The alluring land of Munnar

Scroll down a bit to see the panoramic images

 

 

If Kerala is “God’s Own Country” then Munnar is surely the capital.

 

The few snaps I saw of Munnar before the trip did no justice, I was unprepared for what hit me.

 

The first glimpse of Munnar was a moment we won’t forget, our jaws dropped, as we gasped at the beautiful landscape that lay ahead. The patterned landscape caught us by surprise, as the entire landscape with many hills used for tea plantation. It looked so magical, so breath-taking. At every turn, every bend Munnar was beautiful. The crisp clear air was almost intoxicating, and the cool breeze a big relief. The misty mountains as the background to these beautiful hills added to the alluring landscape.

 

Munnar means “three rivers” and basically refers to  Madhurapuzha, Nallathanni and Kundaly rivers which join up at Munnar. A quick synopsis, the Britishers were chasing Tipu sultan and stumbled upon this place. The land was purchased on lease by the Britishers, and a few failed attempts at different crops were tried before tea plantation was done. 90% of the plantation that exists today is still the original one planted more than 100 years back.

 

To know more about Munnar refer to the wikipedia page.

 

Thanks Tony, Blessy and Becky for inviting me to a Kerala tour! This is a trip I wont forget.

 

The first snap was captured by my SLR camera and though I had both the landscape and the portrait version, I preferred the portrait as it showed the layers of hills ahead more clearly and captured a good portion of the sky too (I was restricted to 24mm on my 24-105mm lens). The remaining 2 panoramic ones (One of them shows my friend Blessy with her daughter Becky) were captured via Galaxy S3 phone using the panoramic setting. I think S3 really excels at this, and everyone who owns it must use this. One suggestion, I prefer keeping the phone vertical while clicking a panoramic snap as this ensures I have more height captured, and even the final output of the image is of better quality and gives you more work space if needed (the image is bigger in height this way).