The hills of Munnar will soon be bathed in a dreamy shade of blue. The Neelakurinji ( Strobilanthes kunthianus ) blooms only once in every 12 years and it sure is a sight to behold!
Every twelve years, the hills of Munnar in Kerala burst into a sea of blue, a rare natural spectacle for which travellers make a beeline. An endless stretch of rolling hills carpeted with tiny blue flowers welcomes the visitors. It is the time Neelakurinji, a flower with 40 odd varieties, blossoms in all its grandeur. The long wait of twelve years is finally over. The hills will soon be bathed in a dreamy shade of blue from August 2018 to October 2018. Are you ready? Botanists call it the blooming of ‘Strobilanthes kunthianus’, the botanical name of Neelakurinji. Neela in local parlance translates to the colour blue and Kurinji is the local name for the flower.