Silent Valley National Park, Palakkad, Kerala
Silent Valley National Park is a national
park with a core zone of 236.74 square kilometers (91 sq mi)
(making it the largest national park in Kerala). It is located in the Nilgiri
Hills, within the Palakkad
District of Kerala, South
India. This region was explored
in 1847 by the botanist Robert
Wight, and is a setting
for the epic Mahabharata.
This park is one of the last undisturbed tracts of South Western Ghats mountain
rain forests and tropical moist evergreen
forest in India. Contiguous with the proposed Karimpuzha National Park (225 km2) to the north and Mukurthi
National Park (78.46 km2) to the north-east, it is the core of the Nilgiri International Biosphere
Reserve (1,455.4 km2),
and is part of The Nilgiri Sub-Cluster (6,000+ km2), Western
Ghats World Heritage Site, recognized by UNESCO in 2007.
Plans for a hydroelectric project that threatened the park's rich wildlife stimulated an environmentalist social movement in the 1970s, known as the Save Silent Valley movement, which resulted in cancellation of the
project and creation of the park in 1980. The visitors' centre for the park is
at Sairandhri.
The Silent Valley National Park with an area of 237. 52
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 clamor 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 gorge. 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.
The Silent Valley National Park is a unique preserve of
natural rainforests. It houses a rich mosaic of varied habitats. Out of these
springs the amazing variety of life forms some of them endemic to the Western
Ghats. The Valley exudes a quite grandeur, a mystery half revealed and half
concealed that is part of a story older than mankind, for this rainforest
probably dates back to 50 million years.
Historically it’s a paradigm of people’s movement to
protect the forest. For the last three decades this pristine forests are
protected and managed by the Kerala Forest and Wildlife Department and the
result is evident from the succession of the secondary grass lands in the
valley.
Steep escarpments and ridges on all sides ensured that
this plateau remained unsullied by man, thereby preserving its rich
bio-diversity. The multi-layered canopy harbors a variety of plant and animal
species, many of them hitherto unheard of by Science. A new frog genus
supposed to be of the Jurassic era was discovered in the year 2003. It is
no wonder then that scientists have described Silent Valley as ‘the richest
expression of life on Earth’.
It has etymological connotations to the absence of noisy
insect cicadas that are generally abundant in tropical rain forests, although
now, cicadas form an integral part of the forest. The local names of the valley
and the river that flows through it, resurrect the grand tale of the
Mahabharata. In the local lingo, Silent Valley is called Sai-randhi-vanam or
Sai-randhiri (synonymous with Draupadi, wife of the Pandavas) and the river is
called Kunthipuzha (synonymous with Kunti, mother of the Pandavas).
Nature’s Bounty
Cut-off from civilization and commercialisation, Silent
Valley is an ideal destination for nature lovers, researchers and gutsy
trekkers. Undulating mountains and lush greenery greet the eye at Silent
Valley. View from the watch tower at Sairandhri is panoramic and the
entire valley below appears to be a wavy green enormous carpet. A silver line
that runs through is the Kunthipuzha.
The interpretation centre at Sairandhri imparts
information on various rare species of orchids, plants and animals.
Kunthipuzha is a 2 km downhill trek over a suspension bridge. With fresh
elephant dung strewn around on the path leading to Kunthipuzha, it is the
nearest one can get to wild elephants. Lone male tuskers are a dangerous
proposition as can be judged from the frenzied paths they pave through thick
foliage. However, there is no danger from them unless of course, you bump into
them.
The most famous resident of the park is a medium sized
species of monkey, called the lion tailed macaque. Other animals include
tigers, leopards, snakes, Malabar squirrel, Nilgiri langur and the Malabar
laughing thrush. The only nest-building snake, the king cobra is a prized
possession of the park. Vibrantly coloured butterflies, fluttering their
enormous wings create an artistic mosaic, which is a sight to behold. Early
mornings and evenings are the best time to spot animals.
