Munnar – Marayoor Ride

Munnar is one of the most popular hill stations in south India. We traveled from Kochi to Munnar in March 2022 to witness the blooming of Jakaranda trees on the Munnar – Marayoor route. Even though we passed through Munnar town, it was the 40 KM stretch from Munnar to Marayoor that we explored and enjoyed the most.

We were traveling on our motorcycle as usual. Started at 4:45 AM from our home in Vypin, Ernakulam and we reached Munnar by almost 9 AM. We took a few detours as Google Maps usually suggested some shortcuts. Obviously, those shortcuts turned out to be very long cuts at the end. We still enjoyed the adventure part of those shortcut routes.

Reaching Munnar

By the time we reached Munnar, tea plantations started to show up on either side of the road, we saw some lone Jakaranda trees standing in some of the corners. The tree with full violet flowers was so beautiful. It was a very unique sight. We felt very happy as the main purpose of our ride was to witness this. As we already knew there are more to come on the way to Marayoor, we continued our journey after clicking a few pictures.

First comes a new bridge that was newly built after the floods a few years back destroyed the old bridge. The banks of the river by the side were full green. There were cows grazing and also a few children playing cricket. When we moved forward we saw a football ground and a team practicing. They are really lucky to have such nice ground in this beautiful place with a cool climate year-round.

Munnar – Marayoor Route

As we moved forward, we saw endless tea plantations on both sides of the road. Planty of viewpoints and small tea shops were there throughout this road. We stopped in many places, enjoyed the view, clicked photos, and just sat on the roadside enjoying every bit of it. Anyday, you will not feel tired of these views as they are so mesmerizing. Our personal favorite scenery is a sunset from the beach, but these mountains made us feel very relaxed and filled our hearts with a different kind of joy.

When we resumed our journey towards Marayoor we saw rock boards that showed the height of that place from the sea level. The board that showed the highest value was 6000 meters in height from sea level.

Other Attractions on the Way

Lakkam waterfalls and Eravikulam national park are a few other tourist places that we passed by on the way. We didn’t stop there as those places were not on our wish list. Those were also definitely worth making a visit. Hopefully, we will do that when we come next time.

Vaguvarai – The land of Jakaranda Trees

Then comes the most interesting stretch in the Munnar – Marayoor route – Vaguvarai. There is a half-kilometer stretch with plenty of Jakaranda trees standing closely with fully bloomed violet flowers. March to May is the blooming season of the Jakaranda trees. This is the time we need to visit this stretch if you are here to see the Jakaranda flowers.

When you enter Marayoor, you will be traveling through the sandalwood forest for around 1 to 2 kilometers. Both sides of the forest are fenced and you can see all sandalwood trees numbered officially by the forest department. It is said that in the evening, deers and wild buffaloes can be seen grazing near these fences. We will come back in the evening to see if we are lucky enough to see any today.

Marayoor Town and our stay

By that time it was almost 12 PM and we moved towards Marayoor town. We have already booked our stay in Marayoor Holidays – Home Stay two weeks before. Their property was in the heart of the town and all government offices were near to the stay. Right in front of our gate, there was a children’s play area and park, along with an Eco shop run by the Forest department.

After checking in to the homestay we had a long conversation with the caretaker of the property Libin. He gave us a clear idea about the geography, culture, and other highlights of Marayoor. We then moved towards the backside of the nearby police station for lunch. There were two homely meal centers available there with very good traditional Kerala lunch. Next to these restaurants, there were sugarcane plantations and you can see mountains in the background.

We came back to our room after having lunch. We also bought some snacks from the town. Had short conversations with some locals to know the places where we can visit in the evening. We decided to visit St joseph’s Marayoor Jaggery factory and the sandalwood forest in the evening.

Jaggery Factory Visit and Sandalwood Forest Ride

After 3:30 PM we left our stay to visit the Jaggery factory. Tied our raincoats to our motorcycle as it was expected to rain soon. We chose the village route instead of the main road to see the sugarcane plantations, local people, and their lives. Libin – our caretaker, already told us that Jithu Joseph’s and Asif Ali’s movie Kooman was shooting in Marayoor – Kanthaloor locations in those days. We saw a shooting set on the way to the factory. It was a sheer piece of art as the set exactly looked like a house. Even though I’m a fanboy of Asif Ali, we decided to stick to our travel plans, instead of going behind the shooting crew.

we asked a few plantation workers regarding the shooting and also the way to the factory. As soon as we reached the factory parking it started to rain heavily. There was a receptionist there. They charged us 50 Rs/person to visit the factory and witness the making of Jaggery. Right from crushing the sugarcane to make juice to processing it into Jaggery balls, the entire process of Marayoor Jaggery making was explained and displayed perfectly there.

