In spite of a lot of planning and rescheduling we were unable to zero down on any one holiday destination for this year’s vacation. Under an impromptu we finalized on Kerala and frantically packed our bags for the vacation. It was a much awaited break for both for us as the monotony of office lives had almost stolen our free spirits from us.
We left Pune for Mumbai for our flight to Cochin and then took a taxi from Cochin to reach Munnar around late evening at 10 pm. We had booked ourselves at Bella Vista resort in Munnar. The resort is a decent property though quite far away from the Munnar main city. If you are in the mood to devour nature inhibited then this is the place to stay in, else watch out in the city for more options. There are umpteen options available in the city.
Day 1-We hired a cab for sightseeing. It charged us 1200 Rs for 5-6 scenic locations. We went to Tata tea estate and nearby dams and waterfalls. The names of most of the dams and waterfalls sounded almost same to me :) I can differentiate them only in my photographs now. Also the irony of this sightseeing tour was that my driver and us, didn’t have any common language to communicate so we exchanged requests and compliments in sign language!! We came back to the resort around 4 pm and had rest of the day to leisure.
Day 2-We made sure that we got a driver who understood English. We started early morning at 8 pm for Matupetty direction sightseeing. Munnar is immaculately blessed with natural beauty- amidst the fog and chilly weather, the beauty of the well scaped tea gardens and hillocks shone bright. We went to echo point where you could hear your voice echo 3 times if you called out loud. It was very scenic with a beautiful waterfall that later turned into a quiet flowing river surrounded by tall green chinar trees around.
The main attraction of the day was the elephant ride. Through a small forest like area huge elephants could take you around on their back for 1 hr.We paid 700 rs for the joyride and believe me it was worth every penny. We later fed the elephant some pineapples and corn for its effort :) Next spot was the picturesque Matupetty lake where we went for pedal boating. It was very beautiful as we were surrounded by tall green trees and clear water. The lake was very clean and we could spot some rare fishes and turtles while boating. We
enjoyed the day thoroughly and came back to our resort around 4 pm. Rest of the day was again for our leisure. It was a day well spent, we had captured the virgin nature in our eyes, memories of a beautiful place.
Day 3-was dedicated to the fauna of Munnar. We visited the Ervikulam National Park which is famous for the endangered species of Nilgiri Tahr. I felt sorry for the poor Tahr that there number had dwindled to a meager few due to human folly. The views from the Rajmala peak of Ervikulam National Park was breathtaking. The beautiful tea gardens of Munnar could be seen from bird eye view. Next we reached Marayoor sandalwood forest where we could see tall black sandal wood trees on both sides of the road. We sniffed the raw odor of sandalwood and confirmed on authenticity of the trees. Our next destination was Chinnar wildlife sanctuary. The sanctuary is really huge and we trekked to the watch tower and Chinnar river to reach a serene spot in the jungle. It was like a like a postcard picture come alive, the banks of the Chinnar river was so beautiful!! From the top of the watch tower which was about 20 m in height, we could see the entire sanctuary.
The guide mentioned that the sanctuary was home to many wild animals like leopards, elephants, tiger, fox and bears but they mainly came out on prowl at nights. My naughty mind started contemplating a night trek to meet the wild which Noddy denied later. After this we moved to Munnar city for shopping souvenirs-tea and
chocolates. We shopped from Tata Tea-Kannan Devan retail outlet for Tea, Chocolates and Spices. We returned to our resort around 6 pm and spent the rest of the day dozing off as we were tired by the trekking.
The next day we started off early from Munnar for our next destination in Kerala -Kumarakom backwaters. The taxi took around 4.5 hours to reach Kumarakom. We had booked ourselves in Waterscapes resort. We were dumbstruck for a minute when we entered the resort. The reception overlook a beautiful natural lake and the resort itself was located inside the bird sanctuary, so it appeared as if we were staying in the wild. Our hut was beautifully located before a man made canal. There was a wide network of canals throughout the resort. You could even reach your hut by travelling in a small boat as boats were available to ferry you through. The hut was held up on stilts and we climbed up a few stairs to reach inside. Inside it was very luxurious with air conditioner, bath tub, coffee machine etc.
We spent the rest of the day chilling in the hut and later in the evening we went for swimming in the pool. The pool was lake facing and offered great views of the lake and the bird sanctuary. Beautiful houseboats floated in the lake, which looked even better as the night approached. We had a sumptuous Kerala buffet dinner in the lake floating restaurant and then retired to bed. Next day we hired a houseboat for 3 hours and sailed through the Kumarakom backwaters. The houseboat charged us 2500 rs. The ride was good and we enjoyed it. Later we went to visit the darker parts of the bird sanctuary. As it was late afternoon we couldn’t spot any significant birds except for a kingfisher and few cranes.
We captured them in our camera and returned to our hut. Later, we went to the Ayurvedic center in the resort for the famous Kerala massage. It costed us 1800 rs for a couple. The effect of the massage was very calming and I dozed off in the mid. It rejuvenated me and I felt very relaxed later. We again spent the evening before the lake.Rest please check comment section.