Kallada River
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Kulathupuzha

Kallada River
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Kulathupuzha is a beautiful village situated in the eastern part of Kollam district of Kerala state, India. The town is covered by lush green forests adds to the scenic beauty of the place, being located on the Kollam – Shenkottai National Highway road, this place is around 62 km away from Thiruvananthapuram and 28 km away from Kadakkal, 19 km away from anchal and 64 km away from Kollam. Kulathupuzha is also known for the famous Sastha temple and the Thenmala eco-tourism, which has one of the most modern dairy farms located in Kulathupuzha (Indo-Swiss project) is around 9 km away.

The rivers Ithikara & Kallada originates from the Kulathupuzha hills, while the green dense forest is full with variety of exotic Myristica swamps and Rehabilitation Rubber plantation for Sri Lankan refugees. The weather stays warm, wet humid with cool mornings for most part of the year.

Places to visit:

Kulathupuzha Shasta Temple:

Kulathupuzha Shasta Temple
Image: @ Ajay Sekher

The locals say that the Shasta temple at Kulathupuzha was first built by Raja of Pandalam. In the later date, the idol at the temple was discovered by a Brahmin lad from the nearby town Kottarakkara, who began to worship it as per the customs and rituals. As a result of which this news reached to the King of Kottarakkara, who then ordered to construct a proper temple and hence the present day, Sastha temple turned into a famous pilgrimage centers of Hindus.

The temple worships Ayyappa as Bala Shastha or as a child. It is one of the four main centers of Ayyappa worship in Kollam district. The temple holds one of the finest style of ancient architecture of Kerala. The unique element of the temple is its main gate, which is crafted in the traditional style.

The alluring river Kallada flows besides the Shasta temple. The temple has a distinct norm to feed the fishes of the river, which is considered auspicious, resulting which the Mahseer fishes (tor khudree) gathers in horde and consumes the thrown food items such as peanuts and puffed rice. The fishes are really huge in size.

The main annual festival of the temple is performed on the Vishu day (mid-April) when thousands of devotees join a grand procession.

Kulathupuzha reserve forests:
The Kulathupuzha reserve forests are a division of southern reserve forests of Kerala. The forests stretch to about 1000 km2, and are classified as tropical, moist deciduous, semi-evergreen categories. A major portion of the forests have been cleared and utilized for cultivating plantations of acacia, teak and eucalyptus. Timber plantations are also done in Kulathupuzha, which is utilized by many industries of Kerala. One more attraction in the reserve is the Rock Wood estate, popularly known as ‘Rakoodu’ estate in the colloquial language.

High tech dairy farm:
The high tech dairy farm at Kulathupuzha is the first of its kind in the entire nation, established by the KLDB, the farm houses most advanced technological machinery to conduct all the activities concerned to dairy farm such as milking, feeding and shed management.

Bharatheepuram oil palm plantations:
The farm is about 38 years old, situated near the temple, is considered to be an important agricultural resource of the state.

Kattilapara:
The Kattilapara village is the perfect spot for trekking, wild life viewing and other adventure related activities conducted by Thenmala Tourism development society.

Nearest railway station: Punalur (PUU), about 31 km and Kollam (KLM), about 60 km away.

Nearest airport: Trivandrum International Airport, about 68 km away.

How to reach:
Roadways
Railways
Airways