Kerala Mountains
The Western Ghats rise to a height of 2,600m (8000 ft), running from the tip of India to the North through the whole of Kerala. The highest forests receive 5000 mm (200 inches) of rain in a few months, with the highest rate twice as high as that in Brazil! To the South, the Cardamom Hills, and the Nilgiri Hills to the North form an unbroken line into the state of Karnataka and continue through the Wayanad area. The high Ranges have one of the richest biodiversities in the world, and wild life and bird sanctuaries are threaded along it. Here you can see elephants, the rare surviving tigers, hosts of bird and butterfly species and experience Kerala's magnificent flora.
Tea, rubber and spice plantations, which are vital to the state's economy, cover much of the rain forest, and can be visited as part of a mountain holiday. Accommodation can be arranged on plantations, and there are many opportunities to trek through the jungle, walk through the plantations and raft down the rivers which rise in the mountains and water the fertile plains of Tamil Nadu and lagoons of Kerala. 
Along the Western Ghats, you will see breathtaking scenery and awe-inspiring views of the landscape dropping to the plains and plantations below. The centres for visiting this region are Munnar, where the highest tea plantation in the world rises on either side of the High Range, and Thekkady on the Periyar Lake and its Wildlife sanctuary.
Wayanad, in the North, has lakes and plantations. Its wildlife sanctuary joins a region extending to Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
