Tea estates of Munnar area |
Munnar town itself is quite small. It is located pretty high from the mean sea level on the western ghats, just across the border from Tamilnadu into Kerala. The places to visit are spread in a radius of about 50-70 km around Munnar. It is accessible only by road from nearest city which in turn may be accessible by air, rail or road. Whichever route one takes to come into Munnar, if we take a relaxed drive in & out, then it would cover about one-third of the places to see and visit around Munnar. That is to say, if one were to be airdropped in Munnar, then one has to spend 3-4 days going on the different trips to cover the various points of interest in the different directions, 1 part of which can be covered during the in-or-out direction of road trip.
Chinnar - Marayur - Eravikulam - Munnar
Thoovanam falls from SH-17 - near Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary |
We chose to take the road from Coimbatore to Munnar and back to Coimbatore. This route has quite a few nice places to stop along the way, which are on the primary to-do lists of most who visit Munnar. The Amaravathy dam in the foothills, between Udumalai (or Udumalapettai) and Chinnar, Chinnar wildlife sanctuary across the border into Kerala, Thoovanam falls view from SH-17 (probably also accessible by trek), Watch tower in the Chinnar wildlife sanctuary, many waterfalls along the SH-17 to Munnar, Sandalwood forest in Marayoor, Lakkom Waterfalls outside Marayur, entrance to Eravikulam National park, grand view of the valley (from the spot view Marayur, the full valley along which we travel in SH-17 and all the way to Udumalai) from about 5500 feet above MSL are those that can be covered in this drive upto Munnar. A non-stop trip by good car would probably take 4 and half hours (180 kilometers). If you take time to stop and relax in the scenic spots, it could take anywhere between 6 and 8 hours. If one were to take the Jeep ride from Eravikulam National Park entrance to higher spots in order to view the Nilgiris Tahr (endangered goat species), it could take a while, especially if there is a long queue of visitors waiting for the jeep trip.
Periakaanal Falls |
Chinnakaanal
We had been booked into Club Mahindra resort, which is about 18 km away from Munnar town on another direction - towards Madurai (through Bodinayaganur, Theni, Madurai). It was important to keep asking for directions and ensuring we were on the right path - if we missed a turn and did not realize, we would be a few kilometers down a path that we had to retrace. Located in a township called Chinnakaanal, it is quite close to a beautiful road-side waterfall called Periakaanal falls. The resort is located on the side of the mountains from where a jeep trip could take us to Kolukkumalai tea estates (we did not take this one), one of the scenic spots high up in the mountains overlooking the valley and the route to Tamilnadu. The beautiful view of the tea plantations and the reservoir formed due to the Anaiyirankal dam (quite close to the Munnar-Madurai road) can leave us wanting to just pull a chair and relax for hours.
Mattupatty Reservoir - Top Station
Motor boat view from Speed boat - Mattupatty reservoir |
View of reservoir, plantations, pastures - on way to Top Station |
At Top station, one has a grand view of the valley that lies to east of Munnar, which also leads to the foothills quite sharply & one can see the plains of Tamilnadu from this point. There is a path that leads to multiple observation decks about 200 metres below the Top Station into the valley - entrance ticket of Rs. 10 is charged. One should be prepared for the climb back up the slope and steps after soaking in the sights of the valleys & mountains. Since, this hill station also involves quite a bit of drives along winding roads, we stopped only at a few points of interest along this route. We wanted to get back in the afternoon to the resort and relax a bit, before enjoying some games at the resort activity centre.
Near Top-Station - bee aiding pollination |
in The Flower garden |
Anaiyirankal Dam - Devikulam lake
On second day, we decided to take in only one trip to the Anaiyirankal dam and reservoir before relaxing at the resort. We split in the afternoon with the family deciding to learn arts, painting, etc., indoors, while I decided to trek up to the Devikulam lake (as per Google Maps), which is locally identified as Sita-devi lake and Sita-devi falls.
Red-whiskered Bulbul - during Trek |
Path near the lake |
Lucky Weather
Lakkom Falls - near Marayur |
Red whiskered Bulbul - just outside our resort room |
The cool weather, natural mountains and valleys with greenery all around, scenic locations, several reservoirs and lakes, tea estates and plantations, combined with the overall cleanliness, no-plastic policy, etc., make this a beautiful location for a tourist visit as well as a regular vacation spot to recharge our batteries.
For more photographs from Munnar area, visit this link