I spent a week in Kerala last month, looking out for beautiful places to photograph and to plan photography tours for Darter and for a few private groups. We had a great week of travelling as we visited cultural hubs of Kerala, saw and photographed some rare endemic birds, woke up to some amazing landscapes that became a theater to play of light and clouds, and floated over the beautiful backwaters of Alleppey. ‘Cloud Farm’ in Munnar was one such place we visited during the trip. We reached there in near darkness on a damp evening when unseasonal showers seemed to play spoilsport to our visit. We suffered a few leech bites along the way, but escaped from nine out of ten leeches that caught us, thanks to leech-socks provided by our guide.
The next morning, weather had cleared up around the campsite and we woke up to see a layer of clouds separating the mountains from the valley below. The colours of early morning sun penetrated as a strip of gentle red somewhere near the horizon. As the day progressed and the clouds cleared up, the greenery around the campsite became a hub of activity as birds started moving up and down in their lookout for breakfast. Nilgiri flycatchers, Kerala Laughingthrushes, pacific swallows and a variety of birds flew and perched next to plants and bushes very close to the campsite. Later, we made a short hike to the highest point in the region that offered a 360-degree view of the hills and plains around us.
In the view faraway were the plains of Tamil Nadu, the world’s highest tea garden at Kolukkumalai hills and the undulating landscapes of Top Slip. We stood on a small wind-swept, grassy plateau and watched the world around us until the sun gained strength and reminded us of the day ahead.
Here are some images from the visit to ‘Cloud Farm’
Hills and clouds and the hour of sunrise
A Kerala Laughingthrush
Houses on the slopes
Our guide Sibi showing the way
A Nilgiri Flycatcher
View of Kolukkumalai Tea Estate in the opposing hills, claimed to be the world’s highest organic tea garden.
Rhododendrons that bloom in high altitudes
Clouds moving up the hills
The morning spectacle
‘Cloud Farm’ is a camp site with great views, located on the Munnar-Vattavada road, nearly an hour’s drive from the town and further an hour’s walk. The camp site is managed by Nature Unseen, who organize visits and night’s stay at location. Sibi, our guide and the person who runs nature unseen, is well informed on Munnar’s history, flora and fauna. He had lots to tell us when we were spending the night at the camp.
Our stay at Munnar Town was a courtesy of Green Spaces, a small guesthouse about 10km from the town. The guesthouse has spacious and comfortable rooms and most importantly, in a place that is faraway from the town in a quiet location. See more about Green Spaces on their website.
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Good to know. Munar is still in my wishlist
awesome photos arun
Shrinidhi, it is a worthy destination to travel to.
Sandeep, thank you
been to munnar, its an amazing place….your shots are awesome!!…
@shooting star: thank you
Amazing shots! The valley and the mountains looks absolutely magical!
Thanks dude for sharing such a beautiful land scape and forest, I would love to visit these places in my life time
Thanks buddy
really its heaven on the earth. i was there for my honeymoon on 7th to 10th of Jan’2011.nature around there was wonderful,superb,awesome…………no words to say……………………..
Its really giving me Freshness of nature.
your photos are stunning arun ! i went to munnar last year . cloud farm looks fabulous…didnt see this place. thanks for the info. i stayed at this isolated resort called pulimoottil estate(google it and you can find the website) which is in a forest, away from munnar town. the drive to the estate is beautiful…through tea estates. worth staying at for 2-3 days
Thanks Shruti. Will look up the place next time I am in Munnar.