From April 14 to 16, we went on a family trip to Munnar. We stayed in Anachal and went to nearby places. I have added observations from this trip.

Highlight is Cricula moths which were in abundance near the hotel we stayed. Racket tailed Drongo wasn't shy to catch one when I was photographing the moth in close quarters!

One worrying observation about the Idukki district in particular is the abundance of resorts, homestays, hotels and the likes. Already the pristine shola forests are replaced by Tea, Cardamom and Cocoa monocultures, and now these hugely growing tourism industry with no foresight on the ecological issues they pose are only making things worse in Idukki which was one of the main victims in Kerala floods and landslides. I don't think Kerala tourism has a complete control over these "homestays" in the middle of Sholas and cardamom plantations; Do they have proper permits? Do they pay their taxes or are these homestays just a side job for the owners?

Kerala government needs to check these rapidly growing hotel industry in the forests and try to strike a balance between Forests and Tourism.

Posted on April 18, 2022 04:39 AM by amarbharathy