Sunday, May 17, 2009

Parambikulam Wildlife Sanctuary

Kerala is home to many popular National Parks of India.Parambikulam Wildlife Sanctuary is one of the National Parks in Kerala spread over an area of 285 sq. kilometers. The Parambikulam Wildlife Sanctuary is laid with serene vegetation in a valley between the Annamalai ranges of Tamil Nadu and the Nelliampathy ranges of Kerala.

Parambikulam Wildlife Sanctuary

This National Park in Kerala offers a scintillating sight of rare wild animals. The area has quite a few hill tribes here like Malayars, Kadas, and Muthuvaas. This wildlife sanctuary has some marshy land and scattered patches of grassland, thickly forested with stands of bamboo, sandalwood, rosewood, and teak. Here you can find little remains of the original teak forests, other than the famous Kannimari teak tree, the largest in Asia as teak plantations. The tree is about 5 km from Thunakadavu, and is one of the prime attractions at the Parambikulam Wildlife Sanctuary.

On your tour to Kerala you can visit the Parambikulam Wildlife Sanctuary, which has the largest population of Gaurs (bison). It is also a home to elephants, sloth bears, wild boars, sambhars, chital tigers, panthers, and crocodiles. There are also bonnet macaques, spectacled cobras, kraits, vipers, turtles, darters, little cormorants, and black eagles. Parambikulam is open throughout the year, but is best avoided during the monsoon. Between June and August, the monsoon rains lash, making hillsides unstable and causing slush, mosquitoes, drippy roofs and other nuisances.

On your tour to Kerala you can enjoy a ride in the boat cruises, which can be arranged in the Parambikulam Wildlife Sanctuary. The Rest House of the State Forest Department at Thunakkadvu, Thellikkal, and Elathode offer comfortable lodging facilities. A tree house in the Reserved Forest area in Thunakkadavu has to be booked in advance. There are two watchtowers one at Anappadi, 8km from Thunakadavu, and other at Zungam, 5km from Thunakadavu.

How to get there

Air: The nearest airport is Coimbatore, 55 kms.
Rail: The nearest railway station: Palakkad, 125 kms

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