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.
Popularly
known as the Wyanad National
Park, the Muthanga National
Park is a popular wildlife
sanctuary located on the
Kerala hills and offers
a natural habitat to a large
number of wild animals.
The
Neyyar reservoir is easily
navigable and extends 9.06
sq. km. The vegetation varies
from tropical wet evergreen
to grasslands. The Agasthyakoodam
hill, 1890 metres high,
lies in the premises of
the sanctuary. Elephants,
gaur, sloth bear, Nilgiri
tahr, jungle cat, wild boar,
Nilgiri langur etc. are
seen.
The
Parambikulam Wildlife Sanctuary
located between the branches
of the Periyar river is
essentially a bird sanctuary.
Thickly forested with stands
of bamboo, sandalwood, rosewood
and teak, the sanctuary
has some marshy land and
scattered patches of grassland.
Parambikulam was once home
to some of south India's
finest stands of teak.
Peppara
Wildlife Sanctuary is composed
of the dense forests and
the Peppara dam built on
the Karamana River and was
declared as a sanctuary
in 1983 to increase the
drinking water supply to
Thiruvananthapuram and the
adjoining suburbs.
The
Periyar sanctuary offers
a lovely and comfortable
way to see the animals via
boat rides on the man-made
lake, which the wildlife
areas encircle. In addition
to the wild life, there
are water and land birds
galore here, and one can
sometimes find dedicated
bird watchers setting in
for one or two weeks of
serious observations.
The
forest has been named after
a tree called Chenkuruny.
The artificial lake formed
by the Parappar dam across
the Shenduruny and Kulathupuzha
rivers is at the centre
of the sanctuary.
