Posted on: 3 December 2010

Ootacamund from Bellevue -1869

View of Ootacamund, taken by Samuel Bourne in 1869. Popularly known as Ooty, this is the most famous of hill stations in south India. It lies around an artificial lake in the Nilgiri Hills at a height of 2,267 m. It was once the territory of the indigenous tribal group known as the Todas. In 1818, John Sullivan, the Collector of Coimbatore in Madras Presidency, acquired vast acres of land and set about founding the hill station. Ooty flourished and several crops were introduced here with great success including, tea. With its cool climate, the town developed as a sanatorium and also as the chief resort for Europeans in the South. From 1861, it became the summer headquarters of the Madras government. This is a panoramic view of Ooty with Elk Hill in the distance. Ooty is surrounded by high hills, Elk Hill lies to the south-east and is 2,465 m high.

Source : British Library


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I highly recommend the book "Ooty Preserved: A Victorian Hill Station in India" by Mollie Panter-Downes. It is extremely well-written and a pleasure to read.

Ooty of the past is not the same now, the sewer runs right into the lake and the racecourse is overgrown with weeds.

Amita, Thanks good info. Here is a link to a book on the Todas, I have not read it yet. http://www.archive.org/details/travelsamongstt00popegoog

...though Mrs Panter-Downes book was written in the 1960s, Brett and even IT might be considered anachronistic by now !... It seems that not a great deal of 'Ooty [remains] Preserved' if Mr Mallya's comments are accurate... such a very great shame...

True Julian, Ooty has lost much of its old beauty.

Julian, I was there a few years ago, they have resettled many of the Tamil refugees from Sri Lanka and not provide any other housing assistance, they have built tin can sheds. The hillside is all deforested for firewood, the city sewer runs ri...ght into the lake and amazingly people wash their cars, drink and bathe in it. The town itself has limited places to visit and eating out was not the best experience. The beautiful racecourse is now overgrown with weeds and the roads were all potholed. Given the beautiful location it has tremendous potential to be a fantastic tourist destination.