MY PAGE: OUR TRIP TO KERALA

MORE ON MUNNAR

Apart from tea gardens, we found many beautiful flowers and ornamental plants in Munnar.

BREATHTAKING FLORA OF MUNNAR

THE TEA MUSEUM - MUNNAR

At the “Tea Museum” run by Tata Tea showed we learnt the tea manufacturing process demonstrated with a running pilot plant. We bought some processed tea of different types from the counter at the museum.

Later we stopped by a local dam with a huge lake behind it. Poor light prevented us from taking pictures here. By afternoon It started raining, not a torrential downpour but rather a thin, cold drizzle. The temperature dropped suddenly and we wanted to return to the shelter of our hotel which was located high on a mountaintop. We drove up a winding road and suddenly found fog creeping up from the valley floor.

FOG OVER THE TEA GARDENS

MIST COVERING THE HOTEL IN THE AFTERNOON

The next morning, we found that the fog disappeared as soon as the sun came up and the fantastic valleys with hundreds of green trees and mountain ranges stretching away to the horizon could be seen from the hotel window. Photography cannot do justice to nature’s infinite variety. Moreover, it was shot through a thick glass pane. Still, I think it gives some idea of the natural beauty of Munnar.

THE ROLLING HILLS OF MUNNAR

It was now time to say “Goodbye” to Munnar. Regretfully, we got in for the next leg of our trip, which would take us to the heart of the spice country.

THEKKADY, HERE WE COME !

The drive to Thekkady was all through hilly terrain. The roads were quite steep though most of the time, we were going downhill at a fast pace and holding our breath as we negotiated yet another hairpin bend.. After about 3 hours, we reached the town of Thekkady where a lot of the spices, for which Kerala has been famous for centuries, are grown. There are numerous farms which grow spices and sell them to tourists. We went round one of them and bought some pepper, cardamom, cinnamon and some essential oils extracted from different plants and trees like Eucalyptus.

Near Thekkady lies the famous Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary. Set high in the ranges of the Western Ghats is the Periyar National Park and Tiger Reserve with a picturesque lake at its heart. Formed with the building of a dam in 1895, this reservoir meanders around the contours of the wooded hills, providing a permanent source of water for the local wildlife. Though it’s a tiger Reserve, tourists come here to view elephants, wild buffalo, wild boar, Sambar deer and very rarely, a tiger. We were told that the tiger population has come down to about 40 today.

Our hotel was fortunately located right inside the forest area very close to the wildlife sanctuary. In fact we saw a sambar deer near our hotel. There are excellent double decker launches for tourists onerom which one can comfortably observe wildlife as one cruises on the tranquil waters of the reservoir. This is, of course, subject to the weather. If it rains, it is impossible to see any animals.