Silent valley was once a battlefield, when the proposed
construction of a dam on the river Kunthipuzha by the Kerala government for its
hydroelectric project, constituted headlines in almost every national daily in
the late 1970’s. The dam was to submerge the verdant valley together with its
prized fauna. The debate between environment and development attracted
international attention and continued for over a decade. Scientists,
researchers, ecologists and nature lovers the world over united to preserve
Silent Valley and a ‘Save Silent Valley campaign’ was launched. Their efforts
paid off, when in 1984, Silent Valley was declared a national park. Today, the
park is well conserved and has been declared a biodiversity hotspot. Two of its
prized animals, the lion tailed macaque and the Nilgiri langur are listed in
the IUCN’s (International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural
Resources) red list of threatened animals.
The Silent Valley National Park is adjacent to the
Attappadi Reserve Forests to the East, the Palghat and Nillambur forest
divisions in the West and South and the Nilgiri Forests in the North.
Silent Valley is a rectangular tableland enclosed by a
high contiguous ridge along its northern and eastern borders, and by a lower,
irregular ridge along its western and southern borders. It is flanked by steep
escarpments to the south and west, which descend some 1,000 m to the plains of
Kerala, and by sheer cliffs to the north and east which rise a further 1,000 m
to the Upper Nilgiri Plateau. Kunthipuzha river flows southwards through the
entire 15 km length of the Park, dividing it into a narrow western sector of
less than 2 km and a wider eastern sector of 5 km. The valley is drained by
five main tributaries of the Kunthipuzha, which originate near the eastern
border and flow westwards. Only a few minor streams drain into the Kunthipuzha
from the western sector. The river is uniformly shallow, with no floodplains.
Its bed falls from 1,861 m to 900 m over a distance of 12 km, the last 8 km
being particularly level, and with a fall of only 60 m.
Kunthipuzha is one of the less torrential rivers of the
Western Ghats, with a pesticide-free catchment area. The soil is blackish and
slightly acidic in the evergreen forests, where there is good accumulation of
organic matter. The underlying rock in the area is granite with schists and
gneiss, which give rise to the loamy laterite soils on slopes. The total area
is 8,951.65 ha. The Park is contiguous to the proposed Karimpuzha National Park
(22,500 ha) in the north and to Mukurthi National Park (7,846 ha), Tamil Nadu,
in the northeast. The altitude ranges from 658 m to 2,383 m.
Most of the Park lies between 880 m and 1,200 m (Anon.
undated). High peaks such as Anginda (2,383 m), Sispara (2,206 m) and Kozhipara
(1,904 m) occur in the northern part of the Park. Four main types of vegetation
can be recognized: Tropical Evergreen Forest, Subtropical Hill Forest, Shola forest
and grasslands which are restricted to the narrow sector west of the
Kunthipuzha and to the higher slopes and hill tops in the eastern sector. Seven
new plant species have been recorded from the Silent Valley, as well as many
rare, endemic and economically valuable species, such as
Cardamom Elettaria cardamomum, Pepper Piper nigrum,
Yam Dioscorea spp., various beans Phaseolus spp., a pest-resistant
strain of Rice (species unknown), and 110 plant species of importance in
Ayurvedic medicine (Nair et al. 1980).
Significance of Silent Valley National Park
· Exceptional Ecosystem
diversity from moist deciduous, semi evergreen, evergreen and shola
forests to montane grasslands.
· Effectively protected,
representative example of evergreen forests in India.
· Exceptional species
diversity and endemic value of evergreen and semi evergreen communities.
·
Significant population of
Lion Tailed Macaque and Nilgiri Langur
·
Important watershed of
Bharathapuzha
·
Potential for wildlife
research and education.
·
Contiguous to Mukurthi
Tahr National Park, Reserve forests of Attappady and near Amarambalam
area, a key component of a major conservation complex in the Western Ghats and
Nilgiri Biosphere reserve.
