OOTY
Artificial lake built in 1824, still scenic at sunrise before crowds. Skip on weekends/holidays — the boat queue alone can run past an hour and the water gets crowded with 15+ boats at once.
The lake is an artificial reservoir created between 1823 and 1825 by John Sullivan, the East India Company's Collector of Coimbatore and founder of British Ootacamund, who dammed mountain streams originally for irrigation and fishing. The Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation (TTDC) took over the lake in 1973 and built the Boat House to develop it into a recreational attraction. Sullivan is also credited with introducing European horticulture, including potatoes and barley, to the Nilgiris.
