{"id":4759,"date":"2014-03-25T12:56:11","date_gmt":"2014-03-25T12:56:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sterlingholidays.com\/blog\/?p=4759"},"modified":"2025-03-24T06:04:38","modified_gmt":"2025-03-24T06:04:38","slug":"a-portfolio-of-munnar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sterlingholidays.com\/blog\/a-portfolio-of-munnar\/","title":{"rendered":"Munnar Diaries Part 1 – A portfolio of Munnar"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the first part of this five-part exclusive travelogue, avid traveller Shireen Bharucha takes us along on her quest to unravel the mystical beauty of Munnar. Read more to know about her discoveries and adventures in this quaint tourist destination.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

We arrive at our destination, tired, at night after a day long journey. \u00a0The king-size bed in our room beckons.\u00a0 We fall asleep as soon as we snuggle in it!\u00a0 What is more delightful than being woken up by an avian operetta?\u00a0 The numerous and talented divas sing melodious arias.\u00a0 They do not come out to take a bow and as their stage is hidden by lush foliage, I am unable to see these little \u2018stars\u2019!<\/p>\n

We are pleasantly surprised to find that the resort we are staying at, Munnar – Terrace Greens<\/a><\/strong>, in the quiet village of Chinnakanal – 18 kilometers from Munnar town, overlooks tea gardens, a dense forest bordering the Anayirankal\u00a0 (ana meaning elephant and rankal meaning coming down \u2013 elephant coming down to drink water) Dam encircled by the hills of the Anamalai Mountain Range.\u00a0 The sun rises behind the mountains bathing the horizon in bands of pink, orange and gold, the myraid colours reflected in the sparkling water of the dam.\u00a0\u00a0 By seven a.m. the sun shines brightly, gently evaporating the glistening dew.<\/p>\n

\"Munnar<\/p>\n

\"Anayirankal<\/p>\n

Munnar (\u2018munn\u2019 means three and \u2018aar\u2019 means river in Malayalam) which is situated at the confluence of three mountain streams \u2013 the Mudrapuzha, Nallathanni and Kundala, situated at an altitude of 6000 ft above sea level, was discovered by the British Resident of the Travancore kingdom, John Daniel Munro, when he visited the place in the 1870s to settle a border dispute between the kingdom of Travancore and the then state of Madras.<\/p>\n

Munro was awe-struck by the impressive ranges of the Western Ghats, dense forests, gurgling brooks, and during the monsoons, thunderous cascades.\u00a0 More recently, director Ang Lee was besotted similarly, when he shot part of the movie, Life of Pi<\/a>, in Munnar.\u00a0 Though most of the film was shot in his native Taiwan, Lee admitted that no other setting could replicate the quaintness of Puducherry where Pi was raised or the stunning landscapes of Munnar<\/a><\/strong>, where Pi holidayed.\u00a0 Tea, coffee, spice and fruit plantations abound.\u00a0 Munnar boasts of South India\u2019s highest peak, the Anamudi, which rises over 2695 m.\u00a0 Munnar\u2019s many sobriquets are \u2013 Kashmir of South India, Switzerland of the East and Little England.<\/p>\n

Munro, a keen agriculturist, realized that the Kanan Devan Hills were ideal for growing crops.\u00a0 He met the head of the royal family of Poonjar, who leased out the Kanan Devan Hills to him in 1877.\u00a0 In 1879 Munro formed the North Travancore Land Planting & Agricultural Society and the hill slopes were soon covered by coffee, cardamom, cinchona and sisal plantations, with member A.W. Turnor being the first cultivator.\u00a0 The first tea planter, A.H. Sharp, planted tea in 50 acres of land in 1880, which now forms part of the Sevenmallay Estate.<\/p>\n

The original inhabitants of Munnar are members of the Muthuvan (also known as Muduvan) tribal community.\u00a0 When the British pioneers made their advent into their unexplored territory, the Muthuvans fled at the sight of this strange \u2018white\u2019 apparition!\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t long before the passion for hunting established a strong bond between the whites and the tribals.\u00a0 For the Brits, shikar was an adrenaline rush, for the Muthuvans killing small game for food was a matter of survival.\u00a0 The Muthuvans were skilled trackers.\u00a0 No Britisher ventured on a hunt without his trusted Muthuvan guide.<\/p>\n

\"Muthuvan

Muthuvan Workers<\/p><\/div>\n

Tea cultivation being labour intensive, the Muthuvans were employed by the British to work on their tea gardens.\u00a0 Credit goes to these tribals who were instrumental in opening up the flourishing tea estates of today.\u00a0 As a tribute to these workers, more than 12,000 employees of the Kanan Devan Hills Plantations Company Private Limited (KDHP) have been made shareholders.<\/p>\n

Surrounded, as we are, by tea gardens, it is only natural that our curiosity is piqued, making a visit to one of these is an absolute \u2018must see\u2019.<\/p>\n

In the second part of this series read about Shireen Barucha\u2019s visit to Kolukkumalai \u2013 the world\u2019s highest organic tea estate \u2013 by clicking here<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Quick Links<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Part 1 – A portfolio of Munnar<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Part 2 – Kolukkumalai : The world\u2019s highest organic tea plantation<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Part 3 – Kerala\u2019s oldest martial art: Kalaripayattu<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Part 4 – Munnar \u2013 discovering history<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Part 5 – Here, there and everywhere<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The views expressed by the author are in her personal capacity.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the first part of this five-part exclusive travelogue, avid traveller Shireen Bharucha takes us along on her quest to unravel the mystical beauty of Munnar. Read more to know about her discoveries and adventures in this quaint tourist destination. We arrive at our destination, tired, at night after a day long journey. \u00a0The king-size…<\/p>\n

Read More<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":4761,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[87],"tags":[4575,4576,4577,4578,4579,4580,4581,4582,4583],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingholidays.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4759"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingholidays.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingholidays.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingholidays.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingholidays.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4759"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingholidays.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4759\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17570,"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingholidays.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4759\/revisions\/17570"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingholidays.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingholidays.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingholidays.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingholidays.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}