LAKKIDI
Tarzan Territory
By K G Kumar, Anurag Mallik & Sheila Kumar
Whatever was Outlook Traveller thinking of, sending a Mallu into the rainforests
during the rains? Well, it was inspired thinking. It proved that Kerala still holds
some surprises up her green sleeves that can get under the skin of even beauty-hardened denizens of God’s Own Country.
Almost every inch of the mist-wrapped undulating hills of Wayanad have coffee, pepper and cardamom growing on them, hedged by lush rainforest that stuns
the eye with its varied shades of green.
Wildlife truly roams free in Wayanad, whose forests share borders with
Bandipur and Mudumalai. This vast stretch of protected earth is a haven
of freedom for the fauna of Malabar and the Nilgiris. Add to that the relative
lack of development of Wayanad district, and you get lots of pristine
environment unblemished by the excesses of civilisation.
So if you’re sick of civilised courtesies and sham creature comforts,
head to the twin jewels of Vythiri and Lakkidi, tucked into the wild
beauty of the forests of Wayanad, across the state border in Kerala.
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