The drive to Munnar takes about 5 hours from Cochin airport. On the way is the sacred town of Kalady, the birthplace of Adi Sankaracharya. Its best to take a cab ride (the majestic Ambassador is the best bet for this wonderful route, up the mountains, across tiny towns). It was November when we visited, drizzly, pleasant, cool and worth every minute spent. As the road winded up, crossing streams, passing waterfalls (our regular photo stops), dense rain forests, one tends to agree this is God's own country, supremely beautiful ! We stayed at Fort Munnar, around 20kms from Munnar town, a nice quiet place, surrounded by mountains on all sides. The terrace offers a great view of rocky mountains and this place also had a little tree house which my son enjoyed climbing up...Day 2 was a visit to the Eravikulam National Wildlife sanctuary, home to the endangered species of Nilgiri Thars, which are a kind of deers (!). The Rajamalai mountains are home to these animals and only around 2500 of them are found in these ranges. The car stops some distance away, to ensure they dont get disturbed by noise, and one has to trek up a little bit. The trek is quite beautiful, and easy of course. When you reach the top, you are rewarded by a splendid view of mountains on all sides, wrapped up in moss-green, velvety tea-gardens, touched by wafts of misty clouds here and there. Its mind bogglingly beautiful. Dont think a camera can do justice to capture all the beauty. Our first visit to Munnar was in 1997, by now we've been here thrice and place is the same, except crowds which seem increasing every year. Nowadays there are coffee/spice plantation visits being organised for those interested, and there are home/plantation stay options as well. We're thinking of trying out one next time.