·
It comes under Project
Elephant area
·
Embodiment of nature conservation
spirit in the country
Location
Major portion of Division is in the Mannarkkad Taluk of
Palakkad District. A portion of the buffer zone is in Nilambur Taluk of
Malappuram District. The area lies within the latitudes 11o, 2’ N and 11o, 13’
N and longitudes 76o, 24’ E and 76o, 32’ E.
Nearest town is Mannarkkad. The Division head quarters
is situated at Mannarkkad. Head quarters of two Ranges viz. Silent Valley and
Bhavani are at Mukkali, which is 20 km away from Mannarkkad.
History
For brief details, please refer
Geography
For brief details, please refer
Climate & Rainfall
For brief details, please refer
Rivers
For brief details, please refer
Tribes
For brief details, please refer
Challenges
For brief details, please refer
Zonation
For brief details, please refer
Fauna & Flora
For brief details, please refer
Travel Tips
· Visiting here is not as
simple as we think! You need to get prior permission from the forest department
in Mukkali on paying entry fee.
· At Mannarghat there is a
PWD Rest House for which the reservation authority is the District Collector,
Palakkad. There are also many small lodges.
·
You have to take a guide
who knows the park very well with you.
·
Always stay with the
group.
·
Smoking is prohibited in
the park.
·
Try to switch of your
mobile.
· Keep quiet if you really
want to improve your chances for seeing wild animals.
· Remember that animals are ultrasensitive
to sound, odour and color. Clothing should be in neutral colours that blend
with nature.
·
Avoid heavy perfumes and
deodorants.
·
Liquor, loud music and
littering are not allowed.
·
Plastic carry bags and
plastic bottles are not allowed inside the park. Stick to cloth bags or
rucksacks.
·
Take your camera along for
some cool clicks.
· There is no other private
lodging facility available anywhere nearby. Hence it is best to book / plan
your accommodation in advance.
· Also one of the important
facts to be remembered is about the LEECH (Atta in Malayalam) it would be in
huge numbers from start of the forest. We should be very careful with them as
they would easily get in to our foot and we may not feel their bite, but it
will suck our blood without our knowledge and become a huge leech within
seconds. To avoid this, visitors are instructed to apply Powdered Salts over
their foot / legs. Leech proof socks and comfortable hiking boots would be a
good option.
·
Carry food and water and
leave no waste inside the park or enroute.
·
Take some precautions to
avoid leach bite – Tobacco Powder, Salt etc
·
Always follow the
directions from the park management.
· Procure all required
permit slips from the forest department office at Mukkali, before entry into
the park.
Trekking
For brief details, please refer
Best Time to Visit
The Silent Valley National Park is a heavy rainfall
region with the places in the higher altitudes getting the highest rain. The
average rainfall in the region varies between 2800 and 3400 mm. The park
receives most of its rainfall during the southwest monsoon from June to
December.
The relative humidity is considerably high during this
season with the maximum at times going to 95%. April and May are the hottest
months while January and February are the coolest months, though not much
difference in the temperature is experienced.
Entry Fees
Entry Fees
|
|
Entrance Fees Indian
Citizen
|
78.00
|
Still Camera
|
38.00
|
Video Camera
|
300.00
|
Foreigner
|
355.00
|
FDA Bus Ticket
(Including entry fee)
|
|
Adult
|
325.00
|
Bonafide Indian Student
|
280.00
|
Foreigner
|
600.00
|
Safari Jeep
|
|
Jeep Rent (for 5 persons
including entrance fee)
|
1715.00
|
Contact
Wildlife Warden
Aranyakam
Silent Valley Division
Mannarkkad
Palakkad-678582
Phone: 04924-222056
Asst. Wildlife Warden, Silent Valley
Office of the Asst. Wildlife Warden
Silent Valley National Park range
Mukkali-678582
Phone: 04924-253225
Asst. Wildlife Warden, Bhavani
Office of the Asst. Wildlife Warden
Bhavani range
Mukkali-678582
Phone: 04924-253125
Accommodation
For brief details, please refer
Connectivity
For
brief details, please refer