Nilgiris Toda Embroidery Ooty Tea Estate Ecology

The Nilgiris district at 2,000-2,600 metres altitude hosts unique ecological and cultural communities — the Toda tribal people whose distinctive semi-circular thatched temples (munds) and the extraordinary geometric embroidery (pookalam pattern) on their shawls (putukuli) using buffalo-milk-white and black wool have been documented since 1819 as one of India's most distinct indigenous art traditions. Ooty (Udhagamandalam)'s colonial-era tea gardens produce the Nilgiris CTC tea — the base for the strong tannin-rich South Indian filter tea consumed daily across Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The Nilgiris' Mudumalai Tiger Reserve and Mukurthi National Park protect shola-grassland mosaic habitat unique to the south Indian hills that shelters the Nilgiri tahr (wild mountain goat), gaur, elephant, and tiger.