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- HILL STATIONS |
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Munnar
: Munnar is a hill station, located
at an altitude of 1,600m. Munnar boasts the
highest peak in
south India 'Anamundi' 2695 meters high. Munnar
was the favourite summer resort of European
settlers for centuries. The name 'Munnar' means
'Three Rivers' and they are actually three
mountain streams, Muthirapuzha, Nallathanni
and Kundala, confluence at the heart of the
town, meeting all the water
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requirements
of the settlers and visitors. Sprawling tea plantations,
picture book towns, winding lanes and holiday
facilities make this a popular resort town. Among
the exotic flora found in the forests and grasslands
is the 'Neelakurinji'.
India's highest peak is little beyond Munnar.
Eravikulam National Park, the home of Nilgiri Tahr,
is in the vicinity. Tourists can have a glimpse
of Gaur, Langur, Lion-tailed Macaque, and Elephants
roaming in herds.The Kundale Tea Plantation, an
area surrounding a lovely lake, offers an opportunity
to see the tea plantations, to watch tea being
picked, to learn how tea is processed, to smell
the sweet scent of tea wafting through the air
and to buy the tea directly from the gardens.
Mattupetti : Situated at a height of 1,700m, Mattupetti
is famous for its highly specialised dairy farm,
the Indo-Swiss live stock project. Over 100 varieties
of high yielding cattle are reared here.
The Mattupetti Lake and dam, just a short distance
from the farm, is a very beautiful picnic spot.
The sprawling Kundala tea plantations and the Kundala
lake are other attractions in the vicinity. DTPC
Idduli provides boating facilities on the Mattupetty
Dam. Speed Launch and slow speed motor boats are
available on hire [ subject to availability ] |
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Idukki Devikulam Hill Station
Situated 16kms south-west of Munnar, is a small hill station Devikulam, which
means 'Pond of the Goddess', as it is believed that goddess Sita once, had
a bath in the pond near by and hence this place was named after it. This
place has a lot of natural beauty and many tourists come here to enjoy its
serenity. Devikulam is a dainty town. It consist of irresistibly green slopes
touching the sky at a thousand metres and its silent clusters of slender
red and blue gum trees. It has a lovely little lake hidden within the rolling
hills.
Peerumade Tea Plantation
On the way to Thekkady, Peerumade is a small hill station. It is a fertile
land at an altitude of 914 meters. Formerly the summer palaces of Travancore
Rajas this tiny and cool hill station is full of rubber, tea, coffee, pepper
and cardamom plantation, interspersed with waterfalls and open grasslands.
Anayirankal (tea plantation)
This is an ideal picnic spot with its bush green carpet of tea plantation.
A trip on the splendid reservoir is an unforgettable experience. The Tata
Tea plantation and evergreen forests surround the Anayirankal Dam. |
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Chithirapuram (Tea Platantation)
With its sleepy little cottages, bungalows, old play grounds and courts; Chithirapuram
still exudes an old world charm. Home of the Pallyvasal Hydel Power Project,
this hill town is also very famous for its picturesque tea plantations.
Kottayam
Grampi hill station The picturesque hill station of Grampi, situated 5 kms
from Peerumade is also known as the Parunthupara, meaning the eagle rock.
Pathanamthitta
Charalkunnu Hill station The picturesque hill station offers a panoramic view
of the nearby valleys. A camp house on the hill provides comfortable lodging.
Thrissur (Trichur)
Vilangakunnu 7 kms from Thrissur, Vilangakunnu is a beautiful little hill which
is a wonderful picnic spot. This spot is a feast for ones eyes with its natural
charm and serenity. |
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Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum)
Ponumudi (Hill Station)
An ideal little hill station, tucked away in the Western Ghats, Ponmudi is
at an altitude of 1100 feet above sea level. Lush Green woods, lazily meandering
streams and countless varieties of butterflies lend a strange magic to Ponmudi.
It is a panorama of pristine beauty cloaked in mist. There are several tea
and rubber estates around the hills. A hill tribe called Kannikkar lives
in the surrounding areas. Ponmudi is a fast developing hill station with
room and dormitory accommodation facilities, restaurants, hill trails for
hiking, a collection of hovering trees and deer park. Ponmudi is 61 kms from
Thiruvananthapuram and is easily reached by road from here.
Nelliampathy
A forest range 75 kms. (travel time: 2 ½ hours)
from Palghat, the Nelliyampathy hills comprise
a chain of ridges cut off from one another by valleys
of dense
evergreen forests and orange plantations The height of the hills range from
467 meters to the tallest peak Padagiri looming at 1572 meters.
Accessing Nelliyampathy from Palghat is a sensation
on its own, as you negotiate over a dozen hairpin
curves on the ghat road passing through the fascinating
jungles of the Sahya Ranges. En route, 17 kms. from
Palghat, the shimmering Pothundi Reservoir and its
manicured surroundings make for an ideal stop over.
Wayanad
Luxuriant plantations of coffee, tea, cardamom, pepper and rubber, stretch
over the hills of Wayanad as far as the eye can see.
With the fast-flowing rivers - Panamaram, Mananthavady and Kabini - cutting
across the undulating panorama and lending a picture-postcard look to the whole
region - the north eastern tip of Kerala.
Wagamon
Wagamon 64 km. from Kottayam and 34 km. from Pala, situated at an elevation
of 1100 meters above sea level is a trekker’s paradise. It is a very
ideal tourist spot surrounded by the greenery of tea gardens, beautiful meadows,
valleys and dales. Other attractions: Thangal para, lndo-swiss project, Kurisumala
Ashram. |
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Malampuzha Hill
Malampuzha is in the site of a large irrigation dam built across the longest
river in Kerala, the Bharathapuzha. It is set at the base of the hills of the
Western Ghats.
Beautiful gardens, amusement parks and facilities for boat cruises make
this an ideal picnic spot.
Other attractions are the rock garden, the fish-shaped aquarium, the snake
park, the ropeway which takes the tourist on an aerial tour of the park,
and the famous work Yakshi (an enchantress) sculpted by Kanai Kunjiraman.
The most interesting feature of the rock garden is that the whole place
is made of unwanted and broken pieces of bangles, tiles, used plastic cans,
tins and other waste materials.
The garden is a master work of sculptor Padmasree Nek Chand Saini. His rock
garden in Chandigarh is world famous and attracts thousands of tourists every
year
Lakkadi
A place of great scenic beauty with picturesque hills, streams and luxuriant
vegetation, one of the highest locations in Wayanad, and registers the second
highest degree of rainfall in the world. 3 km from here is Pookode Lake,the
natural fresh water lake, very wide and deep, one of the rare reservoirs of
water in Wayanad. Surrounded on all sides by meadows and hills, it has become
a favorite picnic spot.
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