Eravikulam National Park, Munnar

Eravikulam National Park is Munnar's headline attraction and the easiest place in India to see the endangered Nilgiri tahr. Book tickets in advance and check the annual calving-season closure before you go.

Eravikulam National Park covers about 97 sq km of the high Western Ghats in Idukki and Ernakulam districts. Established in 1978, it was Kerala's first national park and is managed by the Kerala Forest Department's Munnar Wildlife Division. The core is a rolling plateau with a base elevation of around 2,000 metres, where montane grassland alternates with patches of stunted shola forest. Anamudi, at 2,695 metres the highest peak in South India, lies inside the park.

The park is best known for the Nilgiri tahr, an endangered mountain ungulate; Eravikulam holds the largest regional population. The animals are used to people in the Rajamala tourism zone, which is the only part of the park open to general visitors. Other wildlife recorded includes the Nilgiri langur, gaur, sambar and more than 130 bird species, among them endemics such as the Nilgiri pipit and Nilgiri wood pigeon.

The hills turn blue when Neelakurinji blooms, roughly once every 12 years. Tickets are sold online through the park's booking system and at a counter in Munnar. The park is a plastic-free zone. It closes every year for the tahr calving season: the official site currently states closure from 1 February to 1 April. Rajamala is about 14 km from Munnar bus stand.