An immersive experience at tea estates and strawberry farms in Coonoor

Tea plantations
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

A mighty gaur amidst lush green tea gardens and misty hills in the backdrop. This picture postcard frame brings our Jeep to a screeching halt. I take my phone out and click away as the gaur stops and stares before nibbling at the tea leaves. I am thrilled with my encounter with a robust gaur during my Monkey Trails outing, an immersive experience at tea gardens in Hulical, near Coonoor. As we begin the 30-minute drive from Coonoor snaking through tea plantations, beautiful vistas of the Nilgiris landscape unfolds at every corner shrouded in mist.

 “We started this to show tourists visiting the Nilgiris that this hill town has so much more to offer beyond the touristy Lambs’ Rock and Dolphin’s Nose,” says Nikhil Suresh, proprietor of Money Trails experiences in Coonoor. Nikhil, along with his brother Nitin Suresh, run a group of hotels and restaurants in Coonoor, including the Realm resort, Hopscotch restobar, Sri Lakshmi Cafe and Hotel Ramachandra. “People visiting here for the second or third time want an offbeat experience. This trail allows them to take it slow with a couple of activities, but is hands-on and immersive,” explains Nikhil.

Elaborating further, he adds Monkey Trails has been curated keeping in mind tourists who halt in Coonoor for a few hours during the Nilgiris trip. “There are weekend travellers. Sometimes they take the train from Ooty and are here in the afternoon to spend a few hours and take the train back. We have kept it short, something that can be done in three to four hours, but memorable.”

The first halt is at Velmurugan Tea Plantations in Selas, nine kilometres from Coonoor, for a boutique tea experience. For the first ten minutes, B Lakshman, owner of the tea plantation, teaches us tea culture, history and current trends before taking us on a guided tour of the factory. We witness how hand-picked tea leaves go through various processes before becoming the final product.

The freshly-plucked green leaves undergo withering, rolling, fermenting, and drying, which turns them into black aromatic tea. A cool breeze washes my face, heavy with the aroma of tea leaves. A tea tasting session follows. A cup of invigorating tea that is hot, fresh, and locally produced, makes the experience complete.

The trails can also be customised. There are sunrise walks, guided bird-watching trips with a naturalist, and a herpetology trail with an in-house herpetologist to watch species of frogs and snakes. “We have people calling at 2pm to go for strawberry picking, which is impossible. We can tailor the itinerary based on their expectations when booked in advance. We are working on forest treks. Right now, the hotel fraternity is working with the tourism department and the forest department to explore buffer zones where treks are possible,” he says adding that strawberry picking is most popular as it’s a great bonding activity for families.

Guests take a leisurely stroll through rows of lush strawberry plants and hand-pick the ripest, juiciest strawberries directly from the farm, grown without pesticides. “They start planting in November after the rains and the crops are ready by February. There will be crops remaining till September. While controlled environment has crops through the year, this is a natural open farm and the hands-on experience is a great way for adults and children to connect with Nature,” explains Nikhil.

For weekend travellers, there are small combo trails that pack Jeep rides, plantation walk, tea tasting and strawberry picking. We bite into crisp Ooty varki and enjoy refreshing lemon tea at Realm resort while soaking up views of farms resembling white specks from a distance. Those are blueberry farms being developed now, we are told, as we hop on to the Jeep to visit a stream nearby. As we dip our feet in pristine, icy cold waters of the stream, there is absolute silence punctuated by the chirping of birds. We enjoy the bite of the mountain air as we begin the drive back filled with happy moments.

Booking for the Monkey Trails experiences has to be done in advance. For more details, call 9585316161/ 9787317171