Wildlife & Trekking Diaries

Planning a Chinnar trip Official information checked: 6 November 2026 For bookings, use the Kerala Forest Department's Chinnar booking page . The review, rankings and photographs below are from my 2014 visits. Getting there: Chinnar is on the Munnar–Udumalpet road near Marayoor. Kerala Tourism describes the Thoovanam waterfall walk as a guided 4 km trail from Alampetty Check Post, taking about three hours. Ask the forest office where to report when you book. Treks and fees The Forest Department lists four treks. The programme window is 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.; ask for the starting time of your trek when booking. Thoovanam Waterfalls : ₹300 under “entry fee”; ₹700 under “Foreign Adult”. Alampetty cultural rock-painting hike : ₹300 under “entry fee”; ₹700 under “Foreign Adult”. Chinnar riverside trek : ₹300 under “entry fee”; ₹700 under “Foreign Adult”. Vasyappara trek : ₹700 under “entry fee”; ₹1,500 under “Foreign Adult”. Online bookings close 23–24 hours before the 8 a.m. ...

The Original Plan Shiyas (my friend and managing director Esteem Holidays) and I wanted to do a followup on our BR hills(hope to write on it shortly) trip. After establishing  Esteem Holidays  he had done a full tour of Munnar and surrounding areas and recommended Kolukkumalai Estate and Thoovanam falls . So we finalised on a trekking trip to  Chinnar-Thoovanam-Munnar-Kolukkumalai . On Feb 5th we decided to meet in Chinnar . I landed there by 11 a.m and shiyas was there on his KTM duke by 1. We were informed that there was no water in Vasyapara hut. We had to opt for an alternate accomodation or pay  for porters to carry water to the hut that was 7kms inside the jungle. We decided on taking another acco and were allocated Churlipatti Log House . Churlipatti Log House Churlipatti log house is 3 kms from the chinnar checkpost on the banks of Chinnar. We started walking on the forest track at around 3 p.m. towards the log house with high spirits. The spirit...