Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
THE WESTERN GHATS
Welcome to the lush Western Ghats, some of the most welcome heat relief in India. Rising
like an impassable bulwark of evergreen and deciduous tangle from north of Mumbai to the
tip of Tamil Nadu, the Ghats (with an average elevation of 915m) contain 27% of India's
flowering plants and an incredible array of endemic wildlife. In Tamil Nadu they rise to
2000m and more in the Palni Hills around Kodaikanal and the Nilgiris around Ooty. British
influence lingers a little stronger up in these hills, where the colonists covered the slopes in
neatly trimmed tea bushes and created their 'hill stations' to escape the heat of the plains.
It's not just the air and (relative) lack of pollution that's refreshing - there's a certain ac-
ceptance of quirkiness and eccentricity in the hills that is rarer in the lowlands. Think or-
ganic farms, handlebar-moustached trekking guides and tiger-stripe earmuffs for sale in the
bazaars.
TOP OF CHAPTER
Kodaikanal (Kodai)
04542 / POP 41,882 / ELEV 2100M
There are few more refreshing Tamil Nadu moments than boarding a bus in the heat-soaked
plains and disembarking in the sharp pinch of a Kodaikanal night or morning. It's not all
cold though; during the day the weather is positively pleasant, more reminiscent of deep
spring than early winter. This misty hill station, 120km northwest of Madurai in the Palni
hills, is more relaxed and more intimate than its big sister Ooty (brochures call Kodai the
'Princess of Hill Stations', while Ooty is the Queen). The renowned Kodaikanal Interna-
tional School provides a bit of cosmopolitan influence, with students from around the
globe.
Centred on a very pretty lake, Kodai rambles up and down hillsides with patches of
shola
forest, unique to the Western Ghats in South India, and evergreen broadleaf trees
such as magnolia, mahogany, myrtle and rhododendron. Another plant speciality around
here (in the grasslands) is the
kurinji
shrub, whose lilac-blue blossoms only appear every
12 years: next due date 2018.
Kodai is popular with honeymooners, who flock to the spectacular lookout points and
waterfalls in and around town.
