Destination Description

Periyar National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary is a protected area near Thekkady in the districts of Idukki, Kottayam, and Pathanamthitta in Kerala, India. It is notable as an elephant and tiger reserve. The protected area covers an area of 925 square kilometres and out of this, an area covering 350 square kilometres of the core zone was declared as the Periyar National Park in the year 1982. It is a renowned national park in South India and the sanctuary is a very good example of nature's bounty with natural scenic beauty and rich biodiversity. The park is also adorned with a picturesque, artificial, 100-year-old lake at the heart of the sanctuary in Thekkady.

Detailed Description

Periyar National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary are known for its wild elephants and thickly established Western Ghats forests. Most of the valleys of Periyar contain tropical evergreen forests with extremely thick tree cover that hardly any sun-rays get penetrated. The trees here are fully grown with amazing heights of up to 130-140 feet. Some of the areas in the park contain marshy grasslands near the edges of the lake and other water bodies. The Periyar wildlife sanctuary can be divided into four categories out of which one is the open grasslands having fire-resistant vegetation and a variety of grasses including elephant grass which is a common grazing place of herbivores from Barking deer to the Elephant. Another category is the deciduous forest type dominated by trees like teak and Terminalia that shed their leaves seasonally while a third category is a semi-evergreen forest that is used as cover by many of the animal species. Close to it is the tropical forests with wet, stream areas and the sholas or tropical evergreen jungle where tigers and King Cobras are found in the valleys. This area of the dense forest allows only a limited stream of sunlight to pass through the moist and dark corridors. At present, the reserve houses a number of Tigers and hundreds of Elephants, and this rich jungle with its beautiful biodiversity attracts visitors throughout the year.