Berijam Lake, Kodaikanal
Berijam Lake is a reservoir near Kodaikanal town in Dindigul
district of Tamilnadu, South
India. It is at the old site of
"Fort Hamilton", in the upper Palani
hills. The lake, created
by a dam with sluice
outlets, is part of a
micro–watershed development project. Periyakulam town, 18.7 kilometres (11.6 mi) to the SE,
gets its public drinking
water from the lake. The lake’s
water quality is excellent.
The area is green and where wildlife is spotted often.
Vehicle entry is restricted by Forest department and permission is required. It
is a captivating picnic spot. It is easily accessed by well maintained roads;
People with fishing permission from the Fisheries Department can fulfill their
hearts content.
Berijam Lake is a must see tourist spot with the common
presence of bison, leopard and other chirping birds here. Beside this, the
tourists would love to take a boat trip in this gorgeous lake and which assures
a wonderful and refreshing experience.
Access
Berijam is located at the end of Pillar Rocks Road (old
SR-18), 21 km (13.0 mi) southwest of Kodaikanal
Lake. There were two roads from Berijam, the Kodaikanal – Munnar Road to Munnar town, about 40 km (24.9 mi) west and
another going to Kavunji village, 9 km (5.6 mi) north. The old
roads are now overgrown with vegetation and used as walking trails by local
villagers and trekkers. Encounters with wild animals including bison, elephants and leopards sometimes occur on these trails.
The Tamil Nadu Forest Department has restricted entry into the Berijam Lake area to
between 9.30 a.m. and 3 p.m. for the general public. Entry permits are issued
at the Forestry Department Office in Kodaikanal. Only a limited number of
visitors are allowed in the park each day. There is a forest check–post
which prohibits unauthorized entry through the road leading to Berijam Lake. Beyond
km marker 13 on the Berijam road there is an observation tower from where one
may have a fine view of Berijam Lake and the surrounding forest.
Berijam has a Forest Department Camp including an
Eco-Education Center for visitors. Nature areas to be visited here include:
swamp ecosystem, fresh
water ecosystem, nature trail, bridge,
medicinal demonstration garden, museum, nature walk, grassland and shola.
Site visits are organized for authorized researchers.
Trekkers can get permission to stay overnight. There is a forest rest house
with limited accommodations which serves as an overnight base camp for Forestry
Department staff, researchers and trekkers. Visitors must bring their own
provisions.
History
There was originally a swamp here known as the Berijam swamp. The previous
existence here of a large lake, evidence of which was visible nearby, was first
recorded in 1864 by Colonel
Douglas Hamilton of the 21st Regiment
of the Madras Native Infantry. No written record or even local legend regarding the
existence of this ancient lake survives. However, judging from visible traces
of its shoreline which still remained in 1906, it must have been nearly
5 mi (8.0 km) long, up to 3,960 ft (1,210 m) wide and up to
70 ft (21 m) deep.
It was apparently formed by the side of a hill slipping down
into a valley which slopes northwards, and damming up the stream which ran to
the Amaravathi River at the bottom of it. This stream apparently
eventually cut its way through the huge natural embankment so formed, and thus
emptied the lake this landslide/dam had once created. The dam was about
600 ft (180 m) long and the breach in it was about 300 ft
(91 m) across and 90 ft (27 m) deep.
In 1864, Colonel Hamilton submitted a report stating
that the Berijam Lake area was the best site in the Palani Hills for a military
cantonment or Sanatorium. A military outpost later built here, Fort Hamilton,
was named for him. There was in fact no 'fort' at the place, only a small hut.
Berijam Lake was artificially created in 1867, when Sir
Vere Levigne, Collector of Madurai, donated part of his personal retirement funds for
building the dam. Subsequently, the dam and reservoir were enlarged and a
pipeline was built to supply drinking water to the Periyakulam Municipality.
The scheme was completed in 1912 at a cost equivalent to US $138,500.
Berijam has a 100-year-old 2-story brick building,
partly damaged and blackened over the years, with a bright yellow painted name
reading "Britisher's Transit Camp". This is one of several transit camps
built every 15 km (9 mi) for the soldiers to rest along the
230 km (143 mi) British "Escape Route" from Kodaikanal via Top
Station and Munnar to Kochi, built during World
War II. While most of the
transit camps are now either dilapidated or demolished, the one at Berijam
still stands.
Berijam Lake has been studied palynologically revealing a 20,000 years story by pollen particles deposited in lake sediments. The time span between 20,000-17,000 years before
present (B.P.) experienced
cold and dry climatic conditions. After this period arid oxidizing
environmental conditions prevailed for a period of 2500 years. The time span
between 14,500–7,000 years B.P. witnessed a climatic amelioration phase leading
to a warm and humid climate. From about 7,000 years B.P. to present the area has
had a cool and humid climate.
Hydrology
The Upper Palani Hills catchment
basin drains into the
Lake. Rainfall is the chief source of water into the lake. Average annual rainfall in the hill area is 1,500 mm (4.9 ft).
The mean day temperature in the coolest months is below 17 °C
(62.6 °F) in the higher areas. The lake is formed below the Palani
hill ranges at the origin of the Varahanadhi (Varaha River) which is used for
purposes of water supply and irrigation.
As a part of the World
Bank funded Water Resources Consolidation Project
(WRCP) of Tamil Nadu, sedimentation condition was assessed for a large number
of reservoirs including Berijam reservoir. This indicated that the 1.91 cubic hectometers
(1,550 acre·ft) gross storage capacity of the reservoir in 1911 decreased
to 1.804 cubic hectometers (1,463 acre·ft) in 1987. The percentage
reduction of storage due to siltation is 23%, over a period of 76 years.
Berijam Lake had stable land conditions, thus erosion
was less and the lake received less sediment but more organic matter in the
proportion of (5.5–41.8%). The rate of sedimentation is indirectly proportional
to the influx of organic matter.
Water quality
On the basis of chemical parameters and nutrient load studies, the Berijam Lake has been
categorized as oligotrophic with a tendency to eutrophication over time due
to plankton growth in the
lake. This conclusion is supported by oxygen deficits in the bottom due to the chemocline condition of the lake.
Flora
Berijam is rich in flora and fauna and has a few original eco–initiatives to its
credit, namely, South India's first field–oriented eco-education centre set up by
the Forest Department, an exclusive medicinal plants demonstration garden spread over 1.0 ha
(2.5 acres) and a model swamp observation area created to educate the public. A
rare species of free floating insectivorous bladderwort plant called utricularia australis is said to be found here.
The catchment of the Berijam Lake in the Palani hills
falls under the once extensive shola grassland ecosystem, also called the "cloud
forest". These grasslands constitute a complex and highly diverse plant
community which in turn supports a wide range of fauna from insects to large
mammals. With the sholas they constitute one of the world’s rarest, most
biodiverse and spectacular of landscapes. Where the grassland has been
destroyed by industrial timber plantations, streams and marshes have dried out.
Data on germination and cultivation of c. 250 shola species and long term biographies
of c. 70 shola tree species in the area have been published.
Medicinal flora
Development and cultivation of medicinal plants
like Digitalis, Pyrethrum, belladona, Dioscorea sp. and Mentha is an active programme launched by the Tamilnadu Agricultural
University through the 40
hectares (99 acres) research centre of the Central
Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (CIMAP) near Berijam. Commercial marketing of
high yielding varieties of these plants is now being actively pursued. Psilocybin mushrooms, which produce hallucinogenic effects when consumed and other species of mushrooms grow
around Berijam.
Fauna
The Upper Palani Shola forest
reserve surrounding Berijam Lake
has a rich faunal population comprising the following;
Avifauna:
Resident birds include crested serpent eagles, pariah
kites, pale-rumped swallows and the edible-nest swiftlets.
Migratory birds wintering here include the common
rose finch, the blue
chat, several leaf-warblers and Blyth's reed-warbler.
Mammals:
Threatened Mammals including bison, Nilgiri
langur, Malabar giant squirrels and Indian
elephants are seen here as
well as Indian crested porcupines, wild
boar, barking
deer, sambar
deer and mouse
deer.
In February 2010, tigers were sighted in Kodaikanal
forests during a six-day carnivore survey. A tigress and her cub were spotted playing
in the wild. Forest Department officials are studying survey data to estimate
the local tiger population based on indirect evidence like pug marks, scats and
scratches.
