Around Munnar

I arrange for a rickshaw driver to take me into the countryside around Munnar. The route is a popular tourist one and I am keen to avoid most of the tourist traps. I particularly want to see the landscape, and visit a local view point called Top Station. I also want to see how people live and work. I ask him to drive slowly and carefully and not take me to any shops or places where I have to pay to have my photograph taken with a parrot. He seems to understand and agrees. We set off out of the town. We have only gone half a mile when he pulls into the forecourt of a shop.  Oh no, he hasn’t listened at all – this could be a disaster. But I’m totally wrong – he has stopped to answer is mobile phone. I thank him for his safety consciousness.

Rickshaw driver

We drive into tea plantation country. I didn’t know tea grew on such woody shrubs. The gaps between the shrubs make the hillsides look like they are covered in a huge maze. There are no tea-pickers to be seen, but I imagine them working there and trying to find their way out.

Tea plantation

Across the valley I can see some brightly coloured fabric laid out. I ask him what it is and he says it is clothes being washed. He parks up and we walk along a track in the plantation to a spot where stream collects before falling over a drop. 2 women are in the stream washing clothes. A girl of 8 is helping them and has been given the job of rubbings the smalls with soap against the rocks. An old lady is to one side laying the washed clothes on the ground to dry.

Laundry

We stop at the side of the road and he shows me bees nests high up in the trees. There is a honey seller sitting with his wares in bottles. He pours some onto my hand for me to taste. A pot in front of him is full of honey comb, still with some bees in it. He climbs up the trees and brings down the honey combs. The rickshaw driver says, ‘This man has many stings!’

Honey seller

Soon afterwards the driver forgets the original agreement and we stop at a place where I can have my photograph taken with a tea picking basket on my back. ‘No thank you, I particularly do not want to do that’. He looks a little sheepish. And then he redeems himself entirely by offering to take me to his village. I’ll tell you about that fantastic experience in a separate post.

After we leave the village, the road winds steeply and on a bend we pass a truck being loaded with logs. The trees are being felled and cut into logs. A group of men are working there. The trees also belong to the tea plantation and the wood is to be taken to the tea factory as fuel for the fires.

Logging

Driving on we come to a reservoir. There are stalls along the road on either side of the dam for the tourists who stop to look at the view. I get out and walk across the dam and several men ask me to pay for them to take my picture. They seem to be doing a reasonable trade with the Indian tourists.

Reservoir

We come to a part of the road where it is possible to see elephants in the wild. We drive slowly, but no luck. Perhaps on the way back.

The scenary is stunning and there are beautiful vistas at every turn. Where the valley bottoms are flat there is some vegetable cultivation and small stalls along the way are selling the produce.

Vegetable farming

At Top Station cars, rickshaws, 4x4s and motorbikes clog up the small access road and are left parked wherever the drivers fancy. It’s then a short walk along a ridge to the main viewing point. We are at the head of a valley with a ridge running to our right and the ground dropping steeply away below us. The plains of neighbouring Tamil Nadu are in the distance.  It was worth the drive.

View to Tamil Nadu

 

On the way back I remember to look out for the elephants, but it’s harder to see over the edge of the road because we are on the other side. We turn and corner and I catch a glimpse of something; perhaps it was a cow? I call to the driver; he pulls over and we get out. Coming up the hill away from the reservoir there is a family group of 3 elephants; mother, father and baby. They eat pull up the grass in the field and eat it or throw it over their backs. We watch them for about quarter of an hour before they disappear back down the hill.

Back in the bustle of Munnar I thank my driver and set off back to my guest house. All in all a very good day.