There are many places in the world that help people to enjoy their awesome leisure days with their dear ones. Can anyone tell which the most difficult task is for a person in the world? Is it to climb to the top of the mountain or to practise all kinds of adventurous activities? The answer may vary from person to person but for me, the answer is really something different. According to me the most tedious task in the universe is to explore the magnificent beauty of all the serene places situated in various corners of the world. The almighty Lord created the audacious planet in such a beautiful manner that we really hesitate to travel from one scenic place to another. It is my lifetime dream to enchant the audacious beauty of surreal nature glowing in various dimensions of the world. But due to financial constraints, I am always forced to postpone my dreams and wishes. It does not mean that I do not travel to fabulous places near to my hometown, Bangalore. In fact, I am a travel enthusiast and love to discover the beguiling beauty hidden in the nook and corners of the destination. At least twice or thrice I used to visit the unexplored beguiling tourist places in India either alone or with my close friends and cousins. Each time I used to enjoy the scintillating beauty of the marvelous places situated in my state. But this time I thought of witnessing the gorgeous beauty of the neighboring state called Kerala. Even though I am not so fluent in Malayalam I knew many salient features of the state through my Malayalee friends. As I am an adventure enthusiast my friends always used to tell me that I should definitely visit Kerala, because it is the only place where one could dig out immense opportunities to practise enthralling games. As I am not familiar with the state and the language I decided to avail of tour packages from Gogeo Holidays. I came to know about Gogeo Holidays from one of my friends who recently purchased their packages at cheap prices. Along with me two of my close friends also accompanied me to ‘god’s own country’.
Encompassed with 14 scintillating districts the mind-blowing beauty of Kerala could not be described in singular words. Our itinerary was mainly concentrated on the southern parts of Kerala especially Kollam district. Kollam is actually known to be ‘home of varied species of cashew nuts’. Not only is the district blessed with immense beauty and irreplaceable resources of nature but also well-renowned with excellent hospitality services. Due to its outstanding hospitality services, Kollam district is being adorned with a tagline such as ‘Kollam kandal illam venda’ which means ‘If you explore Kollam district and enjoy its hospitality services; you would definitely never return to your hometown’ in colloquial language. The tour package was for 2-3 days and we explored all the major tourist destinations. Among the several places, Kulathupuzha forest range attracted me a lot.
Kulathupuzha, located on the eastern sides of the capital city called Thiruvananthapuram is known to be a fusion of rubber plantations and dairy farms. To allure the stupendous beauty of the emerald places hundreds of travellers arrive in the region by purchasing the tour packages to Kerala. It is not the first destination we were visiting in Kerala. Actually the moment we stepped into the state we practised the various forms of adventurous events by visiting the breathtaking places and hills stations. As we were really tired we thought of exploring a scenic place where we could unwind and revitalize. Therefore, it was our tour guide you took us to Kulathupuzha forest range. Spread in an area of 1000 sq. km Kulathupuzha attracts hundreds of nature lovers every year. The forest range is known to be home to various types of trees such as wet evergreen, semi-evergreen and moist deciduous trees. Some of the trees are cultivated with an aim to enhance the industrial sectors. Teak, eucalyptus and sandalwood and so on are known to be perfect instances for the same. What makes the forest range so popular across the nation is due to the presence of Myristica Swamps. These freshwater species are rarely seen in India. The Himalayas are the other place where one could in large numbers. It is always seen that when there is a forest obviously a sanctuary or national park would be located associated with it. Shenduruny wildlife sanctuary is the mind-blowing wild home situated next to the Kulathupuzha forest range. Over there we are able to enchant the beauty of the unseen and endangered species of wild animals and birds. In fact, our camera was filled with amusing images of flora and fauna and also we did not forget to click our group photographs with the surreal nature as the backdrop. The forest also shelters some rare and precious medicinal plants belonging to various species in a small area and named it as Sanjeevani.
After exploring the incredible beauty of the emerald surroundings we moved to Kulathupuzha dairy farm. As mentioned earlier, Kulathupuzha shelters one of the largest dairy farms in the state. The farm was constructed as part of the Indo-Swiss project and over there the employees use modern equipment for the functioning of the dairy farm. We concluded the Kulathupuzha exploration by visiting the Sastha temple. The temple experiences a large number of devotees during Vishnu Mahotsavam in the months of April and May. Followed to it we visited the Jatayu rock and enjoyed the panoramic beauty of the lush green environment. After enjoying the resplendent beauty of Kollam we packed our bags and returned to our hometown.