The Club Munnar

Eravikulam national park is spread over an extensive area of 97 sq km along the crest of Western Ghats in the high ranges of Idukki district. Located 15 km from Munnar, it is one of most important tourist destinations in Kerala. The national park is managed by the Kerala Department of Forest and Wildlife, Munnar.

Most of the areas of the national park are consistent hill plateau. So, you can see only high rolling slopes here. The highest peak is Anamudi (2690m). The forests you see here are commonly known as ‘shoals’ – evergreen tropical and sub tropical moist broadleaf forest. You can locate small streams here, which later merge to form tributaries to Periyar and Chalakudy rivers. Lakkom waterfalls are located in this region.

In 1975 Eravikulam was declared as a wildlife sanctuary and then in 1978 it was given the status of a National park. The main motive behind this was to protect the rare Nilgiri Tahr and Hemitragus Hylocrious, which are common here. But now the park is home to numerous protected species of flora and fauna.

The national park is divided into three areas – the core area, the buffer area and the tourism area. In which, the Rajamalai is known to be the tourism area of the park. Here, the tourists are allowed to travel deep into the forest to explore the hidden beauty of the environment around. Private vehicles are not allowed inside. Only few mini buses are operated inside in order to control the environment pollution. The trips are organized by the forest department.

The park has a rare collection of varieties of trees and shrubs. You can find here climax grasslands. The sight of variety of orchids is one of the specialties of this park. Apart from Nilgiri Tahr, one can find around 26 different species of mammals at this park. A number of elephants, langur and marten can be found here. About 120 species of birds like black and ornage flycatcher, Nilgiri pipit, Nilgiri wood pigeon, white bellied shortwing and Kerala laughing thrush can be spotted at Eravikulam National Park.

Nestled inside the hills of Munnar and very near to the Anamudi peak lies Mattupetty, the hill station at a height of 1,700 m. Mattupetty is located 13 km away from Munnar. Here you can enjoy the greenish valleys and feel the fabulous climate around. The main attraction of Mattupetty is the dam and the lake here.

The dam of Mattupetty is a storage concrete gravity dam. The dam was constructed under the Pallivasal Hydro-electric project in the late 1940s, for the purpose of water conservation and power generation. Now the dam is a vital source of electricity generation in Munnar and also a haven for many wild animals and birds due to its constant water availability.

The most attractive part of Mattupetty dam is its still water which reflects the tea garden around. You can engage yourself with water sport activities like speed boating organized by district Tourism Promotion Council of Idukki (Munnar) and enjoy the pretty natural surroundings of this beautiful dam. Adventure lovers also have options here like trekking in the Shola forest.

In the midst of the hills, surrounded by the tea gardens, Shola forest and hilly woods lays a beautiful lake, just a few miles away from the Mattupetty dam. The serene ambience of the lake will take you to a world of peace. You have endless options – either you can go for boating in the lake or you can sit on the shore enjoying the tranquility here. Tourists can go for a speed boat, pedal boat, motor boat or row boat.

Mattupetty is also known as ‘cattle village’, the name which came from the famous Indo Swiss farm project or Livestock project. The project was launched in the year 1963 as part of the bilateral agreement between India and the Swiss government. You can see hundreds of varieties of high yielding cattle in this farm. The sight of the cattle grazing freely on the hills of the wide farm is a unique experience which any tourist can have ever in his life.

The farm is around three kilometer away from the Mattupetty Dam and is dedicated to cattle development and research centre set up by the Government of Switzerland. At present the project is handled by the Kerala Livestock Development and Milk Marketing Board.

The best time to visit Mattupetty is from the month of August to May and it is very easily accessible from Munnar town.

The misty hill station of Munnar located in Idukki district of Kerala is a tourist’s paradise that is blessed with a rich variety of exotic flora and fauna. SituatedSpice Shop about 1600 mts above sea level, Munnar is well known for its vast expanse of Neelakurinji flowers. It bloomed in the year 2006 and once again in 2009 and attracted large crowds to Munnar. Though the massive flowering happens once only in twelve years, the Neelakurinji blooms in small quantity, sometimes a few plants only, at places around Munnar such as Santhampara owing to the fact that different varieties of plants have different flowering cycles.The plant has a strange life cycle in that it dies after the once-in-twelve-year blooming phase. Botanists identified its periodic flowering as early in 1838. These belong to ‘Acanthecea family’.In facts there are different varieties of ‘Kurinji’, which flower at intervals between seven and twelve years, they say. This delicate shrub grows to the height of about two feet, and takes root on the poorer soils on steep grassland slopes.

The Nilgiris meaning Blue Mountains derives its name from the wild Neelakurinji flowers which during its flowering season, carpets the whole of the mist-clad hill ranges in a swathe of blue and beckons the tourists to experience the scenic beauty. Neela means blue in Malayalam language and Kurinji is the local name of the flower. Botanists state that there are about 300 species of this plant in several hues that bloom in 10 to 16 years and the legendary and most admired Neelakurinji is the best knownVanillaamong them. About 46 of them are found in India . Plants that bloom at long intervals like this is called plietesials. These are mostly found on the hills of high altitude. The main habitat of Neelakurinji is the hills surrounding Munnar which is in the Western Ghats. It has become a symbol of bio-diversity of the Western Ghats. This endemic species is also an indicator of the health of the ecosystem. It may well be claimed as flagship species of the mountains.