After two days in Alleppey I headed to Kumily, a popular destination situated in the hills/mountains of the so-called Western Ghats. The scenery during the ride was beautiful and I saw the first tea plantation sites when we got closer to Kumily. However, the ride was tiresome as the roads were in no good condition and winding up and down.

Most people go to Kumily to visit the famous Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary, but I was not interested. I wanted to visit the tribal people and perhaps ride an elephant. But to my disappointment, the tourist center told me that the tribes are no longer tribes, and they are living a usual village life. So I decided to just stay overnight, and move on to Munnar the next day. I asked at the hotel I was staying about the elephant ride and he said it was too late for that day. Instead, he proposed that I go and watch Kathakali and Kalarippayat performance, both native to Kerala.

Kathakali is the dramatized representation of Hindu epics. Drummers and singers accompany the actors, who tell the story through mime, dance, and precise movements, especially hand gestures and facial expressions. Actors wear thick layers of paint on their faces, and wear special costumes and ornamental pieces. Kalarippayat is an ancient tradition of martial arts. Some say that it is the forerunner of all martial arts. The Kathakali performance was very interesting and fun to watch, but less so the Kalarippayat, which was more like a mix of gymnastics and a bit of martial arts.

The next day, I headed to Munnar, world-famous for its tea gardens. The bus ride was even more scenic, but as tiresome as Kumily’s. The tea gardens carpet hills after hills like striped velvet. They were made by the Scottish planters (and obviously by the labor of locals) in the 1880s and 1890s. At the altitude of 1600m, the climate is cool and less humid than the rest of the state. So much so that you need to wear a jumper in the morning and the evening at this time of the year (right now in the south plains it is really warm).

My purpose for coming to Munnar was two-fold: to enjoy the beautiful scenery, and photograph the tea pluckers i.e. tea garden workers. When I arrived, I went around, found myself a room, put my luggage down and went out. There are two types of accommodations in Munnar; those that are in the town, and those that are situated in the tea gardens. The latter seems like a much nicer idea, but it isn’t. You can easily take a rickshaw to ANY tea garden you want, ANY time of the day, but if your hotel is in the tea gardens, you might be stuck there. So I got mine in the touristy region of the town.

During my stay in Munnar, I went to the tea gardens three times. The first time I went with a local bus to the so-called Top Station, but it was not that special. Another day, I figured out (through TripAdvisor) that there is a tea garden called Kolukkumalai, far from the town, but it’s the most scenic tea garden ever. I was told that the best way to go there is to go to Suryanelli village by rickshaw, and from there hire a jeep. The ride to Suryanelli was by itself very scenic, but the ride/hike to the top of the Kolukkumalai tea garden was above anything I have done/seen before. We went up through the tea gardens to the elevation of 2200m by unpaved roads that were impassable by any other means of transportation. It was 4 hours of constant jumping up and down, of the harshest imaginable measures. But boy was it worth it!

The scenery was truly magical and its beauty was beyond all other tea gardens I had seen during previous days. Along the way, I stopped occasionally to shoot the landscape and also the tea pluckers. Very hard-working people that have to work non-stop due to the vast area that they have to cover. In the end, we reached a ridge overlooking Kerala on one side, and Tamil Nadu on the other. Clouds were passing rapidly tens of meters above us from the plains of Tamil Nadu to Kerala. I was very lucky with the weather as we had the best possible kind of light for photography that day. A truly fascinating day, in which I saw some of the most fascinating scenery I have ever seen!

Last day in the morning, I hired a rickshaw again to take me to exclusively see and shoot tea pluckers. The morning was cold and foggy, and this made the scenery even more mystic and beautiful. After driving for an hour or so, we saw a bunch of workers, and I could go and photograph them in the steep tea gardens. I should mention that usually it’s not possible to go in the tea gardens when the workers are there, because their supervisor shuns the tourists. But I was lucky a few times and could photograph them while working.

During the rides, I saw some wildlife too. A giant squirrel native to the local forests there, some beautiful birds, and even a big black snake. The poor snake was resting on a tree far from the road, but the workers who noticed it, were stoning it! So sad for the poor snake, but I can’t blame the workers. If the snake bites them, THEY probably die, and not ME. But the poor snake will probably never do that, as it is more afraid of people than people are afraid of it.

This was the end of my time in the state of Kerala. I merely saw two of its world-famous attractions: the backwaters, and the tea gardens. There are much more to see; its culture, pristine beaches, and wildlife. But as usual, I didn’t have the time!