Kurinjimala Sanctuary

Kurinjimala Sanctuary protects about 32 hectares of core habitat of the endangered Neelakurinji, Strobilanthes kunthiana, in Kottakamboor and Vattavada villages of Devikulam taluk, Idukki district. Kerala's forest minister Benoy Viswam declared it at the Neelakurinji Fest in Munnar on 7 October 2006, the year a mass flowering drew nearly a million people to the area. Some historians believe the earliest hunter-gatherers of southern India lived on Kurinjimala.

Elephants, gaur, Nilgiri tahr and deer live here. The sanctuary links five protected areas: Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary to the north-west, the Manjampatti Valley to the north-east, Eravikulam and Anamudi Shola national parks to the west and Pampadum Shola to the south, with the proposed Palani Hills park to the east. The martial art of Silambam is said to have begun in these Kurinji hills, its name tied to a kind of bamboo from Kurinjimala.