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Sitting on the deck of a villa at Blanket Riverside, and watching the Muthirapuzha River flow past gently amidst verdant surroundings, is a moment of pure bliss. But beneath the calm surface of the waters, there is a story to be told. Every drop that passes the resort has already travelled through some of Kerala's oldest engineering marvels — climbed down from misty highland lakes, spun the turbines of Asia's first hydroelectric project, and trickled its way through a chain of dams built nearly a century ago. Long before it reaches our spice gardens, this water has already helped light up half of central Kerala.
This is a story which marvels at the ingenuity of Kerala’s engineers who knew how to harness the potential of nature to generate power and yet maintain the ecological balance. This is the story of the Dam Trail — and it begins with a name.
Long before Munnar was a town, it was simply a meeting point. High on the misty slopes of the Anamudi — the highest peak in South India — three mountain streams made their way down through the Western Ghats: the Nallathanni, the Kannimala, and the Kundala. At one particular spot, they converged.
When British planters and surveyors arrived in the 19th century, they built their settlement at exactly this confluence and named it accordingly — Munnu (three) and Aaru (river). The town, in other words, was named after the rivers.
Together, these three streams form the Muthirapuzha River — one of the principal tributaries of the Periyar, Kerala's longest river and the lifeline of the state's water and power systems. From this single confluence at Munnar, the Muthirapuzha begins its long descent through the High Range Plateau, and it's this same river — dammed and diverted — that eventually flows past Blanket Riverside.
What makes this stretch of the Western Ghats so remarkable isn't just its natural beauty — it's that Kerala's engineers spent the better part of the 20th century turning this single river system into a cascading hydroelectric chain, each dam catching what the one above had already released.
Built in 1947, Kundala sits at the top of the system — roughly 20 km from Munnar town, at nearly 1,700 metres, the highest reservoir in the chain. Its waters flow downstream to feed the next dam in the trail.
About 13 km from Munnar and among the most visited spots in the region, Mattupetty collects Kundala's release along with its own catchment. From here, water is directed to the R.A. Headworks in Munnar town, which diverts it toward the valley's power stations.
This is Asia's very first hydroelectric project commissioned in the 1930s and located at a distance of 9 km from Blanket Riverside Resort & Spa. Water from Mattupetty is channelled here to generate electricity for the first time on its journey down the mountain.
Just 5 km from Blanket Riverside, this is where the ingenuity of Kerala’s engineers came to the fore. It was built to capture the release water of the Pallivasal project — water that has already passed through one set of turbines, still flowing, still useful. Here, it's put to work a second time, generating over 51 MW of power, before continuing on as the Muthirapuzha River itself — the same river that now flows along the edge of our property.
From Chengulam, the river continues toward the Kallarkutty Dam and the Neriamangalam Powerhouse, before finally merging into the main Periyar River and continuing its journey to the Arabian Sea.
Further afield, the same Muthirapuzha sub-basin feeds two more dams worth a mention for the curious traveller: Anayirankal Dam, 22 km from Munnar amid Tata Tea plantations and known for elephant sightings, and Ponmudi Dam near Adimali, a 1963 masonry dam with a striking hanging bridge nearby.
Kerala's hydroelectric network, anchored by these dams, has powered the state since the 1930s. In a good monsoon year, hydropower can meet close to a third of Kerala's electricity demand, and up to 40% of peak demand during the summer months when air conditioners and pumps run hardest.
It's a striking thought: the same gentle river drifting past the villas at Blanket Riverside is part of a working power grid, quietly doing its job long after the last tourist boat has left Mattupetty for the day.
Blanket Riverside Resort & Spa sits directly on the banks of the Muthirapuzha, and it's the only property in the region where every villa opens onto the river itself.
But the river's real gift to this land isn't just the view. It's what it bestows to the surrounding ecosystem.
Centuries of water flowing down from Kundala, Mattupetty, and the high ranges have carried silt and minerals into this valley, building some of the most fertile soil in the region. It's this same confluence-fed, well-irrigated land that allows Blanket Riverside to sustain a 50-acre spice and plantation estate — seven varieties of spice, a bamboo grove, and coffee, all crops that demand exactly what this river provides in abundance: consistent, plentiful water, sourced from a catchment that rarely runs dry even in the dry months.
And where there's water, fertile soil, and dense plantation cover together, nature tends to fill in the rest. The same ecosystem that makes the spice garden possible has made Blanket Riverside a genuine habitat for birdlife — kingfishers along the water's edge, Malabar Thresh through the spice canopy, and a long list of highland and riverine birds that draw guests out for early-morning birding walks through the estate.
Its calmer stretches are ideal for bamboo rafting — a slow, quiet way to experience the same water that once powered Asia's first hydroelectric plant, now simply carrying a raft past cardamom vines and coffee shrubs.
Experience it for yourself: ask about our spice plantation walks, participate in live culinary demos with spices freshly harvested from our spice plantation, guided birding walks and bamboo river rafting at Blanket Riverside Resort & Spa.
Mattupetty is about 11-13 km from Munnar town, at an elevation of roughly 1,700 metres. It's a scenic junction along the Munnar-Top Station road, known for its dam, lake, and the nearby Indo-Swiss dairy farm.
Kundala is about 20 km from Munnar, further along the road to Top Station, and falls within the Mattupetty panchayat area. Kundala Dam sits roughly 7 km from Mattupetty, and its waters flow downstream directly into the Mattupetty reservoir.
Yes. Water released from Kundala and Mattupetty travels through the R.A. Headworks and the Pallivasal Powerhouse, then on to the Chengulam Dam — just 5 km from the resort — before continuing as the Muthirapuzha River, which flows directly past Blanket Riverside.
The Muthirapuzha River flows past Blanket Riverside. It is one of the principal tributaries of the Periyar, Kerala's longest river, and every villa at the resort opens directly onto its banks.
The Muthirapuzha is formed at Munnar itself, where three mountain streams — the Nallathanni, Kannimala, and Kundala — converge on the slopes of the Anamudi massif. This confluence is also the origin of the town's name.
'Munnar' comes from the Malayalam words for 'three' (moonu) and 'river' (aaru). The name refers to the natural confluence of the Nallathanni, Kannimala, and Kundala streams at this spot — a geographic feature that existed long before the town was built here in the 19th century.
Pallivasal Powerhouse was Asia's first hydroelectric project, commissioned in the 1930s. It uses water released from Mattupetty Dam to generate electricity, and its tailrace water is then captured again at the nearby Chengulam Dam for a second round of power generation.
Yes. Nearby examples include the Anayirankal Dam — about 22 km from Munnar, amid tea plantations — the Ponmudi Dam near Adimali, the Kallarkutty Dam, and the Idukki Dam further south, all part of the wider Periyar river basin's hydroelectric network.
Hydroelectric power, generated largely by this chain of Western Ghats dams, has been part of Kerala's grid since the 1930s. In a good monsoon year hydropower can supply close to a third of the state's electricity, and up to 40% of demand during peak summer months.
Guests can enjoy guided birding walks through the resort's spice and plantation estate, bamboo river rafting on the Muthirapuzha, and a Dam Trail excursion tracing the river's journey from Kundala and Mattupetty down to the resort.
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