Munnar Tea Country — Two Nights in the High Range

Met at Kochi and driven east, and the road does the work of explaining Kerala: coconut and paddy on the flat, then rubber, then cardamom and pepper as it starts to climb, and finally tea once you are past Adimali. Around 130 km and four hours, with the Cheeyappara and Valara falls on the way up if the water is running. Munnar sits at about 1,600 m where three streams meet, and the temperature at the top is a different proposition from the coast. The afternoon is left free.

Eravikulam first, because entry is by timed bus from Rajamala and the morning slots go quickly — this is the largest surviving population of Nilgiri tahr, and they graze close enough to the path that no telephoto is needed. The park closes for calving for roughly two months in late winter, so it is confirmed rather than assumed. The rest of the day works the estate roads: Mattupetty dam, the Kundala valley, and Top Station at the Tamil Nadu border where the escarpment falls away into the Theni plain. The tea museum at Nallathanni fills the late afternoon.

The descent takes the morning and is worth doing slowly — a spice-garden stop below Adimali makes sense of what you have been driving through, with cardamom, nutmeg, clove and vanilla growing within a few metres of each other. Into Kochi by early afternoon for a flight, or with time for an hour in Fort Kochi if the departure is late: the Chinese fishing nets on the point, the 1568 synagogue in Mattancherry, and the Dutch cemetery are all within a short walk of one another.