Kerala / Western Ghats / Tamil Nadu
Trip Start
Feb 15, 2010
1
6
118
Trip End
Dec 31, 2015
Where I stayed
Reinberg Homestay
Munnar, Kerala, India
Friday, March 5, 2010
We were quickly whisked away by the usual ‘best friend’ rickshaw driver and deposited at what was actually a brilliant home stay (The Rheinberg). We haggled the rent pretty successfully, dropped off our bags, and headed straight back down to the scruffy little mountain town to begin our explorations.
After some barter and banter, we agreed to purchase Anbu and his rickshaws’ services for the next 2 days, beginning with a 3 hour tour that afternoon. We got our first views of the tens of square kilometers of lush green tea plantations clinging to the hillsides covered with a fine crisp haze, as we made our way to Attukad Waterfalls. After some local Cardamon and Chocolate teas, we finished the afternoon by visiting a local spice plantation.
The second days’ touring lasted almost 7 hours and included flower gardens, lakes, dams, elephants, screaming ‘Jimb’arb’! at echo point, boating and countless photo stops on the snake-like 32 km hill climb to Top Station on the boarder of Tamil Nadu. After lunch, a visit to the tea museum and several free cups of Chai, we walked back to our home stay in the rain, which, for once, was actually a pleasant experience despite the cool mountain temperatures!
The following day was devoted (largely due to my persuasion more than Han’s desire) to an ‘on-foot’ trek of Chinnar National Park, 65kn north east of Munnar.
We arrived to an almost derelict check post of the National Park, to quickly inhale a local breakfast before our trek began. We set off with our guide, who spoke no more than 5 words in English, but was great. The three of us snuck around the almost unbearable heat for three hours or so, stopping at the river and following it back to camp. We saw bison, spotted deer, an elephant (sort of), leopard track and the remains of an infamous Bengal tiger’s kill.
If we thought the road conditions, recklessness of bus drivers and the severity of hairpin bends were bad before, this return journey set the bar…with zero suspension, almost bench-like seats and locals being sick out of the window in front of us, this method of transport almost in a category of its own was highly amusing, but a struggle. Both suffering from dehydration and mild heat exhaustion after our grueling midday sun trek, a lengthy unscheduled stop after a jeep drove into the back of the bus was all we needed!
Comments
Hey your trips seems to be really interesting. Munnar is really very beautiful hill station dotted with sprawling spice plantations, misty valley and mesmerizing surroundings. Last week I had been to south India tour and visited many beautiful hills stations of south of India. Ooty in Tamil Nadu is worth visiting. I visited many attractions of the hill station like Rose Garden, Doddabetta Peak, Ooty lake and many more in my Ooty tourism. You can get more information on Ooty on http://www.south-india-tour-package.com/south-indian-hill-stations/tamil-nadu-hill-stations/ooty-udhagamandalam.html This site really helped me a lot to get the south India tour package at reasonable cost.