Gavi is a village in

Pathanamthitta district Pathanamthitta District (), is one of the 14 districts in the Indian state of Kerala. The district headquarters is in the town of Pathanamthitta. There are four municipalities in Pathanamthitta: Adoor, Pandalam, Pathanamthitta and Thiruvalla ...

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. It is located 28 km southwest of

Vandiperiyar Vandiperiyar, , is a spice village in Idukki district, Kerala, India. It is known for tourism, tea and coffee plantations, black pepper and other spice products. A number of tea factories are situated in the town. The Periyar River flows throug ...

, a town in Idukki on N.H 220, the highway connecting Kollam and

Madurai Madurai ( , also , ) is a major city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the cultural capital of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Madurai District. As of the 2011 census, it was the third largest Urban agglomeration in ...

Getting there

Gavi is 14 km south west of Vandiperiyar, 28 km from Kumily, near

Thekkady Thekkady( Idukki district) is a town near Periyar National Park, an important tourist attraction in the Kerala state of India. The name Thekkady is derived from the word "thekku" which means teak. Temperatures are lowest in the months of Dec ...

. Gavi is inside the Ranni reserve forest. Gavi is a part of Seethathode

Panchayath The Panchayat raj is a political system, originating from the Indian subcontinent, found mainly in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. It is the oldest system of local government in the Indian subcontinent, and historical men ...

in Ranni

Taluk A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluka, or taluk) is a local unit of administrative division in some countries of South Asia. It is a subdistrict of the area within a district including the designated populated place that serves as its administr ...

. Gavi is part of the Periyar Tiger Reserve, and the route can be covered by car from Vandiperiyar. Gavi is well known as an

ecotourism Ecotourism is a form of tourism involving responsible travel (using sustainable transport) to natural areas, conserving the environment, and improving the well-being of the local people. Its purpose may be to educate the traveler, to provide fund ...

destination.Gavi EcoTourism Guide
/ref> The entrance fee is 25 rupees per person and 50 rupees per vehicle. Cameras are 25 rupees and video cameras are charged 100 rupees. Both day and night stays are available. Forest tent camping is available from November through March. . It has been said that most enjoyable route to Gavi is the way from Pathanamthitta. Botanists have said that "gopher trees" can be seen in Gavi, Kerala. Gavi's forest area, there are two gopher trees and they are believed to be the only two gopher trees in India. The tree, which is identified as gopher, is known as ''nirampalli''. Gopher wood or gopherwood is a term used once in the Bible. There is no consensus about what modern species is meant by "gopher wood". The tree standing at Gavi forest is of robust stem and lush foliage. According to state Forest Department officials, though the fully-grown gopher in Gavi is the only such tree sighted in the periphery of the jungle, possibly there could be more such trees still surviving in the inner forests of

Periyar Tiger Reserve Periyar National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary (PNP) is a protected area located in the districts of Idukki and Pathanamthitta in Kerala, India. It is notable as an elephant reserve and a tiger reserve. The protected area encompasses , of whi ...

(PTR) in Kerala. Gavi flower

Flora and fauna

Gavi's evergreen forests are abundant with wildlife including the

tiger The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is the largest living cat species and a member of the genus ''Panthera''. It is most recognisable for its dark vertical stripes on orange fur with a white underside. An apex predator, it primarily preys on ...

, elephants, leopards, bears, Indian

gaur The gaur (''Bos gaurus''; ), also known as the Indian bison, is a bovine native to South Asia and Southeast Asia, and has been listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 1986. The global population was estimated at a maximum of 21,000 m ...

, sambar,

barking Barking may refer to: Places * Barking, London, a town in East London, England ** London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, a local government district covering the town of Barking ** Municipal Borough of Barking, a historical local government dist ...

and mouse deers,

lion tailed macaque The lion-tailed macaque (''Macaca silenus''), also known as the wanderoo, is an Old World monkey endemic to the Western Ghats of South India. Characteristics Lion-tailed macaques are covered in black fur, and have a striking gray or silve ...

Nilgiri langur The Nilgiri langur (''Semnopithecus johnii'') is a langur (a type of Old World monkey) . This primate has glossy black fur on its body and golden brown fur on its head. It is similar in size and long-tailed like the gray langurs. Females have ...

, Nilgiri marten, Malabar giant squirrel and more than 250 species of birds.

Climate

Summer: February–April, daytime temperatures up to 28 °C. but can drop to 20 °C at night. Monsoon: June–August, daytime temperatures up to 25 °C but can drop to 10 °C at night.

Gallery

File:Malabar giant squirrel gavi.jpg, Malabar giant squirrel found in Gavi,Kerala File:Nilgiri langur gavi.JPG, Nilgiri langur gavi File:Malabar Giant Squirrel.JPG,

Indian giant squirrel The Indian giant squirrel or Malabar giant squirrel (''Ratufa indica'') is a large multi-coloured tree squirrel species endemic to forests and woodlands in India. It is a diurnal, arboreal, and mainly herbivorous squirrel. Distribution and ...

File:Gavi elephants.jpg,

Indian elephants The Indian elephant (''Elephas maximus indicus'') is one of four extant recognised subspecies of the Asian elephant and native to mainland Asia. Since 1986, the Asian elephant has been listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List as the wild po ...

near Gavi File:Gavi elephants 2.jpg, Indian elephants near Gavi File:Indian bison gavi.jpg, Indian bison (gaur) spotted in Gavi File:Lion Tailed Macaque in Periyar.jpg,

on the road from Vandiperiyar to Gavi File:Cleome (Spider Flower) in Gavi.jpg, '' Cleome hassleriana'' in Gavi

In visual media

The 1973 released Malayalam movie

Ponnapuram Kotta Ponnapuram is a village in the Dharapuram taluk within the Tirupur district of Tamil Nadu, India. Agriculture is the main occupation along with vegetable exporting and the generation of power using windmills. The village has a population ...

as filmed at Echopara and Gavi. The 2012 released Malayalam movie Ordinary was partially shot at Gavi. This film had garnered the true beauty of this tourist spot.

References

External links

{{Pathanamthitta district Villages in Pathanamthitta district