India countryside

First and foremost, south India is a country of tea estates:







Next to tea, cardamom plantations were most plentiful in the corner of India that we visited:


Cardamom seeds grow at the base of the plants. Here they are being dried:




This might look like a small park, but notice the fence with the barbed wire and how geometrically the trees are planted. This is actually a sandalwood plantation. (The wood is so valued that we've seen wild sandalwood trees in the national park being individually guarded at night against poachers.)


Black pepper:


Coffee plantation:


Papaya tree:


Bonus points to anyone who can guess this one :)


Jackfruit:


Workers at the cardamom plantation:


Abandoned house in one of the national parks:


Finally, a common sight throughout the trip: a grazing cow, accompanies by a black drongo and a white egret: