Anamalai Tiger Reserve

The park is named after former Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi who visited the park on 7 October 1961. The main tourist facilities are located in the northeast corner of the park at "Topslip", so named because of the local 19th century practice of sliding timber logs down the hills from here.[5]

By the mid-1800s, large tracts of Valparai plateau in the Anamalais were under intense tea or coffee plantations after deforestation of the natural forests. By 1866 two-thirds of the plantations were owned by Europeans and the remaining by Indians from coastal towns. Since most native inhabitants either refused to work or were inefficient workers, labour for plantations was brought from the plains of Tamil Nadu to clear forests and grow coffee.

Some parts of the forest however were reserved for timber including large areas around Top Slip. This part of the Western Ghats, under the Bombay Presidency were exploited extensively for teak which was supplied to the Bombay Dockyard for shipbuilding and later for railroad ties.[6]

In 1855, this area came under sustainable forest management for teak plantations by the pioneering efforts Douglas Hamilton and Dr. H. F. Cleghorn of the new Tamil Nadu Forest Department. In the early 1900s, protection of the Karian Sholas was also ensured (Johnsingh 2006a).[7]

The area was notified as Anaimalai Wildlife Sanctuary in 1974. of its unique habitats at 3 places – Karian Shola, Grass hills, Manjampatti Valley were notified as a National Park in 1989. The 108 square kilometres (42 sq mi) National Park is the core area of the 958 square kilometres (370 sq mi) Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary.[1] IGWS was declared a Project Tiger tiger reserve in 2008.

The Park and the Sanctuary is under consideration by UNESCO as part of The Western Ghats World Heritage site.[8] The Sanctuary and the Palni Hills in Dindigul District form the Aanaimalai Conservation Area.[9]

The sanctuary has six administrative ranges;
Pollachi: A southern suburban town of Coimbatore, it has Range Headquarters at Aanaimalai Farm: 109.72 square kilometres (42.36 sq mi)
Valparai: Water Falls: 171.5 square kilometres (66.2 sq mi),
Ulandy Top Slip: 75.93 square kilometres (29.32 sq mi),
Amaravathi: Amaravathi Nagar: 172.5 square kilometres (66.6 sq mi) and
Udumalpet: 290.18 square kilometres (112.04 sq mi).
IGWLS is adjacent to Parambikulam Wildlife Sanctuary to the west. The core area of Manjampatti Valley is a 110 km² (42 sq mi)± drainage basin at the eastern end of the park. Manjampatti Valley is contiguous with Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary to the south and the proposed Palani Hills Wildlife Sanctuary and National Park to the east.

Elevation ranges between 340 metres (1,120 ft) and 2,513 metres (8,245 ft) above MSL
There are several named peaks over 2,000 metres (6,600 ft) in the park, including:

Mean annual rainfall is between 500 millimetres (20 in) in the south western fringes and 4,500 millimetres (180 in) on the north east. This Sanctuary is an important watershed for the agricultural economy and power supply in other parts of Tamil Nadu. Major reservoirs like Parambikulam Reservoir, Aliyar Reservoir, Thirumurthi Reservoir, Upper Aliyar Reservoir, Kadambarai, Sholayar Dam and Amaravathi Dam are fed by the perennial rivers which originate from the Sanctuary.[1]

The IGWS has significant anthropological diversity with more than 4600 Adivasi people from six tribes of indigenous people living in 34 settlements. The tribes are the Kadars, Malasars, Malaimalasar s, Pulaiyars, Muduvars and the Eravallan (Eravalar).[10][11]

Threatened species of mammals in the sanctuary include:

• the endangered Bengal tiger, Indian elephant, Indian leopard

'dhole), Nilgiri tahr and lion-tailed macaque,

• the vulnerable brown mongoose, gaur, Malabar spiny dormouse, Nilgiri langur, rusty-spotted cat, sambar deer, sloth bear and smooth-coated otter,
• the near threatened Indian giant squirrel, Indian leopard and Indian pangolin.

Animals of least concern here include: golden jackal, leopard cat, jungle cat, spotted deer, barking deer, mouse deer, wild boar, common langur, bonnet macaque, Asian palm civet, small Indian civet, Indian gray mongoose, striped-necked mongoose, ruddy mongoose, grey slender loris, Indian giant squirrel, Indian crested porcupine, Indian pangolin, Indian porcupine and three-striped palm squirrel.

Over 250 species of birds have been identified in the park. Some of the most important groups are cormorants, ducks, teal, darter, partridge, quail, jungle fowl, spurfowl, Indian peafowl, parakeets, hornbills, barbets, drongos, orioles, shrikes, warblers, Old World flycatchers, woodpeckers, leafbird, trogons, kingfishers, storks, egrets, Lesser fish eagles, hawk eagles, harriers, falcons, kites, owls and nightjars. It is also home to the near-threatened great Indian hornbill.

