Thenmala located in the southern most corner of India in the state of kerala most oftenly punchmarked as "Gods Own Country" and this beautiful small state is visited and admired by a lot of tourist form all corners of the globe,and this state was among the must see destination according to Geographic Traveller.

Talking about the destination it is situated in Kollam dist of Kerala and forms a part of Agasthaya Biosphere Reserve flanked by Shenduranay wild life Sanctuary where a boating facility is availabe for the tourist.

Taking about the genesis the word THEN in malayalam {the local dialect in kerala} means honey and MALA means mountain which all together gives the meaning as honey combed mountains, and it has been told that the money extracted from this mountains and valleys are of good quality and carry high medicinal value.

On the other hand Thenmala is also rich in forest product which is a livlihood for the locla people.Shendurany as we use to call because of a particular tree which is called Chenkurany which is available there.

The present Eco Tourism destination Thenmala has three important zones such as Cultural zone, Adventure zone and Leisure zone most of the tourist are youth and nature lovers cultural zone provides the tourist with dancing fountain show,lazer show and doucmentary showand nature related information.

The adventure zones gives the youth some challenging activities like Jummering,River crossing,Trekking,Jungle camp etcThe leisure zone is for the grown up where they can just relax and have a brisk walk through the canopy and can have a glimpse of the biosphere the elderly find pleasure in boating in the Shendurany river, battery vehicles are operated inside the sanctuary to protect the flora fauna.

Recently three important new measures has been taken by making a new form of forest called the Nakshatravanam {star forest} where a specific trees according to once own zodiac sign is being planted and protected for the tourist to have a glimpse.

A deer rehabilitation center is also operated there and Asia's first butter fly park is situated there in Thenmala making home for more than 500 species of butterfly. The Thenmala eco tourism project is being highly benefiting locla people staying in and around thenmala thus fulfilling the aim of eco tourism.


tags: Environment, Tourism, Nature, Eco Tourism, Thenmala, green travel, ecotourism