A Trek to the world's highest tea plantation

Traveling became a part of my madness in the recent times. The realization that you still have to cover a lot more places just makes you travel more. Well, this one, my first post on this blog, is a trip I made with my friends from college. All thanks to the people with a similar level of craziness that this trip will remain in the memories forever.

During our 2 MTech years, we used to go on trips 1-2 times a year. We were about to finish our course and we wanted to go on one more trip. Plan was made and this time its time for a different experience. Trekking and camping in Munnar. Munnar is a town in the Western Ghats mountain range in India’s Kerala state. A hill station and former resort for the British Raj elite, it's surrounded by rolling hills dotted with tea plantations established in the late 19th century. The plan was to start from our campus in the morning to reach Munnar by evening and camp in the Kolukkumalai tea estate and start early morning to the Kolukkumalai Hilltop for the sunrise. The plan was perfect and worked for everyone except me for I was not able to join the team on time.

I always believe, things happens for a reason. And yes whatever happened now resulted in something that just made my trip a lot more awesome. I already missed my time with my friends on the onward trip and I didn't want to miss anything more including the camping experience. This motivated me to start from Coimbatore, where I was held up for the day, as early as possible and catch bus towards Munnar. Knowing this would happen, I was doing a research on reaching Munnar the fastest possible way for more than a week.

Thus my new itinerary is to catch a bus from Coimbatore to Udumalpet and then from Udumalpet to Munnar and then somebody would come and pick me up to the kolukkumalai tea estate which is in suryanelli where the team is camping for the day. Anyhow, it'd take me atleast 6 hours to reach Munnar. But thats not a reason enough for me to cancel the plans and I started for Munnar at around 6PM. On an ideal case I shall reach the camp by 12 or 1AM giving me enough time to take rest and get ready for the trek the following day. But things were a little complicated that day. I reached Udumalpet right on time, by around 10pm. But then the news struck me like a lightning. "Due to a sudden Hartal in Idukki district no buses are servicing today!!" Well this was really unexpected and all the plans simply looked like a drawing on water. Then comes our Kerala State RTC to the rescue. One bus at 10.30 to Munnar which would get me there by 12.30. After a quick dinner, the wait for the Udumalpet-Munnar Ordinary started. The bus came and as it was after a long gap, it was full in no time. I was thrilled as it started its journey towards Munnar.

It was late and the road, enough for only one vehicle made its way through the Anamalai tiger reserve in Tamilnau and Chinnar widlife sanctuary in Kerala. As we reached Marayur, famous for its sandal woods and notorious for its frequent wild elephant visits, we saw an elephant by the road side. He was pushing hard onto a tree and was very close a house. The bus moved forward and we reached Munnar earlier than expected. I called my pickup person and came to know that he has only started and it'd take atleast half an hour to reach the point. I simply roamed here and there. It was chilling outside and the only human presence I can spot was in a small eatery nearby. Being a tea lover I went there for some quick bites and tea. They were about to close and I had to satisfy myself with only an omlet. The shop people were done for the day and left making me the only person standing in Munnar town with a few street lights, a chilling atmosphere and great silence all around me. It was at this time I got a call from my pickup that he would be delayed again as the road is blocked by a rogue elephant and he can't move unless it clears the road. 30mins has now become a 1 hour wait and the only silence breaker there are the crickets and the periodic patrol vehicle on its routine. After a long wait the pickup arrived. A mahindra commando 4x4 jeep, the most common transport you could find in Idukki.

We started for our camp and all the way the driver was talking about his encounter with the elephant on the way and other recent elephant stories. He mentioned abut the increased elephant activity on those days and you could find all houses on the way were guarded by fire. The things I saw along with the stories I heard, forced me to prepare for anything and we were taking each blind curves with at-most caution and his driving skills should take a special note here and in the off-road jeep trek to come.

The ride became even more bone breaking as we started our final climb and the jeep trek though the estates included in package. It was around 3 when we finally reached the camp. Everyone were asleep and with this climate you could just sleep till noon inside a blanket. I went for the tent with space and silently took my place to recover for the trek which was to happen in a few hours.

It's 5 in the morning. And everybody is back on their feet in no time so that we'd never miss our sunrise. Our guide came and informed us that we should on the peak by 6.30 if we were to catch the sunrise. It was drizzling, and temperature was low but a hot cup of tea is all that was needed to get us back in form. We could see our destination standing tall just opposite to our camping area.

“In every walk with nature, one received far more than he seeks.” – John Muir

Its 5.30 in the morning and everyone is up on their legs quickly doing freshups and getting ready for the hike. Its about 3 - 4 kms hike from the camp to the top. We need to be on top by 6.30 if we have to see the sunrise. To add to the cold climate, it was also drizzling and we could see kolukkumalai standing tall infront of us. Everyone were thrilled and the walk along the tea plantations is some experience. Short after some distance we diverted from the jeep tracks starting our ascend. After a short ascend, we were welcomed by a natural arch thickened by several creepers and right after the arch was a steep fall. We could not see anything beyond a few feets due to the fog. The climb continued after taking a turn from the arch and we all followed our guide to the top. The land has started showing its resistance by making the inclination more steep and the final ascend , as in any case, was a bit tiresome. Though a beginner level trek, and we are new to the trek life, this was kind of tiring for us and walking on the wet grounds with a huge drop on to your side, it can be a bit terrifying also. But we made it with all our will to the top and the feeling can't be expressed in words. But there was a small flavour of disappointment to our excitement as we won't be able to see the sunrise due to the fog, which is quite common in these areas. But the view was simply awesome and when fog is reduced you get a breathtaking birds eye view of your surroundings and you get to see this at specific windows created by the fog. Some 30-45 minutes were spend at the peak clicking photos and enjoying the views. On the top, you'll find a stone that marks the boundary of Kerala and Tamilnadu states. The fog settled down by the time and we could get clearer views of the tea plantations and the hills surrounding us.

After spending good enough time up there enjoying the views and clicking lots of pictures, we started to climb down. There's a saying that a trek on western ghats is not complete with out getting a few leech bites. By the time we were back in our camp, we have fed a good number of those little blood suckers.

Back in the camp, and after a quick fresh up, we started to the old tea factory in the center of the world's highest organic tea garden. Having another hot cup of tea and roaming in and around the factory, we started our jeep trek back to the valley. We could see a lot of jeeps climbing up with people. We were back again near our bus after going though a few scenic spots en route and its time to go back too our normal lives. We left for the resort to spend the remaining day with a lot of memories. We know there are many more peaks in this are to climb. Hoping I'll be back one day...!

Quick trip summary

Trip duration : 2 days
Trip route : Coimbatore - Udumalapet - Munnar - Coimbatore
Activities and places covered : Jeep trek to kolukkumalai tea estate
Camping in kolukkumalai tea estate
Trek to kolukkumalai peak
Highest tea garden
Tiger rock
Mattuppatty dam
Trek, camping and stay coordinated by : Tripifyme (https://tripifyme.com/)
One night stay in villas inside a forest : Deepwoods resort 
(http://www.deepwoodsmunnar.com/)
Travel arranged by : Subhayathra travels ottappalam

#nature #trek #godsowncountry #kerala #incredibleindia