By the time we watched and learned the process, the rain was over. We went back to the factory outlet reception and bought a few packets of Jaggery and tea powder. There was also a Jaggery Halwa product available there.

Elephant Warning and Deer Sighting

When we were about to start from the factory it was about 5 PM. Knowing that we are outsiders, an autorickshaw driver asked us where are we going next. We told him that we will go through the sandalwood forest and then take the main road to head to Marayoor town. He told us not to go towards the Munnar side as there will be wild elephants on the road now. It will not be safe to travel on a motorcycle at this time.

We started traveling through the country road towards the highway and after a point, it started raining again. We entered the reserve area of the sandalwood forest and we saw a large group of deers grazing and playing by the roadside. We stopped near the watchtower there and had a chat with the forest watcher there. There really big deers in the group with very longhorns. it was really beautiful to see them flaunt their nice, artsy horns. The shape of those big horns was really interesting to watch. We couldn’t take photos as it was pouring heavily.

The deers were not afraid of the forest watchers as they are familiar with them but when we came near they moved away into the bushes. As it was raining, water was flowing down through the small roads. We entered the main road and then came back to our homestay.

Libin offered us black tea and it was great to have it during that chilling cold raining atmosphere. We bought food from outside, had lunch, and slept early as we wanted to go to the Megalithic dolmens, Erachilpara waterfalls, and Kanthalloor the next day.

Day 2 Early Morning

Woke up by 7:30 AM. After having a black tea, we got ready to start the second-day sightseeing. Starting out by 9 AM, we had breakfast from a Tamil restaurant in the town. We moved towards the Megalithic Dolmens next. There are two similar spots there, we went to the nearest spot.

Megalithic Dolmens

There was a signboard by the side of the road towards Kanthallor. It was set up by the local authorities I think however, from the board’s nature we can assume that this place is not very well maintained. There is only a small cool bar on the way to this place. It is situated above a rock hill nearby. There is a fence around these dolmens but it was rusted and bent at many points.

Many of these structures were broken and not in place. From the broken bottles and chip covers found there, we assumed that the locals here used to have liqueur here in the evenings. No doubt that it is not a place we want to visit once the sun is down.

There was no one else when we reached there. There was something special about these stone formations. The long mountain background, the windy conditions, and these dolmens together is making this place unique at some point. Even after all the above-mentioned circumstances, this place was cool, and we loved the ambiance here. We saw a waterfall right opposite the hill we were at. We decide to go there next.

Erachilpara waterfalls

We went towards the Udumalpet road from there and after crossing a bridge we entered a concrete path that led us towards the waterfall. That path was made by carving the side of a mountain. When looking down while riding the bike along that road we can see a stream running through rough stones. On the opposite side, we can see the hill where the Marayoor dolmens were located.

The pathway passes just beneath the waterfall at some point. It wasn’t a thick fall but it was more like a light wide shower coming from the top of a rocky mountain. There was also a cave-like part at the bottom. From there you can get a view from ‘inside the waterfall’. That was amazing and unique. We spent a lot of time there and even canceled our plan to visit Kanthalloor to make sure that we get enough time to enjoy this one of its kind waterfall.

Many locals, as well as tourists, were coming to see the place. Luckily it was never crowded as people kept coming and going. We were the only ones who spend nearly 2 hours just looking at the falls and enjoying it as if we haven’t seen a waterfall before.

As it was nearly 11 AM, we decided to head back and head back to Kochi. We went early to the nearby homely meals mess. We were the first customers that day and they served us food after 10 minutes. We had some final shopping to be done. From the forest department’s eco shop we purchased sandalwood saplings, a cap, tea powder, and a red sandalwood peace.

Libin was waiting for us when we came back. We packed our luggage and left Marayoor by 2 PM. The way back to Munnar was as beautiful as it was when we came here. It was a bit cloudy. When we reached Munnar, it was completely foggy. We enjoyed the foggy atmosphere thoroughly even though road visibility was minimal.

We went through a police check after leaving Munnar town and we decided to wear our raincoats by that time as it was about to rain. After 10 minutes, the rain started pouring. In between, we stopped at a bakery to have tea. Till Kochi, it was heavily raining. We reached back at Vypin by 9 PM.

It was a really nice ride this time. Wee loved Marayoor and everything related to it. We will definitely plan another trip to this place if we get a chance again.