Kunnampidari Hill in Palakkad beckons travellers with delightful vistas

Kunnampidari, a lesser-known hill near Chittur, offers a bird’s eye view of Palakkad and Coimbatore districts, the lush green Parambikulam and Walayar, and the mesmerizing Nelliyampathy Hills from the hilltop is simply out of this world. It is quite interesting to note that the Kunnampidari Hills has a unique mountainous terrain that cannot be seen anywhere in Palakkad district.

Moreover, the area is blessed to receive copious rainfall both from Southwest monsoon and Northeast monsoon, and the water flowing from the Kunnampidari dam in the valley is used for irrigation purposes. Quarrying was rampant in the region 10 years ago but stone extracting activities were stopped following orders of the District Collector after the local residents lodged complaints against such work. And now quarry has become a pond.

The 6th mile, where the hill is situated, is 10km away from Chittur and 6km away from Kozhinjampara, if you are taking the Palakkad-Pollachi road. The Kunnampidari hill gives ringside view of the expansive Western Ghats and provides the golden opportunity to enjoy the beauty of the Palakkad mountain pass.

The Kunnampidari Hill is tucked away in the Palakkad Gap, which is the only low mountain pass in the entire 1,600kms of Western Ghats stretching from Kanyakumari to Gujarat.

The picturesque hill is situated in the middle of the narrowest Walayar-Chemmanampathy gap in the Palakkad mountain pass. The mountain pass, which is between the Nilgiri mountain and the Anamala Hills, is nearly 24 to 30km wide. It is worth noting that the region, where the hill is located, has a collage of Kerala and Tamil cultures.