Munnar

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We are basically from North India, but are settled in Coimbatore. We often take our relatives to Ooty / Valparai or Kerala.

Like all things, vacations and trips also need right place, right people and right time. Of all vacations, the one that has family in it turns out to be the best of all. ‘That’ kind of experience I had, when I am on a trip to Kerala with my family members. We are 9 of us all together including 2 children.

It was initially planned 8 days tour. We wanted to cover the most preferred places in Kerala.

Obviously Munnar being the obvious option after reaching Kochi, other places follows as Thekkady, Vagamon, Kumarakom and Alleppey. Don’t know about Alleppey, let’s see if we get any good houseboat (that too will be included in the log).

The experiences of other places will be continued.

Let’s start with Munnar. So we landed at Kochi Airport in the morning and moved straight to Munnar.

Believe me, this was the most scenic route I have ever been to. The chill and fresh air, the greens around you, the drizzles that pours with little gaps, the moody sun, the beautiful clouds, the hill ranges, mountains and waterfalls. We all were peeping our heads out of the window of our Traveller. We were enjoying the climate though felt little cold though. On the way we saw some people covering their heads with plastic sheets to protect them from rain. Some were with umbrellas. But, they were still walking. Rains can’t stop them.

When we reached Munnar, it had started raining so we rushed to our hotel. After relaxing and getting fresh we came to the hotel’s restaurant for lunch of Kerala meals.

The rain had stopped and it was time to do sightseeing.

First we went to Mattupetty dam. The whole road was wet and we feared for drive may become worse, but our drive made it very smooth.

Mattupetty dam is one of the popular and most visited places in Munnar. We stepped down to reach the bank. Though, the water was dusty sandstone in colour, the place has a great a picturesque view. We saw the Mattupetty Lake was surrounded by trees and the banks are often visited by elephants to drink water.

Echo point was in 10 minutes distance from Mattupetty dam. Another beautiful place to see in Munnar. The place is the best way to have a panoramic view of the velvety slopes of the beautiful greeny hills and the misty weather. One side there’s tea plantations and another there’s huge range of mountains. We relaxed at the bank of the lake while the kids were busy in screaming to hear their voices back. As, the name of the place suggest one could hear their voices echoing through the whole place. It’s a fun.

Then, we went to Kundala Dam. It was located approx. 20 kms from Munnar. it lies on the way to Top Station, which is famous for trekking and camping. Kundala dam, actually is an artificial dam and Asia’s first Arch dam. So, dam was in a semi circle shape. It was a different experience. there was also a boating facility but, due to dropping temperature, we skipped the boating. But, I want to suggest, don’t miss the boating part of Kundala lake. it will give you the most amazing experience.

As, it was getting dark, we drove back to hotel.

The next day, after the breakfast, started towards Eravikulam National Park, the place which we were told not to miss.

So, we headed towards the place. On the way we saw Tata tea Museum and wanted to visit. But our driver told if we visit museum first we may get late for Eravikulam NP and may have to wait in the queue for long. That seems reasonable to head straight to Eravikulam NP. When we reached there, we rushed to the entrance. There were already 5-6 people standing in the queue. But that was ok. We bought the ticket and wait for the van to come. After just 15 minutes later, to our surprise the queue has become long and there were still people coming. Thank God, we reached early. In another 5-10 minutes, our van reached. We all boarded. When the van started running, we saw a big queue waiting for another van to arrive. We were in the first batch.

The van moved slowly and steadily towards the base of the sighting. But, all were very excited to see the Nilgiri Tahr (an endangered species of wild goat), for which the NP was established to protect. Once, we reached the base, the van went back to bring the other batch.

We all got down and stayed together and walking towards the peak of the hill. The way though was grassy, some were bushy, gave the most thrilling moments.

We walked deep and high. The hills & mountains covered with tea plantations and most of them mist gave the entire scene a whole new life and the visitors a life time experience.

In just few minutes of time, we spotted a Nilgiri Tahr that came grazing near to us. then followed by another and a group of 4. It was great seeing an endangering wild animal watching so close. With its big curved horns, the animal looked great.

With a little more walk and lot of pictures in the park, we came and sat at a rock near the base. We were taken back to the entrance after a few minutes’ wait.

The next place was Tata tea Museum. It was built to honour the workers and the people behind the growth of Munnar tea estates. There we were given live demonstration of tea processing. There were displays of the machines that were used for tea processing. The whole place filled with tea fragrance. The roasting of tea leaves was the best part as it threw the strongest smell with huge noise in a rolling fryer. Then, we were given tea for tasting. There were many flavours of tea like cardamom, ginger, chocolate and so on. We saw some displays that portrayed the growth of the tea estates in Munnar.

Then, we came back to our hotel for checking out.

We moved towards Marayoor to witness some historical places. We entered into one of villages in Marayoor. there were some orange farms at the both side that led us to even more rural part. Now, we parked our vehicle and walked some distance to see that place fr which we had travelled so long. It was the ‘Muniyara’ or Dolmens that were in a demolishing state. We went and saw how these dolmens that were used by early men for burial. The structures were very different and unique. Those were made of stones and covered with a single stone at the top. It was a little peeping into the history. The place drags to the past living style. But, it has to be conserved as these are getting destroyed very fast.



From there we came back to Munnar, taking another route towards Thekkady.

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