Wayanad tourism offers excellent wildlife viewing, an insight into tribal culture evocative of earlier centuries, trekking and other adventure actitivies, and a wide variety of remote monuments. Half of Kerala’s nearly 4,00,000 tribal population live in the district of Wayanad.
From here, one can visit the Neolithic cavesite of Edakkal, with fascinating prehistoric rock etchings found on the walls of these caves. These carvings speak of a highly civilized people of pre-historic age. The Wayanad Wildlife sanctuary is rich in flora and fauna. Elephant, spotted deer. Bison, tiger, cheetah, wild bear etc. can be spotted here.
Wayanad, the panoramic hill of malabar in the northern Kerala, situated above the sea level ranges between 700 meters to 2100 meters, is a homeland of various tribal communities. They can be prominently classified into the Paniyas, Adiyas, Kurichiyans, Kurumbas and others.
These hill tribe people follow their own interesting tradition and culture.They worship animals, birds, trees, rock hillocks and snakes. They are firm believers in black magic and sorcery. They also worship their ancestors, along with worshipping Hindu deities. These indigenous people choose their life partners from their tribe itself. When a person dies they believe that the soul of the good become gods and that of the bad become devils.
They play the flute and drum during their festival occasions. The "Uch-alkali" fete is played in the month of February. Some men dance while some beat the drums and read the flute. An old man in the group performs rites to their deity Bettu Chikkamma. Women are not allowed to participate in theses ceremonies.They are also skilled potters, with their women folk chiefly involved in this task. Baskets and mats of various types with reeds and bamboo and hand made pots are manufactured by them.
