Kodaikanal

Kodaikanal sits on a plateau in the Palani Hills, wrapped in mist so thick that trees emerge from it like ghosts with leaves. Unlike its busier cousins Ooty and Munnar, Kodai has a wild, untamed quality -- granite cliffs drop into pine valleys, kurinji flowers paint entire hillsides purple once every twelve years, and shola forests hold species found nowhere else on Earth. The star-shaped lake at the town's heart gives the place its rhythm. Mornings bring joggers and couples on pedal boats. By afternoon, mist rolls in and the far shore disappears. Evenings belong to the eucalyptus-scented walks along Coaker's Walk, where on clear days you can see all the way to the Vaigai Dam in the plains below. The real Kodaikanal exists beyond the town center. It's in the forests around Berijam Lake, a restricted-access reservoir surrounded by wilderness so pristine that gaur (Indian bison), wild boar, and sambar deer wander without fear. It's in the Pillar Rocks, three granite columns that stand 122 meters tall, veiled in mist and legend. For those willing to wake early, the sunrise from Dolphin's Nose -- a flat rock protruding over a 2,000-foot vertical drop -- is the kind of experience that makes you understand why the British officers who discovered this place in 1845 never quite wanted to go back to the plains.