Long Weekend in Kerala


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January 21st 2014
Published: January 21st 2014
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We have had the last few days (Friday to Monday) off for a long weekend. Tracey and I decided to fly down to Kerala, the state south of Karnataka where Bangalore is located. Parts of Kerala have been described as god’s country, and I can most certainly see where that comes from.

Deciding to stay up in the mountains, amongst the tea and spice plantations was a great ideas. It is about 120km east of the coat, a 3 hour drive given the state of the roads. It is absolutely stunning up here! So quiet and peaceful.

Yesterday we visited Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary (about 60km, or a 2.5 hour drive from where we are staying), and went for a two hour trek with a local guide. We saw a bison, some deer, and two elephants! I have never been so close to wild elephants, especially not on foot. We were about 200m away from where they were feeding! Absolutely amazing!



We also visited an operational tea factory. This was fascinating. Apparently they can pick the leaves off the plants every 10 days, all year round. The leaves are then withered, but having hot air blown over them for a day. Following this, the manufacturing process takes less than two hours. The teas is crushed, torn, cut, dried in huge ovens and sifted into different grades. We also learnt that black tea and green tea are made from the same plant- the method of production just varies.


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