A trip to Tamil Nadu

Early this week, I found myself in Tamil Nadu (the very south-eastern province of India). I was at a place called Coonoor. It’s a bit of an effort to get to: you fly down to Coimbatore (the nearest airport) & then it’s a 2.5hrs drive to Coonoor: 1.5hrs of that up a mountain road with LOTS of switchbacks.

You can see the landscape change as you get up into the mountains: palm & banana plantations, & farms make way to lush forests which then make way, at the very top, tea plantations. The animals you see around the place changes too: from cows to goats & donkeys to (at the top), monkeys.

The monkeys are quite fascinating to watch: they may be just sitting there, watching you drive past, there may be a pack of them, all grooming each other or there will be the younger monkeys, playing amongst themselves.

The area is quite beautiful & seeing the tea plantations, clinging to the side of the mountains is an amazing sight.

Here’s some photos for your viewing pleasure:

Along the way to Coonoor, we stopped at this roadside diner serving tasty, southern Indian food. No forks or spoons here...you use your hands & the bread as a spoon.















A delivery run in one of the towns we passed through