1st January 2020
Despite being in an unfamiliar hostel and with unknown people, DJ and Skanda were still jubilant about the start of the New Year. DJ wished everyone around Happy New Year, including the 4 people in his room the next morning. There were 2 foreign girls to whom he gifted his dehydrated food package, explaining the benefits and telling them to prepare it in hot water.
Kickstarting the day’s events with breakfast at Sarvana Bhawan, the two men headed towards Top Station, Munnar’s highest point. The top is present close to the border of Tamil Nada and Kerala. Here is a massive tea estate with an interesting story to tell.
From Tata to Kanan Devan
The two friends got to know that all tea estates in Munnar belonged to Tata originally and it was distributed among local people in 2004. Interestingly, all the houses here belong to people who are partners in tea plantations. Today all the people here are shareholders in Tata Tea Kanan Devan, which has its own handpicked plantations in the green Kanan Devan hills.
An entrance fee of INR 75 has to be paid for the Tea museum here and a factory tour can be taken for INR 100. The two friends got to see an entire show that comprised of all the steps taken to make tea, from drying the tea leaves to packing them. Not only was the spellbinding process seen on video, but also live in front of them. The entire tour was so interesting and eye-opening that they couldn’t stop talking about it for many hours!
A mind-boggling 20 tons of tea leaves are exported from here every day. Powdery waste from the tea-making process is collected and used to make hair dyes. Having loved the entire experience, Skanda and DJ decided to collect tea leaves from the outlet here before leaving.
Towards Mattupetty Dam
The next leg of travel was towards Mattupetty Dam, where the two reached around 12 pm. This concrete gravity dam has been built on the Muthirappuzha River but near the confluence of the mountain streams leading to the Muthirappuzha, Chanduvarai, and Kundale rivers. Its reservoir is said to be a visiting ground for elephants, and this is where they had an interesting experience.
The reservoir is one of the visiting grounds for elephants in this region. While walking ahead Skanda and DJ reached Kundala Lake. Seeing the lush green grass in the jungle around, they sat in an area and took out their drone. There was a lone tusker in one corner of the lake; as they tried to get the drone close to taking larger pictures, the elephant kept getting scared of its sound. Only when the drone went higher did it come out of the water again (you’ll need to really zoom in to see the pachyderm).
Those visiting the area around Mattupetty Dam should be aware that there can be leeches, as DJ found out while heading back from Top Station.
At the Kundala lake, DJ and Skanda found no one else apart from a few couples. They had coconut water at a nearby stall and started off towards Top station from here.
Visit Top Station
At Top Station, the two friends saw fresh orange carrots for the first time. They got tempted and bought an entire bunch to eat as it was nearing lunchtime. There was also a stall for passion fruits which they bought but immediately hated soon after due to the taste. DJ kept wondering aloud how a fruit that looked that good could taste so bad!
After spending roughly 40 minutes at Top Station, they both were headed on their way back.
While on their way back towards the Flutterby Inn, they found a beautiful view of hills. Known as Pothamedu View Point, a lot of greenery with beautiful farming lines was seen here, created for growing tea. While returning from Top Station, the headlight on DJ’s Enfield started coming loose, which is how they discovered this viewpoint.
Here they found a person making different kinds of ‘Pakode’, and they decided to eat the ones made from bananas and chilies. It was here that DJ felt the itching on his legs due to the leeches and got rid of them without salt.
In the distance, they saw the elephant on the hill and returned to the meadows. They waited in the dense greenery for about ten minutes but did not see it again.
Headlight Trouble
By now, the headlight on the Enfield had become fairly loose and literally fell into Skanda’s hands as he tried to put it in place. The two of them bought a rope from a nearby shop and tied the light in place. They realized that the angle on the headlight had broken and was making a lot of noise.
Despite the experience thus far, the two friends were not lacking in their appetite for adventure at all. They went back to Mattupetty dam in search of the lone tusker, venturing a long distance into the dense jungle. By now it was getting quite dark; better sense prevailed and they decided to head back towards their hotel.
The two friends were tired after a long day and took some rest. They went shopping for chocolates, tea leaves, and more items in the evening and had dinner at Sujatha Inn by roughly 7:30 p.m.
