte just forget it. Drinks are not available in-house and if you love your sundowners you will be well advised to carry your own (PS: market closes at 5:30 pm). The staff is linguistically challenged except in the vernacular, so either brush up your Malayalam or do a crash course in sign language before going if you wish to have any meaningful conversation with them. The Ugly: Rooms and cottage interiors were pathetic. Ventilation was nonexistent. A decrepit carpet badly stained with the remnants of all previous occupants' leftover memories welcomes you. Strands of fibre jutting out from a torn corner told me that it used to be a red carpet in its hay days. Sherlock Holmes would have had a great time figuring out the traits of who all had lived there but then, unlike me, he was made of sterner stuff. Leeches infests the property, outside the cottages and near the waterfall, waiting to feast on their next unsuspecting victim's blood. For those who spend a lot of time in the bathroom, an army of ants, and other known and unknown species of insects flitting around will provide a great diversion. For the romantically inclined, the scheduled power outage at 8:00 pm offers a great opportunity for candlelit dinner with your partner. The resort has no power backup and candles are provided on the house. Just don't mind the drones and moths that will join in uninvited. Conclusion: The property is beautiful and has a huge potential, but sheer neglect and disinterest of the management/owners has laid waste what could have been a perfect getaway. Indeed a paradise lost!

Best Experience: Around half past seven a staff member appeared out of nowhere and gave me a couple of candles. Further inquiry in sign language revealed that there is a scheduled power outage of 1 hour every night at 8:00 pm and the resort has no backup. This was turning out as wild as it could possibly be. 8:00 pm, and darkness engulfed the entire hill and surrounding forest. It was an awesome experience, one I would never forget the pitch dark forest with all its sounds, and the fireflies making a dance floor out of the surrounding trees.

Worst Experience: The room with dirty carpet and broken fixtures was a rude shock. Upgrade was no help as the other cottage was equally bad. We decided to pitch tents at the small sit out in front of the cottage and drown our miseries in the serene sounds of the surrounding jungle and the waterfall. The amazingly beautiful ambiance outside, assisted by a couple of stiff ones was just beginning to take effect when junior started hollering. It was a leech merrily making a grand dinner out of the blood from his little toe. Disposing the leech off to a different paradise from the one she had been living in was no mean feat. If you don't believe me, try squashing them - you will be surprised at the brawn that these blood suckers pack in their small bodies. That ended my wife's and kid's sojourn at the sit out. They surrendered to the grim insides of the cottage battling the comparatively docile ants, moths and drones, while I stayed on the outside braving the leeches. Candlelit dinner did not help soothe my partner's frayed nerves. We decided to cut short the trip and move out next morning to nearby Kalpetta where I managed to get a booking over the phone.