This little village is situated on the outskirts of Periyar Wild life Sanctuary in the Idukki district of Kerala, 15 kms. or half an hour excursion from its home town Kumily. Nestled in the unending chains of hills of the Western Ghats (1200 meters above from sea level) and the cool mountain air make Chellarkovil a perfect holiday retreat. Chellarkovil eco tourism cater to a number of community based eco tourism programmes of this region. The village slopes down to the famous coconut groves of Cumbum in neighbouring Tamil Nadu.
The ecotourism activities are envisaged to centre around at Chellarkovil Ecotourism Community centre. This land is vested with the Forest Department, Government of Kerala. Years ago this was an isolated barren land, had a bad reputation to host some anti social elements like smugglers, ‘moon shiners’, poachers etc. In the year 2005, the villagers submitted a project proposal to the Forest Department to constitute an environmental protection committee and got its sanction. After the achievement of basic organizational setup, arranged essential minimum funding from the State Eco tourism and Forest Departments, the project was inaugurated on 5th of May 2008 by the honourable Forest Minister for the State.
The facilities include a number of huts, a lovely watch tower, path ways, a herbarium of medicinal plants, a tourist amenity centre and an ecoshop. Adhering to the true concept of environment preservation and protection, the project got a head start right from its beginning. Raising the issues of environment protection in a very rural neighbourhood like this resulted to a paradigm shift in the mind set of many villagers.
The income generated through community eco tourism programs are utilized for the afforestation, environment protection and for the benefit of local farming community
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