Silent Valley National Park

Silent Valley National Park

   Silent Valley National Park is a wildlife paradise and boasts of lush green landscape and several wildlife species.Along with Mukhurti National Park and Karimpuzha National Park, Silent Valley National Park forms the core of Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve. Explored in 1847 by Robert Wight, the park remains one of the last undisturbed territories of south Western Ghats montane rainforests and tropical moist evergreen forests in the country.

              Environmentalists saved the rich ecological beauty of the National Park from destruction by protesting against the development of a hydroelectric power plant in the valley during 1970’s. On November 15, 1984, the area of the reserved forest was declared as a National Park.

                  The national park hosts over 1600 species of flora comprising mainly of evergreen and montane grasslands and over 858 species of fauna that includes 34 species of animals and about 500 species of butterflies and moths. It is also an excellent location for birdwatchers as the park is home to over 292 species of birds that include Nilgiri wood pigeon, blue winged parakeet, grey headed bulbul, white bellied blue flycatcher, broad tailed grass wabler, Nilgiri pipit, etc.

                  The lion tailed macaque is the most popular attraction in Silent Valley National Park. Nilgiri langur, mouse deer, gaur, fishing cat, stripe necked mongoose, panther, etc. are some of the other exotic wildlife species found in the park.Snake lovers, if they are lucky, can be treated to the sight of cobra, King cobra, viper, rat snake and many other species of the slithery reptile.

              The beautiful Kunthi River which descends from an altitude of above 2000 feet from the Nilgiris passes through the national park. It is home to 13 species of fishes.Located at altitude ranging from 658 to 2383 metres and surrounded by high mountains, Silent Valley National Park enjoys salubrious climate.Located in Kerala, Silent Valley National Park is also known as Indira Gandhi National Park. However, locals refer to it as Sairandharivanam (another name of Draupadi). According to Hindu mythology, Pandavas along with Draupadi had stayed in the region of Silent Valley during during their exile.

          

           The Silent Valley National Park with an area of 90 sq km is located in the Northeastern corner of Palakkad district. It rises abruptly to the Nilgiri Plateau in the North and overlooks the plains of Mannarkkad in the South. Extremely fragile, a unique preserve of tropical evergreen rain forests which is a veritable nursery of flora and fauna, some of which are found nowhere else in the world.

            The core of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve is the Silent Valley National Park. Despite its name, the Silent Valley (the clamour of Cicadas is conspicuously absent here) is a rich storehouse of biodiversity. It is a true Garden of Eden for students of life sciences, professional scientists and field biologists.

         Perhaps, nowhere else can one find such a representative collection of Western Ghats biodiversity - more than 1000 species of flowering plants which include about 110 species of orchids, more than 34 species of mammals, about 200 species of butterflies, 400 species of moths, 128 species of beetles of which 10 are new to science, about 150 species of birds including almost all the 16 endemic birds of southern India.

                The River Kunthi descends from the Nilgiri hills, from an altitude of 2000 m above sea level, and traverses the entire length of the valley and rushes down to the plains through the deep forest. The River Kunthi never turns brown and is always crystal clear, perennial and wild.The evapo-transpiration from these forests is much higher than from any other surface. This cools the atmosphere, helps easy condensation of water vapour, causing summer rains in the plains.