Idukki

The High Range of Idukki attracted Scottish planters in the 19th century and they left behind some bungalows in an around Munnar, which are quite notable for their architectural beauty. Perhaps the most visible one to the tourists is Ladbroke House,which is named after the Ladbroke Square in London. The Trout, coniferous trees and dark green planter's cap are all contributions of those planters. Quite interestingly, Munnar had railway lines almost a century back! This started from the KDHP office at Munnar and extended up to Top Station near the Tamil Nadu border. The torrential rain and storm of 1924 destroyed the major part of the rail system and the Mattupetty dam still has the remains of the rail lines. Quite few of the rails are used as electric posts in Munnar. KDHP's tea factory has one of the wheels of the locomotives being kept there.Idukki has the largest arch dam in India, the Idukki Dam, constructed for the Idukki Hydro Electric Power Project in 1969 with the cooperation of the Canadian Government. This single project powers almost half of the entire state and some parts of neighboring states. Mattupetty Dam is also here.

Idukki has many unique topographical and geographical characteristics. Idukki is the largest District of Kerala with an area of 5105.22 sq.km. About 97 percent of the total area of the District is covered by rugged mountains and forests. There is only a strip of Middle land (3%) in the western part of the district. Low land area is totally absent in the district. More than 50% of the area of the district is covered by forest.The climate in the district undergoes a sudden variation as we go from West to East. The western parts of the distirct comprising midland area experiences moderate climate, temperture varying between 21degree C to 27degreeC with minimum seasonal variation.

Agriculture is the main occupation of the people in the District. Dairy is the main supplementary source of income of the farmers in the district. Recently, floriculture, mushroom cultivation, medicinal plants, vanilla cultivation etc., are being taken up by some progressive farmers / women in the district.

The main animals are Elephant, bison, sambar deer, wild dog, jungle cat, tiger, wild boar etc and birds are Jungle fowl, myna, laughing thrush, black bulbul, peafowl, woodpecker, kingfisher etc