|
Nature lovers have a good feast and reason to visit Kerala's famous wildlife sanctuaries rich with animal life and rare herbals.
Eravikulam national park
This sanctuary was set up especially for the preservation of Nilgiri Tahr, one of the seriously endangered animals. Now the number of tahrs has increased and they constitute the largest known population of tahrs existing in the world. In addition to Tahr, the park shelters elephants, sambars, gaurs, lion-tailed macaque, Nilgiri langur, tigers and leopards
Accommodation and board facilities are available at Munnar, the nearest town, which is connected to Kottayam (148 km.) and Ernakulam (130 km.) by road. There is a motorable road upto Rajamally. Further, travel is on foot, but the trekking is really enjoyable.
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.
Vehicular traffic is allowed upto Mukkali from Mannarghat. From Mukkali one has to cover at least 24 km on foot to reach the source of river Kuntipuzha, which flows through the valley.
Periyar Wildlife sanctuary
Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary, one of the largest wildlife reserves in India, it occupies 777 sqkms of the Cardamom Hills region of the Western Ghatts. it is the natural habitat of elephant, bison, spotted deer, sambar, bear etc. Colourful variety of birds like the Malabar Grey Hornbill, Grey jungle fowl and the Jungle Myna are seen.
Thattekadu 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, wood pecker, rose winged and blue winged parakeet. Rare birds like Ceylon frog-mouth, rose billed roller etc. are also seen.
Parambikulam Wildlife sanctuary
Parambikulam is endowed with luxuriant vegetation. It has one of the largest population of gaur (bison). Sambar, spotted deer, jungle cat, lion-tailed macaque, common otter, sloth bear etc. are also seen. There are also a few tigers and leopards.
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.
|
|