After about 8 hours on loud and rickety local buses, having climbed hundreds of metres into the Western Ghats, we arrived in Munnar. There were beautiful views to take in along the way, including the rolling hills of tea plantations and coffee estates and the sacred mountain of Ana Mudi (2700m), the tallest peak in the Ghats. Interestingly, the name of this peak translates as 'Elephant Face' in Malayalam, because the cliffs near the top resemble an elephant face when viewed from a distance.
In Munnar we stayed at this luxurious establishment named "Arafa Tourist Home'...which is painted this relaxing tone of lime green on the outside and barbie pink on the inside.
Here are a few sites around the towns of Old and New Munnar.
It just so happened that we arrived the day before a big communist rally, and so the whole place was decorated with flags, banners and posters, some of which had soviet-style communist propaganda images.
The Munnar Landscape...
Sometimes in India, things can get lost in translation. But after a while, you learn to read Indlish and even poorly translated documents are intelligible. However, while looking at a tourist brochure in Munnar, I came across this gem of Indlish in the "Munnar Historys" section:
"As a distant time when we do not know, or which historians have not yet computed,
Marayoor of the Munnar hills was said to be the citadel of Viswa Vidyalaya of
the jain saints, the Muniyaras, small prayer huts made of solid stone cut slabs for
proof and structure might perhaps unfold a time, which would re-write the history of
Kerala. Perhaps time might have been buried here."
I couldn't have put it better myself.
One of the most magical aspects of Munnar is the surrounding landscape, with the rolling hills of tea plantations, lakes, and trees. To appreciate this we took a bus along the mountain roads, up to a view point called 'Top Station'.
We had many beautiful views along the way, but as we ascended the mist began to build up...
And this was our beautiful view over into the plains of Tamil Nadu!
But we still got to see a lot of interesting plant life.
This appears to be a rhododendron...
Top station had some lovely moss and lichen communities as well...
Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary
This amazing ecosystem was a 2.5 hour bus ride from Munnar. In the rain shadow to the east of the Ghats, this dry semi-desert is quite different from the lush hills around Munnar. We signed up for a trekking tour of the park and set off with our guide. Armed only with a handful of English phrases and a large stick, this man would prove crucial to the success of our expedition.
These crazy looking cactus-trees were growing all over the park...
...and cactus vines!
Cactus Monkey!
Strange fruits...
...and weird insects
Really spiky trees!
Our guide was very determined to spot some elephants for us...he even resorted to climbing trees in his flipflops. Scanning the horizon, he would mutter "Mmm, tusker... maybe two, four tusker. Mmmm, Daddy tusker, baby tusker...'
And we certainly did get to see a lot of elephants...or as he liked to called them, Tuskers.
Eravikulam National Park
This national park encompasses Ana Mudi as well as the slopes surrounding it.
We went for a trek through the park and got to explore lush patches of forest where we saw the red-backed giant mountain squirrels and nilgiri langur monkeys.These were thiving forest communities with many beautiful species of moss and other plants as well...
Indian Raspberries!
If you love moss, this is the place to go in India. It had the greatest variety of bryophytes of anywhere we went in Kerala.
The reason that this land was not turned into tea plantations years ago was to provide a habitat for the Nilgiri Tahr (a now endangered mountain goat) which the british generals liked to hunt. So now this is one of the few places in the world that you can still find the very rare and endangered Nilgiri Tahr
...and here it is !
...just walking along the path with hundreds of tourists.
We were amazed by our time in Munnar, and as we left, we gazed back fondly at Ana Mudi as it slowly disappeared into the distance.
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