Munnar is a hill station in the Keralan part of the Western Ghats, situated at an altitude of around 1600m above sea level. The town is surrounded by extensive tea plantations and we hired a local guide to take us through some of them. The scenery was simply stunning – lush greens wherever you looked, particularly once the morning mists had lifted.
Below are a few more shots. We saw only a handful of people on the (4-hour) walk, all of them workers on the estates.
The Western Ghats are a UNESCO World Heritage site. The highest peak, Anamudi (2695m), is only some 8km away from Munnar. At various points of our walk the view opened up towards the mountains behind the town.
The men in the next photo, taken on the other side of Munnar, seemed to be pruning the bushes, rather than picking tea.
The final photo shows the tea gardens below our little hotel, with some lovely mountain scenery in the background (including a waterfall).
Absolutley lovely landscape, Professor! Thanks for sharing these.
Thanks for your kind comment, George.I have seen these statements about Munnar tea – but I believe a full stop was omitted in the quotes concerned. I think they are conflating a reference to Munnar with the assertion that tea (in general) is the most widely drunk beverage in the world. There is plenty of tea in Munnar, but there are even bigger tea growing areas elsewhere – e.g. in the highlands of Sri Lanka. I myself am a great fan of Ceylon tea.
Great photos Prof. Abe. I understand that tea from Munnar is the most widely drunk beverage in the world.