Kerala And Tamil Nadu Must Promote New Hill Stations As Munnar, Ooty Face Overcrowding

Hill stations like Munnar in Kerala and Ooty and Kodaikanal in Tamil Nadu are seeing huge crowds these days leading to issues like long traffic snarls,  difficulty in finding accommodation and an overall dip in the experience of the tourists.

Locals are also finding it tough to cope with the increased traffic as it is affecting their daily life.

While state governments have taken measures like increased deployment of police to manage traffic movements, there have been incidents of tourists being stuck for hours. According to a news report in Onmanorama, vehicles took five and a half hours to cover a distance of 13 kilometres in Munnar last Sunday.

The Tamil Nadu government has launched an e-pass system as per instructions of the Madras High Court. Under this system, those reaching through private vehicles have to register beforehand but the number of passes is unlimited.

You may feel that this crowding of Ooty and Munnar is not a new scenario and it happens every summer. However, according to this writer, the right question to ask is why it still happens every summer.

While we cannot tell people that they should not go to a certain place, it is important that we come up with good alternatives for people and encourage them to go there. 

Smaller hill stations like Megamalai in Tamil Nadu’s Theni district, which is not very far from Kerala, could be promoted as an alternative to Munnar. 

Of course, it may not have the same number of tourist spots or the altitude of Munnar but it is definitely beautiful and relatively less crowded. It is also not too difficult to reach given that it is less than 100 kilometres away from Thekkady, a well-known resort town on the Kerala border.

This area is where the Vaigai River (which passes through Madurai) originates. It has tea and cardamom estates, the Suruli Falls, a number of dams and breathtaking views of the Cumbum Valley and Varusanadu Hills. In the Cumbum Valley, one can get to see the extensive cultivation of Panneer Thratchai, a variety of grapes that is harvested throughout the year. 

Similarly, near Ooty, people can be encouraged to visit places like Biligiri Rangan Betta on the Karnataka-Tamil Nadu border, Devarshola, which is close to the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve or Kotagiri.

In Coimbatore district, there is Valparai, where tourists can enjoy views of the Anaimalai Hills (also part of the Western Ghats), and visit Monkey Falls and the Sholayar Dam. Crossing the border into Kerala, they can visit Athirappilly Falls.

Among the lesser-known hill stations that Kerala could promote are Ponmudi, which is around 60 kilometres from Thiruvananthapuram, Kuttikanam in the Idukki district, and Gavi in Pathanamthitta, which is slowly getting known for ecotourism.

The only thing that must be ensured is that these relatively under-explored locations are developed in an environmentally friendly way. This should not be too difficult given the kind of expertise available these days, unlike when Ooty was developed by the British with notions of ‘scientific forestry,’ which ended up harming the area by replacing the native species with large-scale monoculture.

There is also another advantage of encouraging new locations apart from reducing the crowding — local people in these areas get jobs and opportunities to set up businesses like restaurants, homestays, adventure sports and trekking, boosting their income.

For this, Kerala and Tamil Nadu can take a cue from Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, where tourists have diversified from well-known sites like Mussoorie, Manali, Shimla and Dalhousie to lesser-known places like Teerthan Valley and Narkanda.

If it can happen there, it can happen here as well.

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