Elaveezha Poonchira - Panorama from a Peak

Elaveezhapoonchira offers the loveliest panorama in the whole of Kerala, and perhaps in the entire Indian subcontinent.

Location

The main access to this unspoilt loveliness is by Thodupuzha-Puliyanmala road(SH-33). Thodupuzha is sixty Km away from Nedumbasserry, Kottayam and Ernakulam. By train, you can get down at Kottayam if you are coming from the South or at Ernakulam if you are coming from the North. Nedumbassery is the nearest air port, with flights to all the major cities in the world.

A twenty minutes drive by car or bus from Thodupuzha will take you to Kanjar, a tiny place on the State Highway. Another eight kilometres by jeep will take you to this celebrated spot of unparalleled scenic beauty.

Name

Legends say that, the Pandavas, while on enforced forest sojourn, reached the thickly vegetated Western Ghats, where in deference to the wishes of their wife Panchali, located a pond in which not a single blade of leaf fell to pollute the water. Elaveezhapoonchira literally means the pond of flowers in which no leaf ever falls. True to the legend, there are no trees around. Only grass and dwarf mountain palms grow in the peak.

The panorama

The nearly four-thousand feet Kudayathoor Mountain juts out into the midlands of Kerala from the system of mountains and peaks that run through its 700 kms length. Elaveezhapoonchira is the highest peak in this mountain. To the west the mountain slopes down gradually and breaks up into hills and heights and to the Eest it abruptly falls to the Kudayathoor basin. Towards the North the mountain loses height and merges to the midland plains. In short it stands majestically among low hills and fertile plains commanding a view of areas as far north as Trissur and as far south as Kollam. The Arabian Sea and the Vembanattu Lake can be seen with the naked eye. A pair of binoculars will reveal the populous towns that dot the coastline.

The most marvellous scene is the lake towards the East. A strip of blue waters fed by the tail waters of the Idukki Hydro Electric Project lies at the foot of the Mountain. All around is greenery of the supreme kind occasionally broken by a barren rock or rising church spire.

High speed winds sweep the area round the year and clouds race across the sky shrouding the peak during the Monsoon. Little streams noisily hurry down and strange birds watch you with inquisitive eyes. You are in a strange place, away from the busy and noisy life, in a place which is as it used to be for millions of years. Your worries and cares leave you as long as you are here, you feel perfectly at peace with the whole world.

No doubt, there is no other place like Elaveezhapoonchira.

Visit to this place in the beginning of South-West and North-East Monsoons may be risky since Poonchira is a lightning prone area


Here are some interesting photographs of Elaveezha Poonchira