The sights of Munnar in monsoon are mesmerising. This is the second part of this series. We explored Munnar in the last week of July 2014. The first part was covered in this post.
Monsoon in Munnar 1 – Going gaga over ghats!
Leaving Bodhimettu behind, we drive on. The roads are excellent. The valley views are fabulous.
We now realise how beautiful Munnar is in Monsoon. And regret why we never came here earlier in the rains.
Cloud kissed Mountains on the horizon provide a perfect backdrop to the green valley in the foreground. The mountains rise sharply. They are conical in shape, their summits covered by thick monsoon clouds.
The rains have actually made late entry into Munnar. The locals say that rains only started in Munnar in the previous week. We could see that the lake which otherwise looks beautiful when full is not even half full. ( Please click on the pictures to see them in their original size)
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| The first sight of the verdant valleys of Munnar…. |
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| The lovely lake. Notice the water level. |
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| Manicured tea gardens with mountains as a backdrop |
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| Sometimes, the green expanse gets a white contrast in the form of lovely cascades. |
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| This was a beautiful sight. A tea village with colourful houses in the middle of a green valley! |
Our journey now gets slower as we stop now and then to click pictures and the sights of Munnar get spectacular.
The valleys now pave the way to immaculately maintained tea gardens. The landscape is dotted by huge boulders amidst the manicured tea gardens.
The boulders of Munnar make the terrain interesting. Strewn at random, and covered by green, they look as if someone has done landscaping. The green expanse is disturbed by orange trees with lovely fruits. We never knew that Orange is grown in these areas.
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| Orange trees amidst the tea gardens |
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| Natural landscaping! |
We get into the car and start driving on the winding roads. Slight drizzle and mist add to the beauty of our drive.
Around the corner, Brinda suddenly notices a lovely waterfall at a distance and we are all excited. We drive closer and this happens to be the beautiful “Chinnakanal Waterfalls”. The rains in the last week have made it a glorious sight.
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| Chinnakanal Waterfall @ its glorious best |
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| A panoramic view of the falls as we drove away past and turned on a curve… |
The next few KMs of the drive was most exciting. The road gets narrower. Huge boulders on one side with tiny waterfalls cascading from the top and mist mist-filled valley on the left.
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| A panoramic shot of the boulder with its cascades. Mesmerising! |
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| The vistas on the winding roads are lovely |
A lovely drive in the mountains leads us to Munnar town. A small hill town, typical of a tea country.
To some extent, Munnar town resembles the town of Nuwara Eliya in Sri Lanka’s Hill country, though it lacks the lovely Gregory Lake. But that is compensated by two lovely lakes away from the town. We will cover them in future posts.
The first sights of Munnar in monsoon were like a fantastic prelude to the next few days in paradise!
Travel Tips
a) Munnar is not for someone in a hurry. For that matter any mountain. It has to be savoured slowly.
b) It is worth driving up to Bodhimettu even if you are reaching from the other two routes of Udumalpet and Cochin. The vistas are beautiful.
c) Stop and click pictures for memories!
d) The waterfalls will be at their best in monsoon. Do not expect Chinnakanal in the same glorious best after rains.
e) Roads in Munnar in excellent condition. The best thing to do in Munnar is to drive around. It is an exhilarating experience.
If you want to experience the beauty of monsoon in India, you can check this post on this blog.
Celebrating Indian Monsoon – A list!