It is home to 15 of 16 species of birds endemic to the Western Ghats.

Amphibians and Reptiles include many rare and endemic forms. Some endemic amphibians are the ancient and elusive purple frog, toad skinned frog, thin-legged leaping frog and Forest torrent frog, Gadgil's torrent frogs, Anaimalai flying frog, bush frogs and caecilian such as the Uraeotyphlus. Reptiles include the endangered Indian rock python, King cobras, Indian monitor lizards, Malabar pit vipers, Large-scaled green pit vipers, Nilgiri keelbacks, some 20 species of curious little shield tail snakes, Large-scaled forest lizards, Nilgiri forest lizard, flying lizards, Ristella skinks forest cane turtles, and Travancore tortoises.

315 species of butterflies belonging to five families have been identified in the Anaimalai Hills. 44 are endemic to the Western Ghats.[12]

Anaimalai Tiger Reserve

IGWS&NP, Grass Hills area, Konalar Hut 10°19′22″N 77°04′17″E

The Steering Committee of Project Tiger granted approval in principle to inclusion of Indira Gandhi WLS and NP under Project Tiger in 2005.[13] IGWS was declared a Project Tiger sanctuary in 2008.[14] Continuance of Project Tiger' in Anamalai Tiger Reserve for FY 2010/11, at the cost of Rs. 23547,000, was approved by the National Tiger Conservation Authority on 31 August 2010.[15]

This tiger reserve, together with the several other contiguous protected forest and grassland habitats, is the core of the Parambikulum-Indira Gandhi tiger habitat landscape complex, with tiger occupancy area of about 3,253 km² (1,256 sq mi) and an estimated metapopulation of 42 tigers.[7]

Kozhikamudhi Elephant Camp

Tourists with Kumki elephant from Kozhikamudhi Elephant Camp after Elephant Pongal at Top Slip

Elephants were earlier trained and used at Anamalai for timber operations till felling of trees was stopped in 1972. The elephant camp has become a popular public attraction since 1976. There are 20 kumki elephants at the Kozhikamudhi Elephant Camp in the IGWSNP. There are 13 tuskers (including three calves) and seven cow elephants. The names and ages of twelve of the working elephants are: Vijayalakshmi (58), Sarada (56), Nanjan (50), Kaleem (45), Paari (31), Kalpana (30), Venkatesh (28), Karthik (27), Bharani (25), Durga (13), Rajvardhan (11) and Suyambu (4).[16]

In 1997, annual celebration of Elephant Pongal at Top Slip was begun. For Pongal, several decorated elephants stand in front of the Pongal pot to mark the commencement of the celebration. The elephants are fed chakkarai pongal, banana and sugarcane while lined up behind a barricade, so tourists can have a close look. In 2011, Elephant Pongal was celebrated on 18 January.[16]

On 24 February 2011 the Kumki Karthik was gored to death by two wild male elephants after it unchained itself in the camp and escaped into the forest. The elephant was in musth and was in search of a female companion. It was gored by the two elephants possibly because Karthik entered their habitation leading to a territorial conflict.[17]

Shola/grassland complex at Grass Hills, Indira Gandhi National Park

The park is home to a wide variety of flora and fauna typical of the South Western Ghats. There are over 2000 species plants of which about 400 species are of prime medicinal value. The diverse topography and rainfall gradient allow a wide variety of vegetation comprising a mix of natural and man-made habitats. The former includes wet evergreen forest and semi-evergreen forest, montane shola-grassland, moist deciduous, dry deciduous, thorn forests and marshes. Tropical wet evergreen forest is found at an altitude of 600m to 1,600m.

Tropical montane forests occur at higher elevations and are interspersed with montane grasslands, forming the shola-grassland complex. Much of the original evergreen forest now contains introduced teak plantations. Bamboo stands and reeds occur in the natural forests. Tree cover is provided by Hopea parviflora, Mesua ferrea, Calophyllum tomentosum, Vateria indica, Cullenia excelsa and Mangifera indica, Machilus macrantha, Alstonia scholaris, Evodia meliaefolia, Ailanthus and Malabaricum and Eucalyptus grandis. The area is home to Podocarpus wallichianus, a rare South Indian species of conifer.[1]

A lodge at Top Slip

The IGWLS is managed by the Wildlife Warden and falls within the administrative control of the Coimbatore Forest Circle headed by the Conservator of Forests, Coimbatore. The park has a large tourist complex at Top Slip that houses many cottages, rooms, and dormitories for visitors. Visitors can get around the park by trekking and a safari van.[1][5]

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