Idukki Munnar Tea Cardamom Rubber Highland Ecology Kerala

Idukki district — Kerala's largest district by area — encompasses the Munnar tea gardens (1,600+ metres altitude), the Cardamom Hills (where large cardamom Elettaria cardamomum is grown in forest shade on steep slopes), and the Periyar Tiger Reserve at Thekkady that is Kerala's most visited eco-tourism destination for elephant and tiger sighting by boat on the Periyar reservoir. Munnar's CTC tea estates produce the strong orange pekoe leaf tea for South Indian filter consumption, and the Kanan Devan Hills Plantation (KDHP, employee-owned) manages 24,000 hectares of tea plantation after the Tata Tea divestment of 2005 — a landmark employee ownership model. Idukki's dam reservoir system — Idukki arch dam (the highest arch dam in Asia) and Mullaperiyar — provides hydroelectric power and Tamil Nadu irrigation water in a contentious inter-state water management arrangement.