Tourism and flora and fauna in munnar

Until the early 1990s, Munnar, despite its enchanting natural beauty and salubrious climate, had continued to remain a sleepy plantation town. Its tourism potential then was realised only by the Sterling Group and Mahindra Holidays. However, the promotion of Kerala globally as God's Own Country and the rapidly increasing spending capacity of middle class Indians has resulted in a virtual explosion of tourism activities in Munnar. Resorts, big and small,have started springing up all around the town and overnight the once sleepy town has became a bustling tourist destination. Many of the developments ; done by unscrupulous investors; have had a significant detrimental impact on the environment in munnar and the once romantic beauty of the "sleepy town of munnar" has over the years been significantly eroded. moreover the huge throng of domestic and foreign tourists in their buses and cars have added to pollution in munnar and stretched the town's infrastructure and service delivery systems to their limits.

earlier Most of the land around Munnar was leased out to planters and the only activity permitted on such leased land was plantation of cardamom. Ownership continued to remain with the Government and even cutting of trees on such leased land was prohibited. However, the recent development of resorts has resulted in large scale deforestation and violation of government regulations governing land use, forests and plantation cultivation. it ultimately came to a pass in 2007 when the Government sprung into action to demolish illegal resort constructions and tourism and to restore the beauty of the town.

irrespective of all this tourism has flourished over the years in munnar and important tourist activities include boating (in the reservoirs of the many dams), trekking, parasailing, hot air balooning and camping and wild life safaris in the jungles and sanctuary.

the presence of all these activities and more has ultimately led to Munnar becoming the choice destination for foreign as well as domestic tourists and one can see People from the nearby districts in Kerala and Tamil Nadu thronging the town during weekends

Flora and Fauna

Most native flora and fauna of Munnar have disappeared due to severe habitat fragmentation resultant from the creation of the plantations. However, many species continue to survive and thrive in several protected areas nearby, including the new Kurinjimala Sanctuary to the east, the Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary ,Manjampatti Valley and the Amaravati reserve forest of Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary to the north east, the Eravikulam National Park and Anaimudi Shola National Park to the north, the Pampadum Shola National Park to the south and the proposed Palani Hills National Park to the east. These protected areas are especially known for several threatened and endemic species including Nilgiri Thar, the Grizzled Giant Squirrel, the Nilgiri Wood-pigeon, Elephant, the Gaur, the Sambar, and the Neelakurinji (that flowers once in fifteen years)