KOCHI, 4 November 2006 — Thousands of tourists have, for nearly a month, been making a beeline every day to Munnar, one of India’s finest hill stations as the fog-covered mountains witness the rare blooming of Neela Kurinji flower (strobilanthes kunthiana) keeping its 12-year cycle.
More than 300,000 tourists have already visited the area and the Kerala Tourism authorities expect a 30 percent increase in tourism this year, thanks to the blooming that will last till November. A weeklong Kurunji festival, that attracted many tourists, took place in early October.
“We are also planning to set up a sanctuary covering the Kurinji habitat extending to about 8000 hectares,” said Forest Minister Benoy Viswam, who joined the visitors at the festival along with Gov. R.L. Bhatia. This will be the first sanctuary of its kind, dedicated to particular species, in the world.
Besides Munnar, Kerala’s tea country, tourists are also flocking to Kodaikanal and Ootty on the other side of the high ranges, in neighboring Tamil Nadu state. The small mauve flowers bloom once in 12 years and the plant dies the following year.
“Half of the flowers have already blossomed. The flowers will be in bloom for two more months and cover 250 acres,” Mohan Varghese, a local conservationist, said.
When these flowers bloom, swarms of bees appear and the honey produced is the sweetest. The last time the flowers were in bloom was in 1994.
The vast tracts of misty mountains covered by huge mauve carpets are equated to Valley of Flowers in the Himalayas.
The Eravikulam National Park, which is a sanctuary for the endangered Nilgiri Tahr (a wild goat), has vast areas where the endangered plant can be found between 1,800 to 2,400-meter altitudes and the sight of the hoofed mammals standing on isolated rocks surrounded by sprawling Kurinji blooms is a photographer’s delight.
Recently, experts from 40 countries gathered here for the fourth edition of an international conference on mountain ungulates organized by the World Conservation Union with a focus on the endangered animal.
“We chose the venue for the conference that was coming to India for the first time as it coincides with the rare feat of the blooming,” its organizing committee chairman, T. Damu, said.
The flowers used to cover the entire Nilgiris once but now plantations and dwellings occupy much of their habitat, say conservationists who have displayed hoardings throughout the region urging visitors not to take away the shrubs, but only memories.
Neela kurinji, they say, belongs to the family of Acanthaceae that has around 300 species, of which at least 46 occur in India. The plant is usually 30 to 60 cm high on the hills and they can grow well beyond 180 cm under congenial conditions.
Authorities have put a lot of restrictions on visitors. Vehicles are not allowed into the Eravikulam National Park. The local conservationists and the forest authorities have formed a platform, High Range Wild Life and Environment Association (HRWLEA), which handles the transportation of tourists so that the rich flora and fauna face no threat from visitors.
A team of three German scientists carried out important studies on the species several decades ago.
“The scientific name had changed several times before settling on the name Strobilanthes Kunthiana. “Kunthiana” came from the name Kunth, who was a member of the German team,” G. Rajkumar, secretary of the Save Kurinji Campaign Council, said.
Some tribes believe the flowering brings bad luck, including infertility. But they admit they used to get abundant supplies of honey from the forests a few months after the flowering.
Munnar town, where most of the resorts are situated, is 1,600 to 1,800 meters above sea level and typically stays between 22 °C and 38 °C. The tourist season is from August to March and is also a lovely place to visit during the monsoons, with streams and rivulets all over the place.
Most of the local people work in tea estates established by British planters during colonial days and many of the people living here are laborers plucking tea leaves.
The majority of the tea estates were owned by Tata Tea, one of the Tata Group of companies.
In April 2005, the Tata Group decided to divest its holding in the Munnar tea plantations, after which the employees purchased the plantations and are now running the same as Kanan Devan Hills Plantations Company Private Limited. The company announced 14 percent dividend for the first year.
Many tour operators and adventure clubs organize trekking for visitors to reach some of the best locales in and around Munnar to see the kurinji spread.
The nearest airport is the Cochin International Airport about 110 kilometers away, which is India’s first corporate airport with an excellent connectivity with the Gulf region.
