Day 3 - Mesmerizing Munnar

It was 6 o’clock in the morning and I got up before the alarm rang (Usually the alarm gets tired of ringing to wake me up even at 8 in the morning ;)). I removed the window curtains to have a view of the outside world and was amazed to see the spectacular view with clouds touching the mountain peaks and beautiful green tea gardens spread all around. I woke my husband up totally against his will as I thought the trip would be incomplete if we miss a morning walk in such a beautiful place and he got ready with his eyes half closed cursing me inside his mind, but not able to express it outside ;). The morning was cold yet pleasant and the walk by the sprawling tea plantations was awesome that I would miss every morning all through my life.

View from the hotel room

Walk alongside the tea plantations

It was 9 am and we started from our hotel to visit the remaining places of Munnar, Eravikulum National Park being our 1st destination. I was a little worried that we might end up waiting in a queue for long time as I had read in many of the blogs that people waited for 2 to 3 hours to get tickets for the park if they started late in the morning. It was 9:40 am when we reached the park and the queue was already very long, but it took us hardly 30 to 40 mins to get the tickets as the queue moved quite fast (lucky us that we visited on Monday :)). But if you are travelling in the peak time which is December 20th to Jan 15th and that too on a weekend, then try to reach the park by 8:30 am. Otherwise you might end up waiting for hours to get the tickets.

Private vehicles are not allowed inside the park and they can be parked in the parking area with a nominal fee. Once you procure the entry tickets, government operated mini buses will take you on a 20-30 minute ride up the hills. The bus ride through the narrow meandering road towards the top of the hill was thrilling with view of the tea plantations and green valleys at both sides. The bus dropped us at a check point from where we trekked a kilometre or so to reach a vantage point beyond which tourists are not allowed. Even though the walk was tiring (and I had difficulty in breathing too because of the cold), but the panoramic view of the mist covered green mountains with colourful wild flowers and small streams flowing in between made me forget every problem for some time. I kept taking snaps on our way towards the top which delayed our trek and my husband had to literally drag me to keep me moving (blame the hypnotizing beauty of Munnar :)). We spotted a Nilgiri tahr on our way, but he/she was too shy to pose for us. The view from the vantage point was beguiling. The mountains covered with tea plantations, the small streams, the wild flowers and grasses and the mist moving through the trees altogether created the feeling of being in heaven. We were absolutely dumb-stricken seeing nature in its most tranquil and sterling form and for some time we could not even believe that it was reality and not a dream. The weather was really nice that day with a little bit of drizzling and the chilling wind added to the joy of being in such a beautiful place. I wanted to spend hours in that place relishing nature’s beauty, but time was limited and we had some other places to visit too. So we had to return to the point where the bus had left us to have a ride back to the park entrance even though our hearts did not agree to this.

Scenic view from the road towards the top of the hill

First View from the bus drop point

Zoomed View of the Valley

Another view of the green valley with the wild flowers

Trekking route to the vantage point

Anamudi Peak

Mist Everywhere

There is a photo gallery, a store and toilet facilities at the bus drop point. The photo gallery provides information on various bird and flower species of the National park along with the Nilgiri Tahr. I would suggest visiting this gallery as it is very informative and does not also demand more time. This pic in the gallery tore my heart apart seeing the brutality we humans show on the innocent animals and the underlying message was worth pondering over.

The heart-wrenching pic

Another Pic in the Gallery

We caught one of those mini buses again to come down the hill and move to our next destination. But this was the most wonderful journey of my life and the memory of it still brings a smile on my face. So if you are planning a visit to Munnar, then never ever miss to visit this National Park. Because if you have seen this, then you have seen the most beautiful place of Munnar and it does not matter if you skip all other view points (at least that is what I felt).

Some information about the park:

1. The entry fee for the park for Indian Citizens is 75 INR and 260 INR for foreign Nationals. Apart from the entry fee, the charge for a normal camera is 25 INR and for a video camera is 200 INR.
2. Food items are not allowed inside the park and if you carry any food items, then the person checking your bags at the ticket counter will keep it there which you may collect on your return.
3. Entry tickets are issued till 4:30 pm and the last bus leaves from the hill top at 5pm. So you need to plan your visit accordingly.
4. The park is well maintained and is a plastic free zone, so littering is strictly prohibited inside the park.
5. The park remains closed at the time of calving of the Nilgiri Tahr which is usually the early months of the year (Mostly Feb to March).

