Vagamon Tourism

Vagamon is a hill station located in Idukki District at the border of Idukki and Kottayam districts of Kerala State, India. Situated at a height of about 3500 feet above sea level, the temperature of Vagamon varies between 10 and 25 degree Celsius. By virtue of its cool and pleasant climate, Vagamon is an ideal tourist destination throughout the year. Vagamon has been identified as the best eco-tourist destination in India by the Tourism Department of Kerala and National Geographic Traveler has listed Vagamon, on it's directory, as one of the 50 most attractive places to visit in India.

Vagamon is about 100Km from Kochi (Formerly Cochin), the nearest airport and 60Km from Kottayam , the nearest railway station. It is easily accessible by road from Kottayam or Cochin. Nearby tourist attractions like Kumarakom Bird Sanctuary, Elaveezhapoonjira in Kottayam District, the Hill stations at Munnar and Kodaikanal are accessible by road from Vagamon.

Still not commercially fully exploited, this sleepy town with its scenic valleys, beautiful green meadows, enchanting pine forests, tea estates, mists, fogs, waterfalls and a very pleasant climate is an ideal getaway for tourists. The landscape is mostly bald hills with green meadows. Vagamon is also home to a large variety of flowering plants and orchids. With a chain of three hills namely 'Thangalpara', 'Muruganmala' and 'Kurisumala' which beautify the hill station, Vagamon has facilities for rope gliding, kayaking, boating, trekking, paragliding, mountaineering and rock climbing.

Geography
Vagamon is located at an altitude over 1100 meters in the wind direction of the Western Ghats. The geography is high inaccessible terrain that slowly descends to the plains of Western Ghats. This uniqueness add to the heavy down pour received during the monsoon months ,which is reflected in the trees and plants that grow here though a lot of it is lost over the years as clearings in the name of agriculture. The constantly washed off top soil inhibits the growth of big species of trees and the region Is meadows of rolling grass hills that might remind of ‘Scotland’, the comparison often made by travellers.

History
Vagamon was well hidden from the outside world until the arrival of British who in an effort to secure more fertile lands for their cash crop cultivation where interested in the interior high lands away from the sea coastal competition. The original inhabitants of these regions were tribals who lived worshipping the nature gods and causing little or no harm to nature in their way of life which was mainly that of a hunter gatherer and migrating farmer.
When the British arrived they used the tribals to clear the forest for the cultivation of cash crops such as tea, coffee, rubber and spices which fetched great prices in the European market. This greatly contributed in the demise of local species of plant and animals due to exploitation.