Shengaltheri, Kalakkad, Thirunelveli
Shengaltheri
is located in Kalakkad mountain area in Tirunelveli district. It is 14 Kms from
Kalakkad village. This area comes under Kalakkad Wild Life sanctuary. This
place is a popular picnic spot because of its natural beauty and salubrious
climate. Manimuthar originates here. The perennial waterfall is an added
attraction for tourists. In Shengaltheri, a Rest House and one Watch Tower
are the available accommodation facilities. There is another P.W.D. Inspection
Bungalow near the bus stop at the Junction. The nearest Railway stations
are Valliyur & Nanguneri. To go to Shengaltheri, prior permission has to be
obtained from Field Director, Kalakkad-Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve, Thirunelveli.
It is located
on a grassy region of the Western Ghats; it is surrounded by evergreen and
moist deciduous forest, grassland and Karumandiamman Falls that feeds
Pachchaiyaaru and Manimutharu. A stroll through the vast evergreen forests of
this locations could introduce you to a few real rarities of this region such
as lion-tailed macaque, brown mongoose, brown palm civet, Nilgiri marten,
Jerdon’s Baza and blue-eared kingfisher to name a few - species generally
restricted to mature, dense rainforest.
The
grasslands and deciduous forests offer better visibility and large mammals
including Indian gaur, Sambar and elephant herds are seen quite often and wild
dog and panthers are seen occasionally. A striking variety of arboreal animals
including flying lizards, gliding frogs, snakes, squirrels and primates are
among the other highlights of this magical location. You can relax in the
solar-powered guest houses being maintained by Department of Forest.
If you
are so lucky, an adventurous trek from Shengaltheri to Manjolai, another scenic
tourist spot with tea plantations via Netteriyankaal may introduce a few more
‘locals’ of this region – tiger, king cobra etc. This place was kept hidden
because of some un-proved believes. The people here believe that the place
Shengaltheri contains Diamonds hidden inside in it. But later on the false
believes ridden away as people started enjoying this place as a nature's
beauty.
Although
there were lots of rumors about this awesome tourist place, but till now this
has not been proved. Because of this reason Government of Tamilnadu always kept
this as secret to protect this place from the people who believes in this
rumors so that they won't cause harm to the wild life and the living things
those belongs to this forest. Now a day’s people started to coming to this
place just to enjoy the gift of the nature and its beauty as this place really
calms you down and makes you feel better. This is the speciality of
this awesome tourist spot.
And the
most interesting and too good feature in this place is that there is a Wooden
House for tourist peoples those who come there for staying or camping. The
above picture shows the extra ordinary view of the wood house. Shengaltheri
is located at about 14 Kms from Kalakkad. Kalakad is located at about 12 kms
West of Nanguneri, 37 Kms from Ambasamudram, 44 Kms from Thirunelveli, 135 Kms
from Thiruvananthapuram and 203 Kms from Madurai. Nearest Railway Station is
located at Nanguneri and Thirunelveli. Nearest Airport is located Madurai and
Thiruvananthapuram.