It was around 12:30pm and we decided to have lunch before proceeding to the next place in our itinerary. Mr Subbin suggested us to visit Pothamedu View Point before lunch as it was in the nearby area of the restaurant where we planned to have lunch. Even though there are some viewpoints in Munnar that have been specifically listed in almost every travel agent’s itinerary, but I felt it would be unfair to say that Munnar only have these viewpoints that deserve a visit, because almost every turn on the hilly road provides breathtaking views of the tea plantations and the green mountains as you move towards the top and I felt Pothamedu was no way different than them. We spent a few minutes there watching the green mountains engulfed in mist and a light drizzle just made the moment much more exciting.

View at Pothamedu

Near Pothamedu View Point

After having lunch, we moved towards Mattupetty Lake and dam and on the way stopped at a place named photo point. Photo Point is a picturesque location by the roadside where you can take pictures with widespread tea plantations having symmetrically lined oak trees in between and a beautiful green mountain as the backdrop. When you see the pic, you would know why it is called Photo Point. But it is also true that it is not the only point where you can have pics with a beautiful background as you would find many such beautiful places at every few steps in Munnar. This place was quite crowded when we reached there as everyone parked their vehicles at the roadside and it was getting difficult for us to find some space to get a pic clicked among the exuberant crowd where everyone was trying to have pics with as many poses as possible ;).

Photo Point

Then we resumed our journey towards Mattupetty and reached near the lake around 4 pm. The lake is huge with very scenic surrounding of mist clad hills and thick green forest. We enjoyed the captivating landscape standing by the lake side for a while and then moved to the ticket counter to buy tickets for a speedboat ride. The speedboat ride on the deep green water of the lake with thick green forest at both sides and chilling breeze sweeping our faces was exhilarating and my heart was in my mouth as the adept boat driver took a few sharp turns showing his stuntman skills. The boat ride costs 500 Rs for 15 mins which might seem a little expensive, but trust me it was an experience for a lifetime.

Mattupetty Lake

Another View

When we started from Mattupetty dam towards echo point, the driver of another vehicle informed us that some elephants were seen in the grassland that comes on the way to echo point. Mr Subbin was a little reluctant to take us there as he thought it could be dangerous as the behaviour of the wild elephants could be unpredictable. But I was really excited to see some wildlife outside the zoo and requested Mr Subbin to take us there. And much to my delight, the elephants were still present in the grasslands when we reached that place. We stopped by to take a few pics and then resumed our journey towards echo point.

Elephant on the way to echo point

Echo Point is just a small lake with the view of mountains and green forest as its back drop and is famous for its natural echo phenomenon. When we visited the place, there were a group of young school children who were screaming loudly to get the echo back and it was really working. There are many souvenir shops as well as shops selling roasted cashew nuts around this place. We bought a packet of roasted cashew nuts as they were cheaper, but then had to repent buying it as most of the cashew nuts were not good. So I would suggest avoiding shopping in this place. There are other things available in this place that you might want to go for such as paddle boating or getting instant pics. There are some good photographers who take your pics with nice background and print them in a few minutes for a charge of Rs 30 per each print. We got a few instant pics and believe me they were really nice. Apart from this, echo point as a tourist destination has nothing much to offer in comparison to the other places of Munnar especially when you have already seen places like Mattupetty Dam or Eravikulum National park.

Echo Point

 We had planned to visit Blossom Park too, but by the time we reached there it was closed. We deliberately skipped top station and few other places as we did not want to spend the whole day moving here and there. Also, we had already seen many view points and instead of seeing another one, we felt like sitting in our hotel room and spend some leisure time.

It started raining on the way back to the hotel

Lying in the bed at night, I thought inside my mind, however creative man might be he can never create anything even comparable to the beauty of God’s creation and the glorious beauty of Munnar made me believe that Kerala is truly God’s own country.

A few travel tips that might help you:

1. You will find chopped pineapples being sold in many outlets near every tourist place. Do try them as they are farm fresh and very sweet.
2. Carry some woollen clothes if you are travelling in December or January as the temperature drops at night, even you may need them in the day time at some places like the National Park or the Mattupetty Dam which are located at higher altitudes.
3. Choose a good hotel, I would say better go for a home stay or a resort a little away from the main town. Because you would spend more time in the hotel as entry to most of the tourist places gets closed by 5pm. So choose a good place so that you can sit peacefully and enjoy the natural beauty of the place.
4. Wake up early and go for a morning walk, the walk amidst nature will surely provide you some refreshment.
5. Shop some tea (flavoured ones depending on your taste) for friends and family as you do not get such wide varieties of tea everywhere.