Area : 26.2 sq km
Altitude : 1520 meters above sea Level
Language : Malayalam, Tamil, English
Temperature : 5°C - 20°C
Annual Mean Rainfall : 2750 mm
Best Time to visit : October–March
STD Code : 0486
Munnar - Introduction :
Munnar is a small town surrounded by the Annamalai Hills (or elephant mountains) and tea estates. It stands at the confluence of three rivers - the Muthirappuzh, Nallathanni and Kundala. Moonu in Tamil means 'three', and aar 'river'. The town serves the needs of the tea planters and plantation workers. It has little to recommend it architecturally. There's no 'wild west Swiss' style architecture, simply shack-like shops and low, red tin-roofed bungalows. Neither is there a tourist office nor any restaurant worth mentioning. The three most conspicuous buildings are the airy Mount Carmel Church, the multi-colored Subramanya Temple and the green concrete Munnar Mosque. Their high position and proximity makes Munnar an advertisement for communal harmony. For the planters the most important building is the regional offices of Tata Tea, a large, yellow building which previously served as the company's railway station.
History of Munnar Hill Station :
Until the second half of the 19th century, Munnar was part of an inhospitable and inaccessible area of thickly forested mountains. Its sole inhabitants were a tribal community called the Madhuvans, expert hunters and gatherers, who practiced slash-and-burn cultivation. They still retain their customs although the pressures of modern life are eroding them. Officially Munnar belonged to the Poonjar chiefs, the rajas of the state of Travancore, which together with Malabar and Cochin forms the present-day state of Kerala. The first European to venture into the area appears to have been the Duke of Wellington when, as Colonel Arthur Wellesley, he marched across the ghats to fight Tipu Sultan, the ruler of Mysore, in 1790. With Tipu's defeat, though not at the hands of Wellington's column, British influence in Kerala became supreme. Malabar was annexed from Mysore and the rajas of Travancore and Cochin were subject to British interference. The year 1887 marked the beginning of the opening up of the High Range. John Daniel Munro of Primmed, an officer of Travancore state and superintendent of the Cardamom Hills leased the hill tract from the government. Munro explored the area by following elephant paths and began to bring pioneer planters, mainly Scots, to join him in clearing the jungle.
In the 1890s, the Finlay Muir company moved into the hills and persuaded some of the proprietary planters to work for them. The company came to control almost all the estates in the area and its name is preserved in the Indian company, Tata Finlay Ltd, which now owns them. The company's Kanan Devan tea is the most popular in south India.
Finlay Muir's arrival did not make life any easier on the plantations. The hills were still inaccessible, except from the Tamil Nadu side and so Tamil labourers were brought up to man the estates. Their descendants still work there, but in more comfortable conditions than those of the 19th century when the problem of 'coolies bolting' was common and dealt with severely. Planters experimented with rubber before settling for tea which was transported by ropeway from Top Station outside Munnar to Bottom Station where it was packed in Imperial Chests shipped out from Britain and despatched to Tuticorin harbour. In 1908 a light railway was opened to take the tea from Munnar to Top Station, but it was destroyed by floods in 1924. In 1931, the ghat road from the Cochin side of Munnar was finally opened and Top Station was no longer needed to transport tea.
Accessibility :
The nearest Bus Stand , Kaddy, 117 kilo meters (73 miles) away. And nearest Railway Staion Coachin 224 Kilometers(139 miles). There is also a mountain road which links Munnar with Kodaikanal only 92 kilometeres (57 miles) to the east.
Places to Visit :
High Range Club :
Recreational life for the planters centers on the High Range Club which preserves its original traditions with pride. The Men's Bar is decorated with hunting trophies including huge bison heads and elephant tusks. On the wall are the hats of planters who chalked up a continuous 30 year membership. The modern generation are less addicted to sports and club life than their predecessors. As a result, the members were forced to wind up the High Range Rugby Football Club. On 12 August 1972, a grand wake was held in its memory, 'a modicum of spiritual refreshment' being supplied 'to enable members to assuage their grief. The nine-hole golf course is still used and the rivers around are well stocked with rainbow trout. If you have a tackle and want to see if you can catch some, contact the Chairman or Honorary Secretary of the High Range Angling Association, c/o the HR Club.
KDH Club :
KDH Club is the old Protestant church in 1911. The hillside cemetery above it was established long before the church itself. The Roads through the estates are enormously attractive, with the sun shining on the bright green tea shoots being picked by the women plantation workers. who through the shoot into the wicker baskets on their backs.
For hardy wildlife enthusiasts, a big attraction is a wild goat, the Nilgiri tahr. About a third of the world population of the tahr - 750 animals - lives in the rolling grassland and shola forest in the folds of the hills in the Eravikulam National Park. The park also shelters sambar, gaur or bison, Nilgiri langur and leopard in its 98 square kilo meters (38 square miles). Visitors have a reasonable chance of seeing the tahr by driving out towards Rajamallay Tea Estate to the north of Munnar. The road passes close to salt licks on the edge of the. park, where the tahr often gather. If you want to trek into the park, the road lies through the Vagavurrai Estate where the government's assistant wildlife officer is based. It's best to contact the Wildlife Office in advance to arrange the trip. The wildlife officer can give you a guide or porter to the bridle path which takes you seven kilometres (four miles) into the park He can, at his discretion, also arrange for treks to the summit of Anaimudi. At 2,694 meters (8,839 feet), it is the highest peak in southern India.
