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Kerala is bestowed with a rich repertoire of natural bounty - mountains & hills, rivers & lakes, backwaters & shoreline. It is natural for Kerala to be home to many national parks and sanctuaries. The enchanting green forest with its rich flora and fauna makes Kerala a much sought after wildlife destination in India. The numerous national parks and wildlife sanctuaries of Kerala will add that extra bit of excitement when you holiday in Kerala.
Wynad Wildlife Sanctuary: The Wynad Wildlife Sanctuary is a must for tourists wishing to experience a bit of wilderness while on Kerala travel. A part of the Wynad Plateau, the Wynad National Park in Kerala is famous for its tigers and leopards along with the other wildlife that one can find during vacations in Wynad Wildlife Sanctuary.
Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary: The most renowned destination is the Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary at Thekkady, one of India's major sanctuary areas. The drive to Thekkady itself is enchanting as the road winds through tranquil countryside, rich plantations and thick jungles.
Silent Valley National Park: The Silent Valley contains India's last substantial stretch of tropical evergreen rain forests and it is perhaps the only vestige of a near virgin forest in the whole of the Western Ghats. Elephants, tigers, wild dog, flying squirrel and lion-tailed macaque are found here.
Thattekad Bird Sanctuary: This bird sanctuary is a peninsular land of 25 sq. km. Formed between the branches of River Periyar. The rivers are rich in fishlife and are shallow for most of the year. The avifauna includes both resting indigenous birds and water birds. The most notable of the indigenous birds are Malabar grey hornbill, grey jungle fowl, heron, egret, jungle myna, woodpecker, rose winged and blue winged parakeet. Rare birds like Ceylon frog-mouth, rose billed roller etc. are also seen.
Parambikulam Wildlife Sanctuary: Parambikulam has one of the largest population of gaur (bison). Sambar, spotted deer, jungle cat, lion-tailed macaque, common otter, sloth bear etc. are the other inhabitants. There are also a few tigers and leopards. Facilities for boarding and lodging are available at the sanctuary. There are forest rest houses at Thunacadavu, Thellikkal and Elathode. Motor transport and boat cruise can be arranged on request. The Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary of Tamil Nadu lies adjacent.
Idukki Wildlife Sanctuary: The sanctuary is situated just above the arch dam. An area of 70 sq. km. of forest land in between the Periyar and Cheruthoni rivers form an excellent habitat for wildlife. Elephants, bisons, bear, wild boars, sambar etc are found in this area. The lake on the three sides of the sanctuary offers a panoramic view to the tourists.
Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary: Proximity to Eravikulam National Park and Anamalai Wildlife Sanctuary in Tamil Nadu makes Chinnar rich in wildlife. This sanctuary is easily accessible from Udumalpet in Tamil Nadu and Munnar in Kerala.
Aralam Wildlife Sanctuary: Elephants, sloth bear, sambar, mouse-deer etc. are found in this sanctuary. It is also rich in avifauna and reptiles. This sanctuary is easily accessible from Kannur.
Peppara Wildlife Sanctuary: Peppara is accessible from Vithurai on Thiruvananthapuram - Ponmudi road. This sanctuary with its rich fauna and birds is emerging as a big attraction to wildlife enthusiasts. It is spread over an area of 53 Sq. km. on the
Western Ghats. This is dotted with large hills and numerous hillocks with forests and Eucalyptus plantations. Elephant, Sambar, Leopard and Lion tailed macaque are commonly seen.
Neyyar Wildlife Sanctuary: The Neyyar reservoir is easily navigable and extends 9.06 sq. km. The vegetation varies from tropical wet evergreen to grasslands. Agasthyakoodam of 1890 metres elevation is in this sanctuary. Elephants, gaur, sloth bear, Nilgiri Tahr, jungle cat, wild boar, Nilgiri Langur etc. are seen. A crocodile rearing centre, deer farm and lion safari park are the main attractions near the dam site.
Peechi-Vazhani Wildlife Sanctuary: It lies in the catchment areas of Peechi and Vazhani dams in Trichur District. Peechi, the headquarters of the sanctuary is 15 km by road from Trissur.
