Kaas Plateau: Post-monsoon Fields of Dreams

Purple flowers dotted the meadows as far as I could see on my right. A gentle breeze came by, making the whole landscape shimmy; the flowers and grasses swayed in rhythm, almost like a Mexican wave at a sporting event. On my left, other fields of white and yellow flowers bobbed gently in the bright sunshine. The post-monsoon extravaganza of wildflowers at Kaas Plateau was every bit as mesmerising as its reputation and claims.

The Sahyadris have been my backyard and playground for over four decades, and I have enjoyed walking, trekking, camping and exploring its hills, forts, lakes, and caves in every season. And although I have observed and experienced a lot of its flora and fauna, I know that what I’ve seen is probably just the tip of the biodiversity iceberg.

While Kaas Plateau, or Kaas Pathar, has been on the tourism radar for decades now, my first visit was only post-monsoon, in 2023. The sheer brilliance and abundance of the flowering vegetation visible on this easily accessible, flat, and walkable hilltop plateau outdoes any other place in the Western Ghats for floral beauty. As Shrirang Shinde, a local guide in Kaas, told me in Marathi, the flowering plants of Kaas may not be very different from many other places in the Western Ghats — the unique difference is the vast concentration of wildflowers on a single plateau and how accessible it is for travellers.

Kaas is a laterite plateau atop a hill, situated about 25 km from Satara in Maharashtra. It is often compared to the Valley of Flowers in the Himalayas. Since 2012, when the Western Ghats was listed as a UNESCO World Site, Kaas Plateau has been one of the key sites featured.

This laterite plateau is a biodiversity hotspot with flora and fauna that are endangered due to human habitation and activity. However, I observed commendable efforts by local authorities and the Kaas Management Committee to ensure it gets the much-needed protection it deserves. Broad walkways and paths have been laid with laterite stones so that visitors don’t trample flowers or have to worry about slushy paths or losing the trail.

Each year, from early August to the end of October (depending on when the monsoon begins its retreat), the 10 square kilometres of Kaas Plateau are robed in different hues as different species of flowers bloom in a riot of colour and pizzazz. Some fields are draped in red balsams (Impatiens balsamica) and bright yellow sonki (Graham’s groundsel or Senecio bombayensis). Others are a carpet of blue as the insectivorous Drosera species bloom and hold sway until the dhangar grass (Eriocaulon sedgewickii) with white balls of flowers arise to blanket the plateau.

The year 2024, however, belonged to the karvi blooms (Strobilanthes). These were spread across the Kaas Plateau in bursts of purple-blue blossoms. While the usual whites, yellows, violets, and blues were abundant, the plateau was overshadowed by the topli karvi (Strobilanthes sessilis). Karvi is a unique plant that blooms once after growing for around eight years. Then it puts on the most spectacular display that dwarfs all others. Botanically, karvi is considered a plietesial (plants that grow for several years, then flower synchronously, seed, and die) and a monocarpic (bearing flowers and seeding only once in its lifespan). While I have experienced hill karvi (Strobilanthes callosa) flowering after its seven- or eight-year cycle on many forts, hills, and meadows in the Western Ghats, Mother Nature’s karvi exhibition at Kaas took my breath away.

There are as many as 350 species of Strobilanthes, and interestingly, more than 45 varieties are found in India, mostly in the Sahyadri range of the Western Ghats. Some are small and don’t grow more than 60 cm high, while others will grow from four to six metres tall. The main stems of the tall ones tend to grow very straight, and I’ve often observed local villagers using them to make thatched walls and roofs for their dwellings. Additionally, in many areas, karvi plays a crucial role in holding the topsoil, whether on the Kaas Plateau, where the topsoil is a thin layer of 5-6 centimetres, or along the edges of forts, cliffs, and hills. 

Four gates provide visitors entry to different areas of the plateau. On my walk along the plateau with my guide, Shinde, I learnt that four species of karvi are found in and around the Kaas Plateau. Of these, the most abundant is the common cone head (Strobilanthes sessilis) or topli karvi (topli means basket) since the plant looks like an inverted basket. The others are bhui karvi (Nilgirianthus reticulata), supushpa karvi (Supushpa scrobiculata) and patri or pit karvi (Thelepaepale ixiocephala) which has pale blue to white flowers.

