Brief about Chingavanam the ”Lion Forest” in God's Own Country.

Brief about Chingavanam”Lion Forest”

•Chingavanam is located in Nattakom panchayat, Kottayam District. It is the biggest town in Nattakom panchayat which is the largest panchayat in kerala. Just 8 KM from Kottayam town & 8.5 KM Distance from Changanachery Town, it is away from the hustle & bustle of the cities. The place is about 8.5 km from Changanacherry on the Adoor -Kottayam MC Road. Legend has it that the name Chingavanam is derived from “Simhavanam”. Hence the name “LION FOREST”.It is near to Kurichi. Kurichi is 2.5 KM from Chingavanam.
•St John’s Catholic Church is a main attraction of Chingavanam. St John's Dayro is located here.
•Dakshina Mookambika Saraswathi Temple, Panachikkadu is just 3.5 km from Chingavanam.
•Many industries such as Kingsway Rubber Products Pvt. Ltd. and Kelachandra Iron and Steel Works, etc, which are processing rubber, function at Chingavanam.
•Travancore Cements Ltd (TCL) and Travancore Electro-chemicals Industries Ltd (TECIL) and 671 small-scale industries are functioning in & around Chingavanam.
•The town has a rich forest wealth near by with good availability of softwood and other varieties of timber providing raw material for a number of small enterprises in the production of plywood, packing cases, splints, veneers and furniture.
•Government Polytechnic College functioning just 3.5 KM from Chingavanam,
•Saintgits College of Engineering just 3 KM from Chingavanam is a new generation engineering college setup under the aegis of Saint Gregorios Institute of Technology and Sciences.
•Kurichy Homeo College - Swami Athura Das of Kurichy in 1955 started Homeo Hospital and in 1958 the first Homeo College in Kerala was started in Kurichy just 2 Km from Chingavanam. In 1979 he handed over the college to NSS. Later the hospital was given to Central Government. Now it is the Central Homeopathic Research Institute and the most famous Homeo College in Kerala.
•There is a railway station at Chingavanam on the Kollam-Kottayam rail route.

Climate in Chingavanam
Chingavanam has a tropical climate as the rest of Kerala. Hence there are no distinct seasons in the area. Humidity is high and rises to about 90% during the rainy season. Mostly pleasant climate as Chingavanam is a relaxed place full of coconut groves, lush green paddy fields, highlands, hills and hillocks, extensive rubber plantations and densely planted trees. Chingavanam gets rain from two monsoon seasons, the south-west monsoon and the north-east monsoon. The average rainfall is around 1600 mm per year. The south-west monsoon starts from June and ends in August. The north-east monsoon is in October-November. December, January and February are cooler, while March, April and May are hotter. The highest temperature recorded here was 35 °C (6 April 1998) and the lowest was 16 °C (13 December 2000).