Hikes & Treks

Munnar is the perfect place to go on a trek – the temperature is always just right, and the air is crisp and invigorating.

If you’ve never trekked before, experiment with a guided walk through the narrow, winding trails of the tea gardens. For more experienced trekkers, there are hundreds of challenging, rewarding trails across the range.

The trails to Letchmi, Chokkanmudi and Top Station are favourites among enthusiasts, and for the more adventurous there’s always Meesapulimala, the second highest peak in the region. If you’re planning to trek, do let us know. We’d love to help with the arrangements.

Parks & Sanctuaries

You are on the Western Ghats an abode of endemic and endangered species at elevations above 4,000 ft you are not far from some of the famous national parks in the country; The Windermere Estate is fortunate to be in one of the most bio-diverse regions in the world- the Western Ghats. At this elevation, you’re surrounded by hundreds of rare and endangered species, many of which are endemic to the region.

If you’d like to explore, a host of gorgeous National Parks and Wildlife Reserves are within easy reach.

Eravikulam National park

A 45-minute drive away is the lush Eravikulam National Park, home to the endangered endemic Ibex, also known as the Nilgiri Thar. The park is the largest reserve of these huge, majestic beasts.

Know more: Eravikulam National park

Pampadam Shola National Park

The staggering biodiversity of this forest ensured that it was named a National Park. It’s a cloudy, misty paradise with elephants, gaur, wild boar, sambar deer and leopards sharing space with 22 Species of trees, 74 species of herbs and shrubs, 16 species of climbers.

Know more: Pampadam Shola National Park

Chinnar Wild Life Sanctuary

There are fewer than 200 Great Grizzled Squirrels left, and this is their home. The sanctuary’s comparatively dry deciduous forests are lovely for treks, with high chances of sighting Hanuman langurs, peacocks and deer.

Know more: Chinnar Wild Life Sanctuary

Kurinjimala Wildlife Sanctuary

The Kurinjimala Sanctuary is dedicated to the preservation of the Nilakurinji- one of the rarest and most unique plants in the world. It flowers only once in 12 years and is deeply symbolic to the people of the region. The next flowering will happen in June 2018

Know more: Kurinjimala Wildlife Sanctuary

Thatekkad Wildlife Sanctuary

The Thattekad Sanctuary is a hotspot for eco-tourism. With its incredible variety of endangered and rare birds, animals, reptiles and plants, it is an outdoors enthusiast’s dream. The Sanctuary is close to our younger sibling the Windermere River House – we’d love to host you if you decide to experience Thattekad.

Know more: Thattekad Wildlife Sanctuary

The Old Mountains

The Western Ghats are old, older even than the great Himalayan Mountain Range. They run from Gujarat in the north, all the way to Kerala in the south, with only a 30 kilometre-wide gap at Palakkad. They have nurtured societies and watched civilizations rise and fall.

The Western Ghats are no ordinary range – their forest ecosystems influence the Indian monsoon weather patterns that mediate the warm tropical climate of the region, presenting one of the best examples of the tropical monsoon system on the planet. The Ghats act as a key barrier, intercepting the rain-laden monsoon winds that sweep in from the south-west during late summer.

So why should you visit them?
This mountain chain is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and has been named one of the eight ‘hottest hotspots’ of biological diversity on the planet. The forests of the Western Ghats include some of the best representatives of non- equatorial tropical evergreen forests in the world. At least 325 globally threatened (IUCN Red Data List) species occur in the Western Ghats. The globally threatened flora and fauna in the Western Ghats are represented by 229 plant species, 31 mammal species, 15 bird species, 43 amphibian species, 5 reptile species and 1 fish species. Of the total 325 globally threatened species in the Western Ghats, 129 are classified as Vulnerable, 145 as Endangered and 51 as Critically Endangered. The Western Ghats are a natural wonder of the world, and Munnar is a great starting point to explore them.

