Munnar Kerala - Town of Misty Hills
Venturing Munnar - Town of Misty Hills
Friends, we let off from Kochi excursion as on our 2nd day we visited the Synagogue and Mattancherry Palace in Kochi (follow the Kochi journey here...) and drove towards Munnar a picturesque town in Kerala located in the western ghats mountain range of India. But before resuming our journey, as we always do for you, let us give a brief history on the town to get a feel about it.
No worries, this time the history will be concise and snappy 😉
A brief touch on history:
During pre-colonial era, the town was part of the Kingdom of Travancore. Till 19th century the land was mostly covered with dense forests, but around 1870 a British lawyer named John Daniel Munro and tea planter came and recognized the potential of tea cultivation. On account of its geographical and climatic condition, the town reinvented itself with many tea plantations including others like coffee, cardamom and cinchona.
The British also developed the town as hill station for their officials and built a railway line form Kochi to Munnar. Post Independence, Indian Government gave the ownership and maintenance of the plantation to Tata Tea Company in 1964 which later succeeded by Kanan Devan Hill Plantations Company to nurture forward.
But the beauty of Munnar is not confined to its tea plantations, the hills, waterfalls, spices and wildlife are equally pivotal for a traveler to get infatuated with the town.
By Road Route options from Kochi to Munnar:
Ok, so there are two popular highway route, either of one can be taken from Kochi to Munnar.
Option 1: via NH85 - the shorter one with a time around four hours.
Option 2: via NH544. It is much longer route with an estimated travel time of around seven and half hours.
However, as we progress our journey from Mattancherry Palace, so we took the NH85 route.
Journey Resumes...
Day1:
It was already forty pasts nine in the morning, as we embark towards the hill station, our involuntary yet expected mode of conduct commenced. The inevitable 'Google Search' began.
Srejith (our driver) told us that our next spot will be at least over 2 hours' time. So, for now we have to resort to the road-side view from car. We listened to songs and have some acquaintance with Malayalam words like 'Namaskaram' (Hello), 'Valare nanni' (Thank you), 'Vellam' (Water) etc.
We didn't mention much about the linguistic side and its history, but it will definitely take a separate post to pen down about this rich origin and history. Ahh!! not a bad proposition😊
Fast forward around two hours twenty mins, we reached our first sight:
Inchathotty Suspension Bridge - longest hanging bridge in Kerala with length of 183m and width of about 1.2m. Located at Neriamangalam in Ernakulam district, the bridge connects the two banks of the Periyar river.
We step onto the bridge and walk towards the other end, the view of Thattekkad forest was beautiful. Underneath there were tourist enjoying peddle boating, we didn't opt for that!!
Suggestion: If time permits, go for the kayaking as you get close enough to the bird sanctuary while floating alongside the forest. Should be a blissful experience.
Word of caution: Being a suspension bridge, advise not to over-populate it at a time and try to have a moderate stride to evade heavy shaking.
Now as we inch forward, our driver told we will be viewing some waterfalls. We were in the month of February, so the stream will not be at its peak but good enough to enjoy the scenery. There are many waterfalls along the road, but we decided to halt on couple of them.
Cheeyappara Waterfalls: located in the town of Chillithodu, on the Kochi-Madurai highway. It is a cascading waterfall drops in seven tiers from around 1000 feet height. It is surrounded by lush green forests and hills. I was eager to take a dip on the base of it but retracted after strong denial from my Wife. One can take a small trek to the top of the waterfall to get a panoramic view of the surroundings.
Within few minutes after we left Cheeyappara Waterfalls, we came across Valara Waterfalls.
Valara Waterfalls: Located at NH47, similar cascading waterfall with around similar heights as the one above. We observe there is a nearby bridge from where one can get a scenic view. For those who avoid trekking can opt for standing on the bridge for the eye-catching landscape.
There are few shops like tea stalls and other local delicacies near the waterfall. Most frequently available local snacks were Banana Chips, Pineapple, Pazham Pori (already tried at Fort Kochi), Vada, filter coffee to name a few. We tried some Pineapple pieces they garnish with some pepper and black salt. Tasted really good.
Then we moved forward to reach the Spice Plantation house at Kallar Vattiyar. We found different spices like cardamom, pepper, ginger etc. grown using organic farming methods. There was a guide who use take us a tour of the area and classifying different spice trees and health benefits they provide.
Do need to pay some bucks for the guided tour.