Not all karvi has an eight-year lifecycle. Some will have a synchronised bloom after 12 or even 16 years, and when they do, together they liven up any hillside in the Western Ghats. However, I’ve also seen the individual or isolated karvi plant blooming in different parts of the hills. There’s an important reason for this: Mother Nature’s insurance policy is in place. Quite simply, in the year preceding the full blooming of most karvi on a particular hillside, there will be a few stray plants or bushes that will bloom and go to seed, thus insuring that even if the full blooming the following year is aborted or fails to fructify, there will still be some seeds to continue the cycle. This quiet act of nature, to ensure continuity so that the plant does not go extinct, never fails to amaze me.

But even in 2024, there was much more to Kaas than just the karvi. Kaas is one of those places you need to make multiple trips to, and each visit will be very different but just as mesmerising. If you really want to take in all the splendorous offerings of this unique plateau, return in different months between August and October, and you’ll be treated to different views of various flowers as the Earth throws up new blooms and blossoms. Many of these changes take place almost weekly as one species blossoms and fades, and another starts flowering and fills the canvas. 

Besides the gorgeous yellows of the sonki and kawla (Smithia bigemina) and the pretty purple balsams, there are a host of smaller and lesser-known flowering plants on Kaas. My favourites were some of the ground orchids and insectivorous and carnivorous plants that trap and devour small insects like davbindu (Drosera Indica) and purple bladderwort (Utricularia purpurascens), locally known as Sita’s tears.

My guide, Shrirang Shinde, a retired forest officer, is a local legend whose knowledge of the flowers of Kaas is astonishing. He pointed out numerous endemic species, and I could barely keep up with his enthusiastic naming at every step. Shinde also spoke of the extremely rare and endangered Ceropegia genus, locally called Hanuman gada (the mace of Hanuman), because of the shape of the flowers. Ceropegia vincifolia is an endangered creeper, known locally as kandil pushpa (kandil is lantern in Marathi), which takes insects hostage and releases them only after pollination is completed. It’s a highly endangered species since its tuber is eaten locally and was once in great demand. Fortunately, the Kaas Management Committee and the forest department have convinced locals to stop eating it. Even though there are 25 species of Ceropegia all over the Western Ghats, you won’t find them easily. It’s the guides and naturalists who usually know where there’s a flowering specimen under an inconspicuous bush and can guide you; their keen eyes will spot a blossom in the most unlikely places.

Another good aspect of how the tourism at Kaas is managed is that local people (from nearby villages and tribal hamlets) are hired as assistants and caretakers. Various locals stand at strategic points on the plateau to ensure visitors do not leave the main trails or venture the wrong way. Others walk the trails and pick up trash that ill-informed visitors may discard. Still others sell simple or home-cooked foods (bhakris and pitla, cucumbers, buttermilk, and other local produce). There is a conspicuous absence of bottled water or packaged beverages and foods. I felt like a considerable effort has been made to give locals a sense of ownership, which is bearing welcome dividends. 

While traipsing through the Western Ghats over the years, I have seen abolima (Murdannia lanuginosa) on multiple occasions. What I didn’t know was that there are two or three kinds of them and that one blooms in the morning and will wilt and close by midday, another flowers in the afternoon, then hands the baton to yet another species that flowers as the sun sets over the plateau. Some of these are incredibly tiny flowers, smaller than the nail of your little finger, and you will need a handheld magnifying glass to better appreciate them (with a knowledgeable local guide, of course). With my guide, I was able to appreciate not just the multitude of flowers swaying in the breeze but also the smaller, often camouflaged or hidden species. There are ground, toothbrush, tree, and comb orchids, and even flowers growing in pools of water on the plateau ranging in colour from white to yellow and even green!  

Wherever you walk on the Kaas Plateau, you will see a variety of gorgeous plants, shrubs, and flowers. Besides all the meadows of flowers, on my trip to Kaas in October 2023, I was greeted by a waterbody full of white flowers rising above green heart-shaped leaves. I thought they were a kind of lotus or waterlily, but they were “water snowflakes” known locally as kumudini flowers (Nymphoides indicum). The blooms were white with bright yellow centres with the stems rooted in the mud, allowing the plant to survive even after the pond dries up in the summer and resurfaces when the rains return.

One trip to Kaas, and you’ll be hooked, like a moth drawn to a flame, and you’ll be compelled to return again and again. Each trip will bring you a newer understanding and appreciation of the wonders of the plateau and the biodiversity of the Western Ghats.