built on coconut trees usually above ground level, right on the beach, during the fair weather (October–May) season. Sanvordem and Quepem towns have many small, functional hotels. Attached to the temples of Mashem, Mallikarjun and Zambaulim, rooms are available in Agrashalas ("Dharmashalas" or pilgrim-hostels), primarily for pilgrims. Wildlife Dolphin-watching and fishing trips attract visitors, especially British and Scandinavian visitors. The beach villages of Palolem and Agonda and the more deserted fort at the Cabo de Rama are developing as tourist destinations. The Cotigao Wildlife Sanctuary, Goa's second-largest wildlife sanctuary, is located within this district. Its terrain is fairly plain, with hills in the south and east. Much of the sanctuary is covered with dense forests, with a few open grasslands. Forest crown density is often over 50%. Some trees, Goa's loftiest, touch 30 metres. Villagers have reported sighting tigers, according to officials. Birds are aplenty; some two hundred species could be spotted, given time and patience. These include the Indian pied hornbill, large golden-backed woodpecker and the great Indian woodpecker. The Forest Department's scenic but simple rest-house is on the highway at Poinguinim, some 4 km away. Culture The Shantadurga temple at Fatorpa, resorted to by both Hindus and Christians, holds its Zatra (i.e., Rath-Yatra or Pilgrimage-festival) on the ninth day of the Hindu month of Margashirish. It falls in Goa's cool season, sometime in December–January. Huge crowds from all over Goa make their way to this small remote village in the district of Quepem, some 5 km from Cuncolim. During the Zatra, a tall, intricate, decorated, three-tiered wooden chariot (rath), into which the idol of the deity is placed, is and drawn by male devotees in a night procession. Goa has a range of syncretic practices, where both Hindus and Christians worship at each other's shrines. Nearly every Goan Christian can trace ancestral roots to Hindu ancestors about five centuries ago. The Hindu priests of the Shantadurga temple know many Goan Christian families by name, because they come to the festival yearly and donate money or goods. American anthropologist Dr Robert S. Newman conducted detailed studies on this place and its phenomenon of syncretism. The Shantadurga temple was originally in the village of Cuncolim, located in the consuelho of Salsette a few kilometers away, but was relocated across the then 'international boundary' into the Kingdom of Soonda when the Goa government expelled the Hindus and ordered their shrines demolished.