Running parallel to the west coast, the Western Ghats, also known as Sahyadris, form the fluted western edge of the Indian peninsular plateau, which are stable Archaean and Pre-Cambrian formations (Nair, 1991).7 These mountains, making up around 4.8 percent of India’s land area, pass through the Indian states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The average elevation is 1,200 m above MSL,that increases to around 2000 msl towards the south (NFC, 2006).8 The mountain ranges in the south also house the highest peaks south of Himalayas in India viz., Anaimudi (High Ranges), Misappuli Malai (High Ranges) and Doddabetta (Nilgiri Hills), at 2,695 m, 2,637 m and 2,634 m above MSL respectively (Daniel and Vencatesan, 2008).9

The Western Ghats harbor 27 percent of India’s floral wealth in a number of vegetation types including tropical wet evergreen, montane evergreen, moist deciduous, dry thorn & scrub forests and high altitude shola-grasslands ecosystems. Nearly a third of all flowering plant species of India are found here with around 1,500 endemic species of Angiosperms. Of the 490 arborescent taxa reported from the Western Ghats, as many as 308 are endemic and there are 112 endemic orchids among the 245 species. Overall, around 38 percent of India’s flowering plants and 63 percent of evergreen woody plant species are endemic to the Western Ghats. Many species are considered threatened, including 235 species of endemic flowering plants (NFC, 200610; Daniel and Vencatesan, 200811; MoEF, 200912). The Western Ghats is rich in faunal wealth as well with 189 species of fishes, 111 reptiles, 161 amphibians, 34 butterflies, 16 birds and 14 mammals as endemics. The Western Ghats is an Endemic Bird Area (EBA). The World Conservation Monitoring Centre (WCMC) has identified the Western Ghats as an important area of freshwater biodiversity (MoEF, 200913 and Molur et al., 201114) and has 39 biodiversity rich areas that are designated as a World Heritage site in 2012

Over 45 million people depend directly on the Western Ghats for livelihoods. Moreover, around 245 million people living in peninsular India receive most of their water from rivers originating in the Western Ghats (NFC, 2006).16 The density of population in the region varies from 100 to 300 inhabitants per km2.17

The high Kannan Devan Hills (KDH) and plateau around Munnar straddles Eravikulam, Anaimudi shola and Pampadum shola National Parks. They contain a matrix of shola-grassland ecosystems, Eucalyptus plantations and tea estates. Its eastern extremity merges into the Palnis through Vattavada valley and Kurinjimala Wildlife Sanctuary. The drier tracts of Anchanad Valley with its river head in the KDH and the east facing sholas drain towards Amaravathi River (tributary of Cauvery River) through Chinnar. The Idukki-Cardamom Hills stretch of the High Ranges is one of the widest reaches (about 45 km) in the Western Ghats and plays a crucial role in regulating weather and climate both within the landscape and also in an extensive area of Kerala and Tamil Nadu states. The ‘Unreserves’22 of Pallivasal and Chinnakanal have significant areas under shade cardamom and forest fragments harbouring an array of plant and animal species.

The sholas are a relict vegetation harboring species that have survived the climatic and ecological changes since the last glacial and may possibly be among the most endangered ecosystems in the world.

A noteworthy feature of the landscape is the occurrence of gregarious flowering (“outburst” once in 12 years) of the plant, kurinji (Strobilantheskunthianus) that literally carpets the grasslands giving them a veritable blue hue.

The richest biome in the entire Western Ghats, harbor the largest global population of the highly threatened Nilgiritahr and a significant population of Grizzled Giant Squirrel.

Photography Tours

From birds and animals to rare insects and complex landscapes, Munnar has it all on offer. We’d love to know your area of interest so our expert guides can curate a tour that will enable you to find exactly the kind of unique frames you are looking to capture.

Picnic Spots

A vacation is incomplete without a picnic, and in Munnar you’re never too far from the perfect picnic spot.

Matupeety Dam

A man-made marvel on one side, a herd of elephants on the other – Mattupeety Dam is one of the most unique picnic spots in the world.

Know more: Matupeety Dam

Top Station

This peaceful picnic spot with panoramic views was once a bustling station, transporting great tea chests by ropeway down the mountains. It’s a lovely drive up, with the charming Echo Point on the way to entertain you

Know more: Top Station

Community

The Munnar region was initially settled by ten tribal communities, the most prominent of whom have been the Muthuvans, Mannans and Hill Pullayas. Their villages and hamlets are still in evidence across the high ranges.

The pioneer planters came much later, in the early 19th century, bringing with them people from the neighbouring state of Tamil Nadu. The Tamilians still form a large portion of the community in the mountains, with several generations having worked in the tea business. Much of the region’s food and festivals are a reflection of Tamil culture.

The hills have been home to generations of British and Scottish planters, many of whom continued to live and work here well into the 1960’s. Their impact on the region is evident.

Munnar and the region around has approximately 40,000 people and most people are engaged in Agriculture industry and associated trade. A large percentage of the people engage in the tea plantations and following this would be cardamom estates.

