First stop on the tour today was the tea plantations. Unfortunately, the weather had turned to thick cloud and light rain, with little or no visibility. This meant that the sweeping vistas over the Nilgiri hills and down to the plains were going to be non-existent, so we opted to head straight for the tea factory. This very low-tech affair was run by one guy and a few women. We had a great tour looking at the raw leaves being pressed, cut, oxidised, sieved and dried. It smelled something like cut grass and very strong tea.
We then headed off for a good hour walking around the tea plantations, in and out of the misty and quite spooky sub-tropical rain forest…we were well aware, tiger, bears, panthers and leopards live in these forests! We had Rajat around every corner to pick us up and drop us off in the next good spot. Unfortunately, the rain was still around so we didn’t get too many views. We did get some more attention from the locals wanting photos though! We finished off the morning with a trip up to a tea plantation owner’s house. Well, it was more of a mansion to be honest, and we were there for some ‘oh how very quaint’ tea tasting, much akin to a wine tasting experience. The owner was as refined as his garden and we were soon being treated to a lesson in the different types of tea and then were given a sample of six different varieties. It was a great hour or so, and we doubt we’ll ever drink that PG tips rubbish again. Hmmm… 
Back for a outstanding south Indian lunch (a Thali) which Renu had been preparing since 6am, with allsorts of interesting new tastes served on a banana leaf at the homestay. We are slowly getting the hang of eating with our hands, but still struggling when it comes to the ‘shovel’ technique for the rice!
The afternoon saw a change of plan given the ever worsening weather – we decided, after hearing about the families amazing wildlife encounters, to go out on safari. The estimated one hour car journey to the start point was a little optimistic and after we had descended a crazy road with 36 hairpin bends and we were 2 hours in, we both thought this was a more serious trip than anticipated! We eventually got there and Rajat, his mother, and the two of us, piled into a jeep with a local guide and off we bounced into the jungle in the rain. The journey got lots more comfortable once we had asked to get the roof rolled back and we stood up to see the trees fly past. 
In the two and a half hours of safari we managed to see deer, samba, peacocks and peahens, a huge herd of (quite scary looking) bison, vultures, wild boar and a dead bison which had been killed by a tiger two days before. No tigers, unfortunately, but it was a great trip nonetheless and it was topped off by seeing a group of elephants on the way home (with some little calves, too)! Another two hours of hair pin bends in the dark back up to the homestay, a quick but tasty meal with the family, and it was certainly time for some kip. 
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