Road to Munnar

I’m starting to get more used to taking the state buses alone. Still not fully comfortable with everyone staring at me but at least I know that at rest stops they won’t leave without the white girl :-P

The road to Munnar from Madurai is something to be experienced. I’m a mountain girl. Seeing the mountains again brought back memories of past treks and hikes. Yet this was one of the most unnerving roads I’ve been on. Something out of Top Gear. The climb is incredibly steep, and the bus – overcrowded with people packed and standing – takes hairpin turns on the road barely wide enough for one truck. Everyone suddenly went very quiet as the bus began its ascent. You know something is not right when even the locals show signs of fear :P. The best is when you pass oncoming trucks and buses, rolling a couple of inches from the deep precipice below. Adrenaline rush guaranteed. 

Munnar itself is not so special except for the communist flags everywhere and three religions coexisting actively side by side, seemingly peacefully, though these are characteristics of Kerala in general. The surrounding area is a fairytale though. Endless mountains to hike on the Kerala Tamil Nadu border, green rolling tea plantations as far as the eye can see.

 

I think I had too high expectations of the place. I wanted to go roam the hills and get lost in nature. But I ended up doing the touristy things with a few other travellers, which left me incredibly fed up and impatient to leave and move on. I chose Munnar because it was recommended as an alternative to Ooty which is even more touristic. But even in Munnar you get treated as a wallet on legs by the locals – I wasn’t used to that anymore, I like interacting with people on a more meaningful level. And at the restaurants you get served food with forks – that was incredibly strange and disappointing to me by that point haha! The first time that happened, I refused to use it and was the only stubborn foreigner digging into the rice with my hand, but eventually I re-westernized for a time.

After Munnar, we headed to Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary for some elephant spotting and spending a night in a treehouse in the jungle. Sounds like fun, right? But again, expectations versus reality story happened. As soon as we arrived, we were rushed on a “jungle trek” in the middle of the unbearably hot day in the dried up forest and plains. Of course there won’t be much chance of seeing any animals; in that heat most of them are probably sleeping or hiding in the shade somewhere. Our guide could only say the names of some animals in English, and the evening’s menu, which was his answer to most of our questions :P. On the hills we got to see some deer, some bison – which from that distance could have been anything – some birds, and lots of elephant shit. Fresh piles, old piles, fossilized piles – the elephant’s soul. We even spotted a rare Jeep mating ritual on the road below – highlight of the trek :-P. I almost snapped from heat exhaustion and frustration, but ended up laughing when the guide showed me photos of the famed giant grizzled squirrel in that area on his phone, because we didn’t get to see any. And seeing my state, he even offered to carry my bag back.

Upon our return, we were informed that we might not be able to spend the night in a treehouse, so we waited to find out if the people who had booked it would call. In the meantime, there weren’t any other facilities there and no phone reception, so we just watched the monkeys get close and try to steal food. 

Eventually we got the treehouse and set off. When we reached the spot, our guide (another one) kept pressuring me to take a bath in the river near the treehouse. Yeah, right. Then he fell asleep for a long nap and we had no idea what to do, so we just sat there and ate some snacks. Eventually it got dark and another guide came. While they were having fun bathing and fishing, we were just sitting there wondering what the plan was. It would have been better to know from the start what to expect. I took some photos of the moon rise, and we then ate some parota with curry by candlelight. Not the best quality food but I was starving, and it was nice to eat with my fingers again. 

 

Because it was dark, I started feeling sleepy pretty early. But before retiring to our treehouse, we witnessed some suspicious activity going on on the other side of the river (which was the border with Tamil Nadu). Some people were trying to get a huge tractor through the water and forest and made an incredible noise for about an hour. Forget about seeing any animals that night. We climbed up into the treehouse and our guide told us to leave candles on and hang the bags so that the mice don’t burrow any holes. And if we had to pee in the night, do it on the treehouse balcony. Lol. No wonder the place smelled like shit and urine. It was pretty bad but I was so exhausted that I fell asleep easily enough. No animals in the night. 

The following morning they made us chai and gave us biscuits but we were in a hurry to get back to catch our respective buses. It wasn’t my favourite episode on this trip but it makes for some fun stories. And sleeping in the trees in the jungle is still pretty awesome :) 

Photos: Munnar & Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary