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It’s love at first sight

Where you can spot squirrels and smell sandalwood, says SOMA BASU

PHOTOS: SOMA BASU & K. K. MUSTAFAH

A WALK IN THE WOODS A view of Marayoor

Driving out of Munnar on the Udumalappettai Road, it looks as if the famous and crowded tourist spot has simply stretched its beautiful landscape with artistically cultivated tea estates for a few km more, quietly leading me into a different world. F or, about an hour later after winding up and down the hill roads in the Western Ghats, I find myself in the lap of rising and falling hills that look greener than green. Dozens of waterfalls appear like silver streaks on the green body as I take a complete 360 degree view. But what is more awesome is the blooming of violet colour flowers, the native neelakurinji, all over. Different from the kurinji flowers that blossom every 12 years in the Palani hill range, the locals here call their bloom of pride, “weghai.”

“This is Marayoor,” the driver wakes me up from my stupor and I fall in love with the place instantly. I can little disagree with those who dub Marayoor as ‘Castle of God.’ The location of this tiny and enchanting rain shadow village at an altitude of 3,200 feet is simply heavenly. Except for two months of monsoon in July and August, the weather remains dry and pleasant here, making it an ideal cultivable land for a variety of vegetables and fruits, including apples and oranges, paddy, wheat, sugarcane, bamboo and, most important of all, sandalwood.

In fact, if you walk around in Marayoor, particularly, a little off the main road which cuts through the town, and move interior towards the forest surrounded by fields, you get the distinct smell of sandalwood. It is like Nature bestowing all its blessings on a place far removed from noise and pollution. The pristine beauty of a blue lake nestled in the Western Ghats here, a tree top house, the unthreatening shadow of clouds above, all make the place beautiful. Apart from getting lost in the fields and forests, following curving rivers and streams, enjoying the sound of waterfalls and chirping birds, encountering a peculiar species of colourful squirrel and enjoying the thrill and facing the risk of spotting elephant, tiger, leopard, gaur, sambar, spotted deer, nilgiri tahr, common langur, what else can you do in Marayoor? “Take a walk through our sandalwood forests but beware of bison,” the hotel manager suggests. Yes, Marayoor is famous for the best quality of sandalwood. This is apparently the only place in Kerala where it grows in abundance. So I jump at the idea of a walk through the Marayoor Reserve Forests which have 65,000 naturally growing sandalwood trees spread over 93 sq.km.

The neelakurinji flowers

Permission of the Forest Department is required to go deep into these forests. But at the entrance, there is a “Sandalwood Regeneration Experimental Plot,” open to all for an excursion. Adjacent to it is a sandalwood depot, run by the Forest Department where one can see how a sandalwood tree is treated and separated into heartwood, sapwood, branchwood, chips and powder. Undoubtedly, my three-hour stroll in the forest with a local guide, Anil, leaves me more knowledgeable. I learn how this small evergreen tree grows up to a height of 60 feet and fetches a lot of money. He excitedly tells me that buyers even offer Rs. 90 lakh for a tonne of sandalwood, while the oil fetches Rs.18,000 a kg! No, I am not in Marayoor to shop. Rather finding my way along with scurrying squirrels, I take a closer look at the valuable tree, declared an endangered species. I check the flowers that are purplish brown, small and unscented. The leaves are leathery and are in a range of green. Anil tells me that the heartwood begins to form after 10 years of a tree’s growth, when it is roughly 10 feet tall. After 20 years, the heartwood forms rapidly and reaches its prime in 50 to 60 years when the tree is 60 feet high. A sandalwood tree is never cut but always uprooted because its roots have the highest oil content. Even sapwood is separated carefully since it has a bit of fragrance owing to its proximity to the heartwood.

Indeed, Marayoor is a place where history and culture meet adventure and tourism, given its proximity to the ancient dolmen rocks and Stone Age caves and the vegetable and fruit gardens (written about in the previous RLT columns).

It is a repository of over 1,000 medicinal plants. It is also a place where the colourful phenomenon of butterfly migration can be witnessed between the monsoons.

The squirrel

It offers ample opportunities for forest treks.

That’s not all. Don’t miss the herbal or Ayurvedic massages offered in a couple of hotels here. It is better to book in advance if you plan a trip between January and June or September and December. Accommodation can be arranged in advance through Kerala Tourism office in Kochi (ph:0484-4010403 and 4011410). Or local numbers for making enquiries are 04865-252101, 252222 and 252221.

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