Camping at Cloud Farm, Munnar

Cloud Farm, came to know from my friend. I was on my solo bike trip from Cochin. Covered Thattekkad Bird sanctuary, Athirapally Waterfall, Valparai, Udumalpett and then reached Munnar 2 days ago. It’s been 5 days since I left home. Booked online and started from Munnar by 2pm. The reporting time was 3 pm @ yellapetty. It’s 27 km from Munnar and on the way to popular view point Top Station. Mr.Uthaman (one of the 3 musketeers who run this camp. Not a camp, actually their home) met me near Yellapetty post office. It’s a very small village with one tea shop, one grocery shop and one post office. I could see the farms from this point. The friendly tea shop owner allowed to park my bike near his shop and allowed to keep the helmet inside his tiny kiosk. It was roofed with weaved coconut leaves. Only tea and biscuits were served here. The benches and desks seem older than the tea shop. The continuous smoke exposes made the entire shop in matte black finish.

We were around 20 people booked for the day. All were men and they teased me for being the only married person. But I felt proud that my family understand and allow following my passion ( how many of them going to get that?) We started the walk to the campsite through the muddy village path. Uthaman instructed us, not to make much noise because it might disturb the village life. We crossed the village and reached tea plantation. The rain started to sprinkle and in no time it gained command. We struggled to move on through the slippery inclines but there wasn’t any roof to take a shelter. After trekking one and a half kilometres, we reached the campsite. It was thunderstruck to describe the view.. We occupied the camps and waited for the rain to calm down.

it’s been around 6 pm. Enjoyed the black tea and met Met Mr. Amal Som and Mr. Arun (the rest of 3 Musketeers). We could see udumalpet town of Tamilnadu from here. It was 2 huge hills and we were at one end of the valley. The hills literally become the borders for the natural scenery.

Amal and Arun were preparing the campfire. Soon it was lit. We gathered around like flies. We met greet and become friends. Amal som shared a lot of his experiences with us. The main theme of this camp fire was silence but I thoroughly enjoyed the feel of that muteness. 

We set out for a night trek.  I felt hard to move on, the forest was marshy and crowded with darkness. The en route wasn’t that salient, rattling bugs and so many other unknown sounds echoed inside our heart. Amal showed the path and we followed, the hilltop we reached was exceptionally tranquil. The cold wind and smooth grass felt as nature’s lap. We returned and the feast was ready to serve. The chappathi and Chicken Curry was hot n spicy. We returned to our tents and crawled into our sleeping bags.   

By 5.00 am we started for sun rise trek, some of our friends negated to join us. We headed nearby hilltop to welcome the sun god. I don’t remember the last time I saw the sun rise. Viewing sun rising above the clouds felt as God's golden threads to me. After breakfast and unlimited black tea, we packed and get ready for the onward journey. I exchanged my contact number with the three musketeers and thanked them for the experience. Including yet another travelogue to my blog, I headed for my next exploration.