Coimbatore to Munnar

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Kerala:

A diverse state of India, that gives you a wide and various options to visit. The greeneries, the waterfalls, backwaters, mountains, hills and curvy roads.... You get to see all in Kerala.

Munnar:

A part of Kerala, which widely attracts the people from all over the world. The beauty of Munnar has always wooed people and pulled them to towards it. The green tea plantations, the mist clad mountains and hills, waterfalls, lakes are being some of the main reasons.

That is reason why we wanted to explore the place. It was 3 days trip. Started at Coimbatore. The hot sun welcomed us. Before we landed Coimbatore gave a good picture of a developed city with highly raised buildings. We landed at Coimbatore Airport. Our driver (with all qualities of a south Indian man) was waiting for us.

We started going towards Munnar. The way to Munnar gave another different perception of Coimbatore. The tall trees at either side shadowed the road. The climate became chill. We drove towards Udumalpet. The forest has already covered us. We had to stop at Chinnar Wildlife Check post which serves as the border of Tamilnadu and Kerala. Following that a dense forest covers the whole way. It was all Sandalwood trees. The first time we were seeing such trees. Our driver told these areas are frequently by elephants mostly in groups for water and food. We drove towards Marayoor. It is the hub of sandalwood trees. It is also famous for the Muniyaras (the dolmens), which is now getting ruined day by day.

We reached Munnar by afternoon. You will get the sense of getting into Munnar, with all those tea estates and mountains with torrents of falls. It looked beautiful. We reached the main part of Munnar. Our breakfast of puttu and veg coconut stew raised sense of taste buds.

Now, it was time to execute our plan of sightseeing or say exploring Munnar.

We started with Mattupetty dam. Located at 12 kms from main city. All the way to Mattupetty you get to see Lantana flowers of different colours. Mattupetty dam is quite famous in Munnar and one of main attractions. The water in the lake was little brownish and somewhere it was greenish. As, we were just stepping down to the lake, clouds started pouring waters on us. We had to rush to our vehicle. We bought some hot fried groundnuts from a lady seller there.

Then, we got going towards Echo point. The aisle of petty shops welcomed us. The rain had stopped by now. We first went to the bank to get a good look of the place. The lake looked beautiful. People were shouting and screaming to hear their voices back. It looked funny. We started screaming too. It was fun. There was boating facility but we dropped it as we had to move forward.

The next destination was Kundala Dam and lake. It was quite similar to echo point but with less noise and calm surrounding. There was boating facility, but we had move fast. So, just drove to the lake and sat there for a while. The place was very beautiful. I would say it the best place for honeymooners to spend time with nature as well as each other.

The driver drove us to Top Station then. The way gave the most beautiful scenery of Kerala. One side you could see the tea estates covering the mountains and other side the forests. Then, above us the clouds. Great scene. The temperature had dropped to very low. We started feeling the cold utmost. We reached the base of the Top Station, where we had to park our vehicle and walk from there. After buying the tickets we first stepped down and then there was the way to reach the view point. To reach the place, the body had to work lot. We got tired easily. We somehow reached the tip of Top Station view point. We were glad and proud on ourselves that our effort didn’t go in vain. In front of us laid the paradise of mountains and hills. A feast for eyes. It was a breathtaking sight. The clouds (or mist don’t know) passed through us literally hitting us. the chill dew drops just to tremble for a sec. We were constantly shivering. But, we didn’t want to leave the place. We were pleased to reach the place. This place is best for trekkers and people who love adventures. Not recommended for end elders and who have cardiac & knee joint complaints. The place is a must see one.

After spending our heart full of time we came back to the entrance to be attracted by the shopkeepers who were selling some exotic kind of fruits. A star fruit which we saw the first was our main attraction and then, the passion fruit. There were many such fruits. We bought half a kg of all those fruits which seemed different to us.

It was time to drive back. It gets dark fast in Munnar. The whole drive we had to proceed with the darkness around us. The lights and the wind complemented each other.

It was next morning and we saw sun (for our relief). We preferred to sit at our hotel balcony to let our body consume the heat as much as it could. With that had our breakfast and got ready for our first destination of the day, Kolukkumalai tea estate. It is the highest tea estate in the world. it is almost 35 kms from Munnar.

On the way to Kolukkumalai we stopped at Lock hart gap. The place was cool with clouds all over. The mountain range from this place looked even more beautiful. For some time we were not able to see anything below the clouds. The clouds were so thick. But, it was so much a beauty.

Then, we drove to Kolukkumalai tea estate. Our vehicle was allowed for some distance only. At the entrance we were raised some questions and then provided a jeep to further trip. Our driver told that one need permission to get into the tea estate. It was done by the travel agency we had booked beforehand so, we didn’t have to wait for it. There we saw a big blanket of tea estates in front of us. It was really amazing seeing the place covered with those green tea leaves. We were taken inside and inside of the estate. The guide who came with us gave lot of briefings about the estates and the owners of them. we were also told about the tea processing. Then, the part we were waiting came, when we were given hot tea to taste. The tea simply complemented the climate. It was one of best teas I have ever had. With 2-3 hours trip inside the Kolukkumalai tea estate, we came back to the place where we had parked our vehicle.

Then, we proceeded to Powerhouse waterfalls. It was the first waterfalls we were about to see in Munnar. It was 12 kms away from Munnar, on our way back to the hotel. The waterfall was 2000 mtr high above the sea level. It dropped a torrent of chill water from a high that splashed on us. The drizzle hit us and made us to shiver. We spent at least an hour there before we headed back to our hotel.

In the evening we went to the photo point where we saw the beautiful sunset. The sun was slowly hiding behind the green mountains leaving its trace on our mind.

The third day in Munnar started with a call from our driver, who asked us to get ready fast so that we could do some sightseeing before we start back to Coimbatore.

We first went to Tea museum nearby. It was located in Nallathanni Estate and owned by Tata Company. It has become one of the most popular tourist attractions in Munnar. The museum has showcased many machines that is used tea processing. It was mainly established to pay tribute to the estate workers and to showcase the growth of the tea estates in Munnar. There were also various antiquities among which the most famous was the burial urn excavated from the vicinity of Periakanal Estate, that dated back to 2nd century. It was a different experience.

Then, we went to Eravikulam National Park. At the entrance we saw a big queue waiting to buy the tickets. We waited for half an hour, but the queue didn’t seem to end. So, we decided to move back and saved the place for next visit.

We then, checked out and made our way towards Coimbatore. On way, we stopped at Marayoor to visit the place of Dolmens. Local people call them ‘Muniyaras’. What we could see is all the ruins of those dolmens. These Dolmens were used by ancient people for burial purposes. It was made of four stones placed on edges and covered by a fifth one called the cap stone. These were belonging to pre-historic (Stone Age) man. It was a different experience getting into history.

It was the last destination in this trip, after which our journey back to Coimbatore continued.

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