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Published: November 17th 2013
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Glimpses of Kerala – 5: Munnar Munnar is a hill station in Kerala, at about 1500 mts, located close to Tamilnadu in the Western Ghats. It is a beautiful, picturesque place with sprawling tea gardens all around, a number of large water bodies and waterfalls.
Like most of the hill stations, it also shows unplanned haphazard growth and poor maintenance. Climate is excellent all through the year. Most hotels do not have even fans. In November, fans were certainly not required.
Like almost all tourist spots in India during Diwali festivals, Munnar was also full of Gujaratis, easily identified by their loud behavior.
We reached Munnar (from Thekkady – 4 hrs) around noon on Day-6 of our tour and we were to leave after breakfast on Day-8. Effectively, 1½ days. Just about enough to see all tourist spots but not enough to enjoy the beauty of Munnar. We had better utilization of time in Munnar compared to Thekkady as our Taxi driver has in better mood (there was no Jeep Safari of our driver’s friend).
We had second exposure to typical Keralian lunch (first one was in the Houseboat at Kumarakom) in a small restaurant called
Sarvana Bhavan. Food was served on banana leaves. We had good experience of the people of Kerala so far; their helpful nature and soft mannerisms; we enjoyed that the most at Sarvana Bhavan, where despite the fact that we were not having our preferred meal, we enjoyed the food.
Next was visit to Tata Tea Museum. There is not much of a museum there except few historical photographs and a short film on early days of the Kanan Devan Hill Plantations and how tea gardens came up in this area. Here you can see the tea being processed: from fresh leaves to the final state which we are used to see. Although in Kerala they grow tea, you don't get a good cup of tea.
Next was Hydel Park, a small quiet place to relax, close to Munnar town.
Day-7: 2
nd Day in Munnar.
First to Eravikulam National Park in Devikulam/Munnar. It is a sanctuary for Nilgiri Tahr (mountain goat). From the base of the High Ranges hills of Western Ghat, the Park management runs mini buses to take you to the Rajamala tourism zone at the height of about 2000 mts, through a 20 minute
ride. Like everywhere, there was a long waiting for the bus. At the base, at around 9.30 in the morning it was pretty cold. Locals made brisk business of selling jackets to the tourists caught unaware. Most interestingly, up in the park, under the Sun, you don’t feel cold at all and everybody had to take off their Jackets! (So, don’t buy!)
In the National Park there is a well paved slope to go further up on foot for about 1½ km. The place is cool, quiet, and beautiful and you can see Nilgiri Tahr moving freely. How much time you can spend here depends on your appetite for enjoying the scenery all around. Best part was numerous forest guards to keep plastic and litter away and to prevent tourist interference with free moving Tahr. And they were doing their duty well.
The highest peak in this area is Anamudi Peak (2690 mts) situated in the State of Tamilnadu. You need an extra day to visit Anamudi and due to interstate tax on commercial vehicles, taxi operators generally discourage you from going there.
Returning from the National Park, and on way to Mattupetty Dam, there is a
wonderful horticulture garden with hundreds of varieties of flowers and colorful plants. A must see in Munnar.
Mattupetty Dam: It is a major tourist attraction in Munnar. Boat ride, speed boat, pedal boat etc. is available. But we had enough of them and we decided to just walk around the place and enjoy the beauty of nature. From Dam site one can go further to the boat jetty, still further to a spot called Echo Point (don’t know why?) and still further is Kundala Dam. Still further is Top Station – we didn’t go there, it was getting dark and we had a full day.
If you keep one extra day for Munnar, you can relax in excellent climate amidst natural beauty or explore the area further and see a few more 'points'.
Mahavir Bhojanalaya is a place where one can get food closer to north Indian taste.
Good bye to God’s Own Country:
On the last day, on way back from Munnar to Kochi we stopped at two places where waterfalls are right on the road. In one of them it is possible to go behind the water, i.e. between falling water and the
rocks behind without getting wet.
In Kochi Chinese fishing nets is a major tourist attraction which we had seen in Vembanad Lake in Kumarakom. So we skipped the harbor boat cruise. Instead we went to Cochin Hill Palace Museum. It is an old palace of the then Kings of Cochin. Bit far from the city and not much to see. Many tour operators keep one day for Kochi. Not necessary.
Lulu Hypermarket on way to Airport was our last stop to acclimatize back to city life and to artificial coolness from natural coolness of Munnar. We were too tired to see (supposedly) the largest mall in Asia in full.
Back to Gujarat via Mumbai.
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