We had our honeymoon trip to Munnar on the 3rd week of September.
As it is required to make sure of the availablity of accomodation, a cottage was booked in Elysium gardens under a 3 days and 2 nights package comprising food and sight seeing.The package costed us around Rs.7000.
We started off to Munnar from Guruvayoor after a blissful darshan there.We had to break the journey from Thrissur to Perumbavoor.From Perumbavoor there are frequent private bus services to Munnar, a place of unending green foliage.Its about 3.5 hrs journey at around 55 rs ticket.After Adimali you will see the real picture of western ghats with small streams and thick vegetation on the way with cool breeze. The lushy green appearance and waterfalls on the way excited us , but at that time never ever though that we were going to witness the ’miracle’ of Mother nature.Eventhough the bus trip jolted us all along our journey because of the dreadly hair pin road, after reaching munnar we thought, its simply worth taking pain to reach there.
The cottage was good and economical.We could not do any sight seeing on our arrival day becoz of rain.Luckily for us, it was a clear sunny day that followed.The resort people arranged a cab driver Mr.Jacob for our tour around Munnar.He turned out to be very helpful knowing the nook and corner of munnar as being a native there for the past 24 years.
Actually we divided our trip to 2 directions.In the morning we covered the Anamudi route and in the afternoon it was Mattupetty route.In the morning We drove to Rajamalai first.Reaching Rajamalai entry point, we saw many tourists queueing up to get the entry tickets.Mr.Jacob made our task easy and got us two tickets.There are bus services to take the tourist to the top of the hill.We seldom had to wait to catch a van to drive to thetop.Many of the waterfalls which were previously accessible to the tourists are now fenced by private estate owners.We had a glimpse of the same from the road and moved to Rajamalai.Bus dropped us at some point above, and there on we walked up exploring whats on the top.
At the top of the hill the flower "Neelakurinji" could be seen .The flower appeared to be just like another one.But the importance is, it gets bloomed only once in 12 years.Nilgiri Thar was also seen there in their natural habitat.Interesting thing is that this animal doesn’t fear humans. It has to be appreciated that the forest authorities are taking extreme care to protect both strobilanthus flower and the Mountain goats.One would be taken aback by the mind-bending view from Rajamalai.Especially the mist covering the mountains, the wide spread tea plantaions, tiny streams, huge cataracts are just a few to name.
We took few snaps making the western ghats and streams as background and ofcourse strobilanthus flower and mountain goats too.If u love eating fresh carrots u can get it on the way to Rajamalai.
From there our next destination was Attacaud falls.Its just another natural waterfall which streams through the tea estate.
We returned to the resort to have our lunch .In the afternoon we started off to Top station which is 30 kms far from the town.On the way we saw Mattupetty Indo swiss project.As it requires permission to enter the premises we moved to Mattupetty dam.It is also a picturesque place with the resorvoir on one side and mountains all over the shore.You can find different types of boating there. Almost 2 kms from there the Elephant spotting point is seen. We found some 3-4 elephants (big and small) in their natural habitat.Its better to go with a zoom lens to get clear snap of the elephants as they are downhill.On another part of the lake, a thick forest, the echo point is situated.If u have a husky voice u can surely hear an echo of your voice.Boating is available there also.
We could also find elephant riding on our way.Even though we thought twice over the riding charge which was too much, we dint want to miss it.(For 1 km they charge 300 rs for a couple). I realized that its not an easy task to ride on an elephant..but the mahout helped us by taking some good snaps by making the elephant to stand in different postures in front of the tea plantations.
We moved to Kandala lake after that.Luckily for us we got into a pedal boat in time as they would close the counters at 4pm.We had a good round up of the lake pedalling for about 30 minutes.If u wish to take a horse ride, u can find it there nearby boating spot. We then moved to top station. MrJacob, our driver, stopped the cab whenever he found a place suitable for taking snaps and for showing us breathtaking view points.He did not miss out the right tea plantation too for snap shots.The only menace is the leeches when you get into the thick plantations.Its better to ask the local people as there are plantations that doesnt have much trouble of leeches.
We reached top station at around 5.30 pm and started trekking.Remember to carry real trekking shoes or else its difficult to move on.You will get a good view of the mountains from there.We could find beautiful flowering plants including the famous strobilanthus flower which we dared to pluck as there was no restricion.Way back, we dropped by a mess to have a refreshning ginger tea (tea from the munnar’s very own tea garden)and we bought some medicinal tomatoes from there which looked like Plum.The shop keeper told us that its good for diabates.Lured by her, we bought 1 kg for 30 rs which we found inedible when we got back home.On the way back to resort we bought garden fresh tea from the town along with some spices and home made cookies.All the things were extremely fresh.Thats the end of our munnar trip in a day.But I would suggest to take off 3-4 days, stay there enjoy the serenity and beauty of Munnar.
We took a cab to cochin the next day and bid farewell to Munnar.
I would recommend this place to couples as its unique and safe.Its better if you can carry some sweaters with you.And above all try to be with a Digital camera with zooming capability.Becoz you will need at least some 50 rolls of film if you go there with an ordinary camera :-) And yes, please dont book through travel port agency.
You can find some hotels /resorts from the link https://hotelsinmunnar.com/ to suit your bugdet.
Search for their phone numbers and call them directly