Of the two wildlife
corridors proposed for
movement of Indian elephants in the Palani Hills Reserve Forest, the Berijam
corridor connects to Top
Station in Kerala. It is also being studied if a link corridor through
the Kukkal area, could be established to the second corridor
from Indira
Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary and National Park through Amaravathy and Kuthiraiyar to the Palar Dam, then up the
valley almost to Ganesh Nagar, below Pethuparai village.
Fish:
In 1886 there were carp in the lake. In 1914 there was a scheme to
introduce trout into Berijam reservoir.
Conservation
Threats:
The catchment basin of the lake, historically dominated
by extensive shola grass lands drain into marshes at the head of the lake.
However, most of the catchment area was afforested, during the 1960s,
with eucalyptus, wattle and pine. The main Berijam marsh has shrunk, as evidenced in
March 2007, by walking across the marsh without getting one’s feet wet. This is
attributed to less water discharging into the lake. Shrinking of the lake has
also been noticed with the boating dock getting shifted to deeper waters on the
opposite side of the creek.
The creek waters adjoining the marsh have been gradually
invaded by marshland vegetation of water
lilies, torpedo
grass and native sedges with shoots in water and roots at the nodes. The water
lilies were planted there "reportedly" for ornamental purposes by the
Forest Department. These marshland invasive’s are accelerating the siltation process and may eventually result in necessity of
raising the height of the dam to compensate for loss of storage due to
siltation.
A crisis in the water regime of the Palani plateau has
been observed at Berijam Lake. The lake’s marshlands have been reported to dry
out after the monsoon and marsh vegetation is seen encroaching into the
deeper part of the lake.
Studies by the Sálim
Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History, Coimbatore, undertaken in 2006 in many areas of the Palani hills
including Berijam, indicate that the population of the grey-breasted laughing thrush, a near
threatened endemic bird species of the Western
Ghats, has been affected by the
degradation of its habitat. Remedial measures have been suggested.
Otter Poaching in the Palani hills to the point of
extermination has been reported. Common & small-clawed otters are trapped by tribals from the Haryana state of India, who are in Palani hills with the
sole aim of collecting otter oil which is in demand in northern India. Mercury pollution was reported in Kodaikanal which affected lakes in
the area.
The causes, originating from a Hindustan
Lever thermometer factory
nearby, were reported to be dispersal of elemental mercury to the atmosphere from improper storage and
dispersal from surface effluents from the factory. Apart from tests conducted
on lake, moss samples collected from trees surrounding the Berijam
Lake, located 20 km (12.4 mi) from the factory were also tested.
These showed mercury level in the range of 0.2 µg/kg.
In 1902, important bauxite deposits were discovered in the hills north and
south of Berijam Lake which The Geological Survey of India investigated
during 1964–65.
Remedial
Measures:
The following measures have been suggested or are under
implementation by various agencies.
Plastics, smoking and consuming alcohol are prohibited
at the lake area.
Promote Shola grass land Afforestaion in the catchment
area of the lake, particularly towards Mannavanur where its absence is noticed. This remedial
measure could be ecologically and biologically beneficial to restore the lake’s
water source.
Grassland rehabilitation could be achieved, with NGO and
community participation.
The Vatakanal Conservation Trust, a non-governmental
organization in association with the Tamil Nadu Forest Department has initiated
efforts to restore the shola system. A pilot project was undertaken to protect
the Pambar shola, adjacent to Kodaikanal.
Kurinji saplings associated with Shola grasslands and
other native grasslands species have been successfully nurtured.
Excellent flowering of Kurinji flowers on the cliffs
near Berijam Lake have been noted during August and September.
Noting the effect on the breeding of the grey–breasted
laughing thrush, the Sálim
Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History has recommended:
Expansion of plantations and restoration of grasslands
and shola forests in the Palani hills should be halted
The larger shola forests of Kukkal and Mathikettan
(Berijam) to be declared as bird sanctuaries with better protection for the
proposed Palani
Hills Wildlife Sanctuary and National Park.
Set up a GIS database with thematic details, including
information on flora and fauna, to help monitor the globally near
threatened species.
Initiate a nature education programme to highlight
importance of natural vegetation in Habitat conservation of biodiversity & watershed management of Palani Hills.
