MUNNAR

The Jewel of South India

          It is located in the Idukki district of Kerala, this wonderful town and hill station rests at an altitude of about 1,600 meters (5,200 feet) above sea level in the Western Ghats. Munnar is often referred to as the "Kashmir of South India," a place that is highly in demand by honeymooners and nature-lovers alike.

           The local words in Malayalam and Tamil, "Munnu" and "Aaru," respectively, literally mean "three rivers." This pretty town  is  situated at   the   confluence  of  the three rivers: Muthirapuzha, Nallathanni, and Kundali.

A glimpse into Munnar’s history

          The Munnar region was originally inhabited by indigenous hunter-gatherer tribes—the Malayarayan and Muthuvan—for thousands of years. To start with, it was sparsely populated with Tamils and Malayalis, who were brought in first for work in the tea plantations. Local lore has it that colonel Arthur Wellesley, who was later to become the duke of wellington, was the first English man to cross Munnar during Tipu Sultan's invasion of Travancore, but this is not confirmed.

          The first official record of this place was made by Benjamin Swayne ward for the period 1816-1817. Ward ascended the Periyar river to the western ghats and put his camp at the confluence of three rivers. It is here that the town came to be named as Munnar.

          It was not until almost fifty years later, in 1860, that Sir Charles Trevelyan, the then Governor of Madras, asked Colonel Douglas Hamilton to explore the hill country lying to the west of the Madras Presidency and to advise him on the potential of the hills for sanatoria for British residents and for revenue-earning projects which would not, like the coffee plantations of Ceylon, destroy the rainforest and its rice-growing potential. Hamilton meticulously explored the area around Munnar, and about 15 years later John Daniel Munro realised that the land was ideal for growing coffee. In 1879, Munro, along with Henry Turn and his half-brother A.W. Turner purchased the Cardamom Hills from the Raja of Travancore and began to clear the forests surrounding Devikulam.  During the 1880s, other Europeans followed in the footsteps of Munro and established tea plantations in the surrounding areas. The early plantations were pretty basic; essentially just a collection of straw huts with minimal facilities.

Development and Problems in Munnar's Tea Plantations

          As the Munnar tea plantations expanded, roads were slowly opened to link the highlands with the lowlands. In Bodinayakanur, part of the western sector of the Madras Presidency, the planters began to obtain supplies from a local headman named Suppan Chetty. His son Alaganan Chetty, who later became an MLA, continued to supply the estates.

          By 1894, there were 26 estates in the hills. All of them were under financial stress. In 1897, the Kannan Devan Hills Corporation KDHC was established to manage the tea estates. It was later taken over by the American Direct Tea Trading Company Ltd with 26 estates, cultivating tea, coffee, and some cinchona.

          In 1900, a ropeway was built to help in the transportation of commodities, which was followed by the introduction of the use of monorails. In 1901, P. R. Buchanan became General Manager and implemented many projects that involved clearing the forests for agricultural development. The construction of the railway began in 1908 and ended in the following year of 1909; by 1911, about 16,000 acres of the land had been planted. In 1924, a heavy flood swept through Munnar, washing away roads and railway. It was at this time the rail line was replaced by a ropeway for the transportation of tea that later was replaced by a modern road in 1930, making transportation easy. In 1952, nearly 28,000 acres were under cultivation.

          After India's Independence, the management came under the Indian planters, and in 1964, Tata and Finlay acquired the KDHC, which held a majority of the tea gardens. They went ahead and set up the country's first instant tea producing plant.

          In 1971, the Kerala government proposed reforesting all non-plantation land in the hills. However, negotiations allowed Tata to retain most of the land, resulting in 57,000 acres remaining under their control. Yet, most of the tea estate laborers have remained landless despite extensive cultivation. It was in the early 2000s that Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi, a Dalit outfit from Tamil Nadu, began demanding land rights for the estate laborers and expanded its operations to Kerala. In 2009, then Kerala Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan promised all support for giving land to the predominantly Tamil Dalit estate workers.

          The developments, however, have been slow, with most of the families still sans land as of 2018. The tourism department is currently thinking of rebuilding the old Kunda Valley Railway, which had been destroyed by the flood of 1924, to attract more visitors to Munnar.

Transportation

          Munnar is well connected through National Highways, state highways, and rural roads. The town lies on the Kochi-Dhanushkodi National Highway, NH 49, at a distance of about 130 km from Cochin, 31 km from Adimali, 85 km from Udumalpettu in Tamil Nadu, and 60 km from Neriyamangalam.

 Distance from major cities & tourist destinations.

• Aluva - 109 km
• Varkala - 245 km
• Trivandrum - 280 km. From Kochi - Ernakulam - 150km

Flora and Fauna

          Habitat fragmentation due to the settlement of plantations in Munnar has been immense, and already a sizable area of the original settlers of flora and fauna has been lost. Despite such vulnerability to habitat loss, some species find their habitat in this overall protected region. The new Kurinjimala Sanctuary lies to the east, the Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary, Manjampatti Valley, and the Amaravati Reserve Forest to the northeast. Other protected areas nearby include Eravikulam National Park and the Anamudi Shola National Park to the north, the Pampadum Shola National Park to the south, and the proposed Palani Hills National Park to the East.

Protected Areas: Safe Haven for Endangered and Endemic Species

          These are the vital refuges that hold several threatened and endemic species. Prominent wildlife includes the Nilgiri Thar, grizzled giant squirrel, Nilgiri wood-pigeon, elephants, gaur, Nilgiri langur, and sambar. Further, these areas have the rare Neelakurinji plant that blooms once in twelve years.

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"Breathing in the pure air of Munnar, feeling alive amidst the majestic mountains."