Kolukkumalai trekking

Kolukkumalai- world's Higest tea esatate

Region : Kolukkumalai, near Bodiyakanur, Tamil Nadu(near Theni)
Peak Height : 2,160 m (7,090)  Difficulty level: Easy to Moderate

If you are visiting Munnar, If you want to experience the most beautiful, as well as the bumpiest jeep ride....then you should visit this place...the world's highest tea estate is ready to show you the beauty of unending tea estates.

 

 
The right most peak is kolukkumalai

Trek details:

During the trek to Top station from Kurangani village Top station trek, we saw a beautiful ZIG-ZAG route on the opposite hill. Later we came to know that it is the trek route to Kolukkumalai from kurangani. Kolukkumalai is the home for world's highest organic tea factory and also the starting point to the Meespulimalai which is the second highest peak in the western ghats. Both the treks to top station and kolukkumalai start from kurangani village, the hill to the right side of kurangani is TOP STATION and the hill to the left side of the village is KOLUKKUMALAI. A 12kms trek from kurangani will take 4-7 hours depending up on the fitness level. You have to pack your lunch and water at the village, there wont be any shops or streams on the trek route.

To reach Kurangani(starting point of the trek), you have to go to BODIYAKANUR(some 20km from kurangani), from BODI there are autos and jeeps to Kurangani.

Trek Experience:

We(total 12) were supposed to reach Kurangani by 8, but we reached at 12 pm, an accident happened on the highway, due to which the driver took us through a different route which led to the delay. we took bath in the stream near the village(you can ask the villagers there, they will help you in reaching the stream). After that we ate poori in nearby hotel and started trekking around 2 pm.

Trek until othamaram(single tree): 

 

Nothing special to tell about this part of the trek, it is somewhat steep and tests your laziness. You can have a good view of the village near kurangani where the film KUMKI was shot.

the place where kumki was shot, you can see the way from bodi to kurangani in the right side of the photo

Trek from othamaram:

 

Zig zag route view from middle station(during top station trek)

 

Here comes the best part(beautiful part) of the trek, a single tree is there at the midway of the trek, as you reach near the tree, you will slowly enter from the dense forest to the plain grass lands and the beautiful zig-zag route starts. Once we entered the grass lands, a strong wind started flowing through the large grass making a wild sound making the place more beautiful. From the single tree, for almost an hour we walked though the grass lands. For this one hour you can have the beautiful view of the wide mountain ranges, grasslands and the dense forest down below you. You can see the trek route to top station on the opposite hill.

Then after the grass lands we entered the dense shola forests, the trek from here to the top is somewhat difficult, you have to walk through lot of hairpin bends, it will take 1-2 hours from the starting point of shola forest to the top.

The 10 km off road jeep ride from kolukkumalai to suryanelli:

Clock ticked 7, light got almost faded out, we didnt reach the top yet. but then after crossing one more hair pin bend we saw the lights of the tea factory and the tea garden around the factory, our faces glowed brighter than those lights. The weather on the top was so cool, the tea factory which is the world's highest organic tea factory was closed, we went inside the office opposite it to it. The office is very small, it got few photos containing the information about the kolukkumalai and Munnar. There is a small shop inside the office where you can buy the tea powder.

From kolukkumalai tea estate we went to suryanelli where our accommodation was arranged. Suryanelli is a small town located 10km from Kolukkumalai. Kolukkumali has no shops and lodges, it got a tea factory and few houses of the tea factory workers. All these people staying in kolukkumalai has to go to suryanelli to buy the groceries. 

The 10km jeep ride from kolukkumalai to suryanelli takes some 90 minutes, yes...what you read is correct...90 minutes for 10km ride on jeep. It was like some mini adventure with our jeep tilting almost 45 degrees to the both sides. It was the most bumpiest ride i ever had. the jeep driver was a crazy guy doing some crazy things like switching off the head lights for 5-10 sec, switching off the engine and scaring the shit out us. If we ask him to stop doing these things, he will simply reply to us with a smile 'kochigadinga boss(dont get angry)'.

After reaching the lodge which is a tree house, we had a good dinner. Actually our initial plan was to trek meesapulimalai on the next day, but as we slept late, we could not able to get up early, so on the next day we went to a small waterfalls in chinakanal, took a dip in the fresh water, from there we went to a lake. After having lunch near the lake, we visited kolukkumalai tea estate.

The drive from suryanelli to kolukkumalai was so beautiful, you see acres and acres of tea estates throughout the ride. The backdrop of hills covered by clouds makes the view of tea estates more beautiful. On the way there are two three view points where you can have the bird veiw of the entire place.

 Few pics of the tree house and the drive between kolukkumalai and suryanelli:

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Suryanelli town

 

View point at kolukkumalai

 

route from Suryanelli to Bodi

 Is guide required for this trek:

The answer is a BIGGGGG NOOOOOO. Why do you need a guide for a trek???. To show you the right path, to tell the things that you dont know about the location, to arrange the transport for the other places that you want to see at the top of the hill, to arrange good accommodation and food. If you see the other blogs on this trek, you will find the contact of the person YOGESH. We contacted this person as we were not sure about the route. This Yogesh guy charges 3000 per head which includes 4 times food(lunch, dinner, tiffin and lunch), accommodation and the zeep charges from kolukkumalai to suryanelli. If you dont know tamil, then he will happily cheat you by demanding 3500-4000 per head. He wont stop for the people who got slowed down, he will just simply walk in front without waiting. There wont be any prior information about the next plan, you have to go to him and ask him about it, if you know any good place about which you came to know through net, he will tell that we cannot go there telling that it is dangerous to go there as the elephants are sitting on the way. The food that he will provide will be worst than that of those PG's in Bangalore. All i am trying to say is he is not even worthy of half of the money he demands.

Now you may ask me 'how to go for this trek without guide?',

• The trek route is pretty clear, there are no diversions. So there is no need of guide.
• Kolukkumalai has camping facility, it is a private property and has a tea factory which you can visit. You can camp in kolukkumalai with the permission of the owner. 
• Kolukkumalai estate people are organizing camping, the charge 1500 per head which includes tent, sleeping bag, campfire, food and a guide to show places around.
• You can find lot of lodges in suryanelli and chinnakanal which you can book in net.
• Before booking the lodge just ask the owner to arrange you the zeep from kolukkumalai to the lodge.
• The trek from kurangani to kolukkumalai will take 6-7 hours. so call the owner of the lodge(or zeep driver) before starting the trek, so that he will be waiting there at the top by the time you reach.
• If you dont want to trek, buses are available from Bodiyakanur to suryanelli, from there you can visit kolukkumalai by jeep.

Places to visit:

• There is a big lake in Chinakanal and chinakanal waterfalls.
• There are lot of tea factories where you can see the manufacturing process of tea powder.
• Meesapulimalai- this is second highest peak in the western ghats. you can trek this peak, the starting point is near the tea factory of kolukkumalai. 

Happy trekking......enjoy.....


My kolukkumalai trek full video