Munnar & Thekkady · 5 days, 4 nights
The high range
Tea, cardamom, and the highest ground south of the Himalaya.
The journey
Up out of the heat into the Kannan Devan hills, where the tea is, and then south along the ridge to Periyar. Anamudi is here — 2,695 metres, the highest peak in the Western Ghats and the highest point in India outside the Himalaya — and so is the largest surviving population of Nilgiri tahr. Two nights in the tea, two beside the lake, and a road between them that is the point rather than the price of getting there.
Route
- Kochi
- Munnar
- Eravikulam
- Mattupetty
- Kumily
- Periyar
- Thekkady
What stays with you
- 01Eravikulam, and the tahr that come down to the road in the mornings
- 02Anamudi at 2,695m, seen from the park below it
- 03Tea, from the estates that made Munnar, with someone who knows how it is graded
- 04A cardamom and pepper plantation at Kumily, walked rather than driven past
- 05Periyar lake at first light, which is when the elephants come to drink
- 06The drive itself — the ghat road, and where to stop on it
Day by day
A shape rather than a timetable. Days move, and most people move one or two of them.
1
Up from Kochi through the ghats. Waterfalls and the first tea near Adimali; into Munnar by afternoon.
2
Eravikulam early, before the cloud. The afternoon in the estates — Mattupetty, the dam, and how tea is actually made.
3
South along the ridge to Thekkady. Spice country from Kumily onward; an evening walk in the plantations.
4
Periyar at dawn, on the lake. The afternoon free, or bamboo rafting in the reserve for anyone who wants the long version.
5
Down through the cardamom hills and back to Kochi.
Shall we plan it?
Tell us roughly when, and how many of you, and we will come back with dates, a price and anything we would change about the route.
Or write to us at info@scenicescapesindia.com
Kerala