Guardians of the Ridge-Lines of Munnar Hills
Every week, I sit down with travelers from Berlin, London, or Mumbai who have come up the winding hairpin bends to visit Munnar. They want to photograph the clean, emerald geometric lines of the tea estates or look for the Nilgiri Tahr against the massive rock cliffs of Rajamala inside Eravikulam National Park. To them, […]
Two Hundred Years and Two Floods
The old ledger in the Munnar estate archives does not speak in the vocabulary of modern climate science. Written in the iron-gall cursive of a pioneering Scottish planter named M.S. Milne, the entry for Tuesday, July 23, 1924, simply notes: “The rain has ceased to be a weather pattern; it has become a solid, weight-bearing […]
The Seven Wonders of the Western Ghats
To see the Western Ghats only from the window of a moving vehicle is to look at a masterpiece with your eyes closed. Older than the majestic Himalayas, this ancient mountain chain is a globally recognized UNESCO World Heritage site and an absolute biological superpower, harboring ecosystems found nowhere else on Earth. It is a […]
Chasing Sunrises:Why the Meeshapulimala Trek is the Ultimate Reset
Waking up at 3:30 AM always feels a little insane. As I sat there, half-asleep and questioning my life choices, I was thrown into the back of an off-road jeep. Destination? The Meeshapulimala Base Camp. To be honest, the journey there is half the fun. It is hands-down the bumpiest road I’ve ever traveled. Pro-tip: if […]