Not all of India’s spectacular/audacious/dangerous mountain roads are Himalayan.
There are several “jaw-droppers” that grant relatively easy road access to “hill stations” in the Western Ghats.
The photo was taken from circa one third of the way up the road to Valparai, in Tamil Nadu.
If you look closely at the red sign on the hairpin bend immediately below the one our bus was navigating at 1.14 pm on 27 February 20023, you can see that the sign refers to #11 of 40 hairpins!
More recent improvements/repairs have slightly upped their number.
There are now 42 consecutive hairpin bends; reportedly, the original, unsealed, “only 40” version was one of India’s most difficult road building efforts.
In the upper, rainforested, notably cooler section, the numbered signs are newer, and each one refers to “#whatever of 42”.
We were not able to stop, and I dislike poor photos taken through the tinted windows of a corkscrewing vehicle.
So, you’ll just have take my word that on our way up – and on our way down, two days later – we did see Nilgiri Tahr, right by the road.
South India’s only mountain ungulate is a beautiful, agile, endangered goat; click here for photos and info.