Munnar having developed as a major hill station in the country, many tourism ventures have come up in the region.

In fact, many of our guests from the UK visit Munnar to trace their family roots.

Markets

The Sunday Markets are full of colour and chaos and are well worth a visit. Spend an hour walking around and experience how the locals shop, bargain and sample some of the fresh produce. Who knows – if you find something particularly fascinating, our chef could turn it into dinner for you!

Srishti Welfare center

This initiative of Tata Global Beverages runs welfare programs that include education and rehabilitation of differently abled children of the estate staff. They welcome visitors into their space to foster dialogue. You can pick up products made from handmade paper and natural dye fabric from the centre’s store.

Marayoor

The sandalwood forests of the Marayoor region are legendary, and consequently they remain highly protected and restricted to the public. The region is home to traditional Muthuvan tribal hamlets and little sugarcane farms where the families make their own jaggery. There are Dolmens from the Stone Age, massive monoliths, cave paintings and murals scattered across the region. Getting a pass to visit is difficult, but not impossible. Let us know if you’d like to go and we’ll try our best to help.

The High Ranges

There’s a long and fascinating history to the mountains that have come to be called the High Range. Their earliest foreign visitor was the Duke of Wellington himself, when he led a small force up to thwart Tipu Sultan’s expedition against the kingdom of Travancore, which was then under British protection. This was in 1790, when land was wild and treacherous, and remained so for years to come.

Nearly a century later, JD Munro’s passion for hunting sent him deep into the region. With him came AW Turner, a pioneer planter from Peermade. Their hunts made them experts in the region, so much so that they joined hands with AW’s brother HD Turner to purchase land in the hills from the local ruler, the Poonjar Raja, and begin the first plantation in the High Ranges

Many young men from England and Scotland followed, chasing their fortunes. Plantations of chinchona and coffee and tea sprung up all over the hills, and a Planter’s Society was formed. Plantation life was not easy, and the land was hard to tame, but they persevered for years, cheering themselves up with hunting and cricket to relieve the monotony.

Eventually, as the smaller planters neared bankruptcy, Sir John Muir of the James Finlays company swooped in, buying up 1600 acres of land and employing the planters to run its massive operations. What followed was a transformation of a sleepy hills to a prime tea cultivation region; there were roads, electricity, post offices, churches, club, which sprung up in the following years.

In the early 1970s TATA group joined hands with Finlay company in their efforts as a stake holder. Later with TATA taking over the remaining stakes of the company forms TATA Tea Ltd which continued to contribute to the development of the region . In the year 2005 TATA exits the tea plantation business in Munnar giving way to the Kannan Devan Hills Company Plantation Ltd. Munnar is now home to many plantation workers, agriculturist and allied service providers. Having been discovered and noted as a key tourist location, it attracts a lot of tourist who are mesmerised by its manicured tea gardens, and unique bio-diversity.

Many things have changed in the High Range, but the old-world culture remains in many parts – gracious, yet indomitable in the face of adversity. Visit the Club, or into any of the old places in Munnar, and experience it for yourself.

High Range Club

A beautiful old institution with charming traditions (Including one where anyone who spent 30 straight years in the High Range literally hung up his hat above the bar at the High Range Club. To date, there are 57 hats above the bar.),they are the older planter’s club in the region and is a member’s only club.They are open to affiliate members and has affiliation to most former Gymkhana clubs in India.

Munnar Supply Association

(MSA) was the only store for planters by planters, the store was set up in early 1900’s and is red bricked wall, with gabbled roofs. It had white painted walls and wooden cabinets with glass, much may have changed in the inside, however it remains still a prominent landmark and a store in the region.

Munnar Church of South India

The present day church was built in 1910, close to Munnar town on a hill. Constructed in Gothic styles, and with pretty stained glass windows. It has an old piano, and the brass plaques with names inscribed on them. Many a times travelers tracing family history may find a treasure trove in the church registered which dates back to its inception.

Tea factories & bungalows

Most tea factories date back a century and few of them now are open to guest visits such as Lockhart, Matupetty, Talayar. Also you are able to see old bungalows in the region and their gardens. Although most of them remain as privately held by the tea companies.

Kundaly Valley Light Railway

A landmark venture of the Tea plantation company was the setting up of a railway transportation system in 1908, and it was functional until the big floods in 1924. Now what remains is the Regional Headoffice of KDHP which once was the Munnar railway station, it also picked up fame with the BBC documentary on the Old railway Garden.