Arippa Ecotourism

The Sastha temple on the Kollam–Shencottai road where the god is Bala Sastha, the child, and the river alongside is full of protected fish the devotees call Thirumakkal — the sacred children of the lord. Feeding them puffed rice, meenoottu, is the temple’s characteristic offering and fishing is prohibited outright; one of the two species present, Hypselobarbus thomassi, is critically endangered and endemic to the Western Ghats. Named in every published version of the Pancha Sastha. Three 15th-century sculptures from here are in the Napier Museum, Thiruvananthapuram.

The Parappar dam across the Kallada river at Thenmala, built for irrigation — the reservoir behind it is the water the eco-tourism area is built around, and the catchment upstream is Shendurney sanctuary.

Eco-tourism area with forest walks, dam views and adventure activities.

Twenty Forest Department programmes in the Shendurney Wildlife Sanctuary — walks of one to six hours, a dawn birding trail, boat and vehicle safaris and four camps — booked at the wildlife office at Thenmala. Rates are per group and include 18% GST.

A protected evergreen forest in the Agasthyamalai Biosphere Reserve east of Thenmala, named for the Chenkurinji tree and centred on the Parappar reservoir.

Guided trekking trails at Thenmala, billed as India’s first planned eco-tourism destination, through the Shendurney forests and dam catchment in Kollam.

A monolithic rock-cut cave temple near Anchal/Kadakkal in south Kollam, carved with a Shiva shrine.

A short drive linking the named temples around Chadayamangalam: the Kottukkal rock-cut cave, the four-temple complex around one pond at Kadakkal, and the sacred groves, serpent shrine and kalari shrine of the surrounding belt.

The rock outcrops and open high ground around Chadayamangalam, looking over the country between Kollam and the ghats — the landscape the Jatayu sculpture sits in, seen from ground level and without a ticket. The bare domes here are crystalline basement rock, not the laterite that mantles the ground between them.

Hilltop sculpture park and viewpoint at Chadayamangalam, home to the world’s largest bird sculpture, reached by cable car.

A valley settlement inside Shenduruney Wildlife Sanctuary, reached by 11–15 km of forest road from Aryankavu, with a ticketed Forest Department viewpoint, a departmental safari and guided walks beyond the village.

Tall forest waterfall near the Aryankavu side of the Western Ghats, reached by forest shuttle from the highway.