Year 3 -19 February 2026 –Munnar India

There was a bit of confusion overnight as to the programme and originally we were meeting our driver at 8.00am which meant an early start. When I woke up I saw our driver had called and so I spoke to him early and he talked about a safari tour on the 20th. I said no as we return to Kochi that day and said I thought it had been agreed that we would do it at 3.00pm on the 19th. He talked to his boss and I talked to the agent and it was agreed that he would meet us at 11.00am.

We were therefore able to have a leisurely breakfast and to join the hotel hike at 9.30am which is one of the key things to do in Munnar as trekking here is apparently very beautiful through the hills and tea plantations.  

This was absolutely correct as the hotel guide took us up through the trees and cardamon plants above the hotel and up through on to the ridge and mountain behind us. He pointed out various plants including a yellow flower which you can chew and it gives you a natural anaesthetic for about 30 minutes – a sort of numbness.

We heard lots of birdsong and we saw various lovely birds and the odd beetle and insects. We also saw the route the Elephants take across the mountain and they sometimes come down to the hotel. We saw certain areas where Elephants sleep. However, it was the views that were memorable. These were either under the trees looking down the valley or it was when we were above the trees looking down over the tree plantations. It was spectacular and there cannot be many areas of the world where you get views like this.

Once we had finished admiring the views we returned back down to the hotel and met our driver. He said things had changed and we were going to our jeep now. We therefore drove down to Munnar, the town and met the Jeep which was a light blue/green colour. I was not sure why we were going then but went with the flow.

We got in but the jeep was clearly designed for the Indian size of man ad we struggled to fit properly. Therefore Mark went in the front as he has short legs. I went in the middle and Paul went into the back. This sort of worked and so we set off out of Munnar and headed into the tea making area. The tea plantations began and it was beautiful and seemed manicured and I think it is in a way as they use shears here to trim the tea trees. They are like garden shears and attached to a cloth type box. They therefore cut the top of the tea plants and collect the leaves and once the little box is full they empty it into a larger bag. We did not see this in Sri Lanka.

We continued on for many miles through the tea plantations and the workers shacks are dotted about through the landscape. As we continued there were large boulders dotted here and there amongst the tea trees as they are trees rather than plants.

The driver would stop from time to time to point out pepper plants, coffee bushes and trees, tea oil ferns, cinnamon and nutmeg plants. He also stopped and asked us to listen as he wanted us to hear the birdsong. The scenery was fantastic and every now and then there were trees with red flowers and other colourful plants.

We came to a waterfall and we walked down to view it. It was flowing but not large. You can imagine what it would be like in the wet season. We drove on through more tree plantations where we could see pickers pruning away and works going on in the road etc. We stopped at a small place for some lunch and we had 2 veg curries, rice, chapati, two cokes and water and the bill for 3 of us was £2.50.

We drove on and began to leave the tea area into some valleys with jungle and tall hills/mountains and we eventually came down to Anakulam a village with a river flowing through it. Its name literally means Elephants Pond and the river has a pond area with a hot salty spring which the Elephants like. They apparently come most days in herds – so quite a few of them. The problem was that we arrived about 2.30pm and we waited and waited. Our driver said they would come. It got to 3.30pm when he said they would arrive. We waited until 4.00am and he said 30 more minutes. In the end we waited until 5.00pm and they had not arrived. We decided to return as we did not want to wait any longer and had seen quite a few Elephants over the last few months. Despite this we had enjoyed the trip and the scenery had been wonderful.

We got back to the hotel and had a shower etc. We the had a welcome beer and a good supper.

We head back tomorrow to Kochi and Stormbird.

 The picture of the day is the three of us with our jeep with the tea plantation behind.

 Need/Opportunity Year Three

In year three I will be going from Thailand to Sri Lanka, India, Maldives and then on to Mauritius, Reunion, Cape Town, St Helena, Azores and back to the UK. 

I am looking for crew from Mauritius/ Reunion Island to Cape Town (mid June to end of July) and from Cape Town to the Azores and then to the UK (mid August onwards). If of any interest do email me.

The blog will continue as we continue the journey. If you have any comments or suggestions about the blog then do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com