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Nestled amid soaring, mist-covered mountains and dense jungles, Periyar and Kumily are convenient springboards from which to explore Kerala's beautiful Cardamom hills. Guides will approach you at Thekkady with offers of trips by jeep taxi; if you can get a group together, these work out as good value. Among the more popular destinations is the Mangaladevi temple,14km east of Kumily. The rough road to this tumbledown ancient ruin deep in the forest is sometimes closed due to flood damage, but when it is open the round trip takes about five hours. With a guide, you can also reach remote waterfalls and mountain viewpoints, offering panoramic vistas of the Tamil Nadu plains. Rates vary according to the season, but expect to pay around Rs500 for the taxi, and an additional Rs150 for the guide. Of places that can be visited under your own steam, the fascinating High Range Tea Factory (tel 04868/77038 or 77043) lies at Puttady (pronounced "Poo- tee -dee"), 19km north and a rewarding diversion on the road to Munnar. Regular buses leave from Kumily bus stand; get down at Puttady crossroads, and pick up a rickshaw from there to the factory. Driven by whirring canvas belts, old-fashioned English-made machines chop, sift, and ferment the leaves, which are then dried by wood-fired furnaces and packed into sacks for delivery to the tea auction rooms in Kochi. The affable owner, Mr. P.M. James, or one of his clerks, will show you around; you don't have to arrange the visit, but it's a good idea to phone ahead to check they are open.
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The other possible day-trip from Kumily, though one that should not be undertaken lightly (or, because of Hindu lore, by pre-menopausal women), is to the Sri Ayappan forest shrine at Sabarimala. This remote and sacred site can be reached in a long day, but you should leave with a pack of provisions, as much water as you can carry, and plenty of warm clothes in case you get stranded. Jeep taxis wait outside Kumily bus stand to transport pilgrims to the less frequented of Sabarimala's two main access points, at a windswept mountain top 13km above the temple (2hr; Rs50 per person if the jeep is carrying ten passengers). Peeling off the main Kumily-Kottayam road at Vandiperiyar,the route takes you through tea estates to the start an of appallingly rutted forest track. After a long and spectacular climb, this emerges at a grass-covered plateau where the jeeps stop. You proceed on foot, following a well-worn path through superb old-growth jungle - complete with hanging creepers and monkeys crashing through the high canopy - to the temple complex at the foot of the valley. Allow at least two hours for the descent, and an hour or two more for the climb back up to the road head, for which you'll need plenty of drinking water. Given the very real risks involved with missing the last jeep back to Kumily (the mountain is prime elephant and tiger country), it's advisable to get a group together and rent a 4WD for the day (about Rs600 plus waiting time). |
Explore Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary
Cardamom Hills
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