Nagarhole Wildlife Sanctuary: It is 40 km from Mananthavady. There are no bus services to Nagarhole from Mananthavady, only jeeps and trucks are available. There is a PWD Rest House, Forest Rest House and Forest Inspection Bungalow at Mananthavady. The reservation authorities are the District Collector, Waynad and the DFO, Mananthavady. There are also mid range hotels and an Indian Coffee House here. From Cannanore, Tellicherry and Calicut there are frequent buses to Mananthavady.
Silent Valley National Park: ISilent Valley National park is located in the Nilgiri hills, Palakkad district, Kerala, in South India. The area under this national park was historically explored in1847 by the Botanist Robert Wright, and is associated with Hindu legend.
The park is one of the last undisturbed tracts of South Western Ghats montane rain forests and tropical moist evergreen forest in India. Contiguous with the proposed Karimpuzha National Park to the north and Mukurthi National Park to the north east,
it is the core of the Nilgiri International Biosphere Reserve, and is part of the Western Ghats World Heritage Site, Nilgiri Sub-Cluster under consideration by UNESCO.
Plans for a hydroelectric project that threatened the parks high diversity of wildlife stimulated an environmentalist Social Movement in the 1970’s called Save Silent Valley which resulted in cancellation of the project and creation of the park is at Sairandhri.
The area is locally known as “Sairandhrivanam” literally, in Malayalam: Sairandhari Valley. In local Hindu legend, Sairandhri is Draupadi, the polyandrous wife of the five Pandavas, who disguised herself as Sairandhri, queen Sudeshna’s assistant, while they were in exile. The Pandavas, deprived of their kingdom, set out on a 13yr exile. They wandered south, into what is now Kerala, until one day they came upon a magical valley where rolling grasslands met wooded ravines, a deep green river bubbled its course through impenetrable forest, where at dawn and twilight the tiger and elephant would drink together at the water’s edge, where all was harmonious and man unknown. Beside that river, in a cave on a hill slope, the Pandavas halted.
The first English investigation of the watersheds of the Silent Valley area was in 1847 by the botanist Robert Wight. The British named the area Silent Valley because of a perceived absence of noisy Cicads.Another story attributes the name to the Anglicization of Sairandhri.A third story, refers to the presence there of many Lion tailed Macaques-Maccaca Silenus.In 1914 the forest of the Silent Valley area was declared a Reserve Forest, however, from 1927to 1976 portions of the Silent Valley forest area were subjected to forestry operations. In 1928 the location on the Kunthipuzha River at Sairandhri was identified as an ideal site for electricity generation and in 1958 a study and survey of the area was conducted and a hydroelectric project of 120MV costing Rs.17 crore was proposed by the Kerala State Electricity Board.
Silent Valley is home to the largest population of Lion tailed Macaque. Public controversy over their habitat led to establishment of Silent Valley National Park.In 1973 the valley became the focal point of “Save Silent Valley”, India’s fiercest environmental debate of the decade, when the Kerala State Electricity Board decided to implement the Silent Valley Hydro-Electric Project centered on a dam across the Kunthipuzha River. The resulting reservoir would flood 8.3square meter of virgin rainforest and threaten the endangered Lion –tailed macaque. In 1976 the Kerala State Electricity Board announced plans to begin dam construction and the issue were brought to public attention.
The Kunthipuzha River drains the entire 15km length of the park from north to south into the Bharthapuzha river.Kunthipuzha River divides the park into a narrow eastern sector of width 2kms and a wide western sector of 5 kms.The river is characterized by its crystal clear and perennial nature. The main tributaries of the river, kunthancholapuzha, Karingathodu, Madrimaranthodu, Valliaparathodu and Kummarthanthodu originate on the upper slopes of the eastern side of the valley. The river is uniformly shallow; with no flood plains or meanders.
Silent Valley gets copious amounts of rainfall during the monsoons, but the actual amount varies within the region due the varied topography. The mean annual rainfall ranges from over 5000mm in the Neelikal area in the west to around 3200mm on the eastern side of the park. The park being completely enclosed withing a ring of hills, has its own micro-climate and probably receives some conventional rainfall, in addition to rain from two monsoons. In general the rainfall is higher at higher alttitude and decreases from the west to east due to the rain shadow effect. Eighty percent of the rainfall occurs during the south-west monsoon. It also receives significant amount of rainfall during the north-east monsoon.
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