Sun is now slowly descending toward western horizon, we were at afternoon hours, and as Srejith told will take around forty-five minutes to an hour to reach our hotel. Thus, no more hotspots, headed straight for hotel comfort.
We finally reached our booked hotel - Las Palmas at around 2.15. Check-in process took around 15min and the hotel also had the driver stay room. Perfect time for filling our appetite. A lunch and depleted rest were the need of the hour.
The location of the hotel is more on a quieter side of the town. But at evening nothing much of an activity. We mostly bored ourselves in the room and an occasional visit to ground floor in the playroom and the alongside road. It has a rooftop view but remain closed at night. A soulful dinner ends our 1st day at Munnar.
Day2:
The closed rooftop last night made our morning on next day. The alluring landscape view from the rooftop with birds feeding and there is swinging bed for adults ('dolna' in bengali) and various flowers around the space enticing enough for some photography and bright outlook.
We had our buffet breakfast and hopped onto our tour car to recommence our trip. Today we hope for an exciting ride. Our first stop was Kolukkumalai Tea Estate.
Kolukkumalai Tea Estate: Situated at around 8000 feet, one of the highest tea plantations in the world. We didn't know that our car will not be allowed to go beyond the base of the hill as our driver told that only local jeeps are allowed. So, we had to board into a 4x4 jeep, and it was off-road adventure in true sense. As we approach near the top, the road became bumpy, and view becomes even more mesmerizing.
The jeep ride takes an hour both ways. We spend around couple of hours at the plantation filed and also watched tea processing at the factory. The factory visit has an entry fee of 100 rupees. However, considering the vastness and natural beauties that the place has to offer, you will need to spend at-least 4-5 hours to satisfy your soul. A full day should be dedicated for this place alone.
Half day gone by as we drove down the hill and boarded our car and for our next ride. yes, two rides in a day... that is hard toiling on a vacation!! It's time for Jumbo ride.
Carmelagiri Elephant Park - Located at Mattuppetty Road in Kannan Devan Hills. Home to several elephants. The park offers elephant rides as we mount on one of them with the help of ladder. There were guides all along known as Mahout. It is so pleasing to see so many giants roaming around with so much calmness. The Mahout takes a very good care of them. We rode for around 20 minutes, yes it was also a bit bumpy, and some tourists are even screaming out of fear of falling.
Entry fee: 400 rupees per person
Word of caution - please try to resist the voice decibel withing limit as high pitch shrieking does put the elephants in nervous state, though well managed by their Mahouts, still thought to mention.
You can even hire a photographer with additional cost however, Mahout did help us a lot clicking photographs for free!!
While traveling back to our hotel, we decided to have our lunch at Saravana Bhavan, a vegetarian restaurant which serves food in a typical Keralan style on banana leaves.
We reached hotel close to twilight. The rides we took on the day will stay forever.
Day3:
Day of departure from Munnar. But before we depart one spot we decided not to skip. This means longer route to reach our next destination but should be time worth spent.
Mattupetty Dam: Situated at an altitude of around 1700m, surrounded by lush green hills and tea plantations. The lake and the hills at the other end of the lake makes a picture-perfect scene. Tourist can hire a boat and tale boat ride on the lake. Other activities like wildlife spotting and trekking on to the hills which are home to several majestic birds and animals are some popular activities.
We spent around half an hour enjoying the view with a cup of tea of course. Then we head back to our car and embark our journey towards Alappuzha or as we commonly call Alleppey - 'the land of backwaters' (follow the Backwaters journey here...). We took a delight in a lot of adventure in Munnar looking different Ghats and falls, Natural ever green slopes and woodland zone added its value to travel.
Yes, we skipped Thekkady this time in our Kerala tour, but we will come back to God's own country to explore the missed ones soon!
Munnar journey may end here, but not ours. Travelogue on Backwaters will be next.
Meanwhile as we do before closing any post, few pointers on Munnar ...
Best time to visit Munnar: December to February having a pleasant weather. However, tourist rush. April - June - lean period better hotel deals!! July-Aug- rainy season but full brace for waterfalls.
No. of days - A Full Two-day stay will be good enough for all major spots.
What we missed: Eravikulam National Park, trekking to high altitudes like Echo Point and Top Station, Kundala Lake, Tribal dance are some of noteworthy mention that you can surely visit.
Hope this post turns helpful and instill enough curiosity to embark your journey to the land of mystical hills.
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