Kundala dam forest Munnar

DTPC Munnar day tour: Mattupetty dam, Echo point, Kundala dam – Part 1

Date: March 12, 2018

After arriving in Munnar yesterday, we all woke up early to have our breakfast and then head to DTPC‘s office for our full day tour. DTPC is the District Tourism Promotion Council. You can call a day before to reserve your seats for the tour or just show up on the day of the tour at their office by 8am to get your seats.

After having breakfast, we took an auto-rickshaw to the DTPC office.

DTPC tourism office Munnar Kerala
This is the DTPC tourism office
Inside DTPC Munnar office
We were the first to arrive. We paid up while waiting for the other tourists joining us today.
DTPC tea valley tour
The main tour DTPC offers includes a stop over at Eravikulam National Park. Unfortunately, Eravikulam National Park was closed to the public as it was breeding season for the Nilgiri Tahr, a deer commonly  found in Munnar and the Nilgiri Hills.
Tempo traveller Munnar Kerala
It was time for us to board our Tempo Traveller van and begin our tour
Munnar tea plantation panorama
I know I’ll be seeing sights like this every minute of the journey but tea plantations never stop being beautiful to look at

Munnar tea plantation tree Kerala

Flowers bokeh Munnar Kerala
Some flowers were in bloom along the way
Big beehives Munnar tree Kerala
The driver (cum guide) would stop along the way to show us sights like this — massive beehives
Carmelagiri Elephant park Munnar
Our first stop was at the Carmelagiri Elephant park

You can choose to ride an elephant but the cost is not included in the price of the tour. There’s growing concerns at such elephant ‘parks’ where these animals are beaten and tortured when young to tame them enough to carry tourists for such rides. In Thailand, most elephant ride parks have since changed as foreigners rather go to elephant centers that let you bathe and feed elephants instead of riding them. So I don’t know when the same will happen here in Kerala too.

Nobody in our tour group wanted to ride elephants. So we moved on.

Planting tea Munnar hill Kerala
This is what a tea plantation looks like just after planting the tea plants
Tea plantation women workers Munnar
The mighty women workers of Munnar’s tea plantations. They fought tea plantation owners & corrupt unions and won their right for better pay.

Read about their story here.

Mattupetty dam Munnar Kerala
Our next stop was Mattupetty dam, the largest in Munnar
Mattupetty dam road Munnar Kerala
The driver stopped the vehicle across the road and told us we had a few minutes to spend checking out the views of the reservoir
Mattupetty dam Munnar river Kerala
This is one side
Back of Mattupetty dam Kerala
This is the other side
Speedboat ride Mattupetty dam Munnar
Speedboat rides and paragliding are on offer at the reservoir
Kerala Swiss livestock semen station
On the way, the driver showed us an institution that is a Kerala-Swiss project. This was the first frozen semen station in South and South-East Asia.
Mettupatty river Munnar Kerala
Our next stop was Echo Point
Echo point stop Munnar Kerala
The van dropped us off at this spot and told us we had 15 minutes
Echo point trees Munnar Kerala
Echo point earns it name from… well, you shout out into the valley and you hear an echo
Echo point Munnar Kerala
I didn’t see anyone attempting it so I didn’t try it myself
Home made chocolate Munnar Kerala
These home made chocolates are all over Munnar but I would refrain from buying them. Most of it is compound chocolate and way over-priced considering it doesn’t even contain much pure cocoa

Our tour van moved to our next destination.

Village on hill Munnar Kerala
A village in the distance
Munnar tea plantation hill
We would briefly pause at plantations that looked very scenic
Kundala dam lake Kerala
The next stop on the tour was Kundala dam
Kundala dam Munnar Kerala
We had 30 minutes to walk around and take photos
Kundala dam hydel power Kerala
This is another hydroelectric project in Kerala. The state gets most of its electricity generated using hydel dams — Kundala is one of the smaller dams.
Kundala dam forest Munnar
We walked further
Trees Kundala Munnar Kerala
I wish I could tell you how much further this goes but I had no time to explore.
Horse riding Munnar Kerala
They do have horse rides on offer if you wish to explore the area

Pedal boats can also be hired for Rs. 300 (2 adults + 1 child) if you wish to ride them on the reservoir.

The next post will be stops at Top Station, the Flower Garden and a visit to a spice garden.

Previous post:

Getting to Munnar – Train ride from Kannur and KSRTC bus from Aluva

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