Indira Gandhi National Park
The Indira Gandhi National Park and Sanctuary formerly known as the Anamalai
Wildlife Sanctuary lies in the Coimbatore District of Tamil Nadu at the southern
part of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve in the Anamalai Hills. Named after the
late Prime Minister Smt Indira Gandhi, it is an ecological paradise covering an
area of 958 sq.kms. The wildlife sanctuary includes a National Park also. It was
notified as a sanctuary in the year 1974 and 108 sq.kms of its unique habitats
at 3 places - Karian Shola, Grass hills, Manjampatty were notified as National
Parks in 1989. The Sanctuary declared as a Tiger Reserve in April 2008.
The National Park, with its main tourist zone known as Top Slip, has an altitude
varying from 350m to 2,400 metres above sea level. It has an excellent variety
of flora as well as fauna. The terrain consists of thickly wooded hills, rolling
grasslands, plateaus and deep valleys. It has an annual rainfall between 500 mm
to 5000 mm.
The vegetation that covers most of the park is of the mixed deciduous variety.
There are rich evergreen and semi -evergreen forests. The semi-evergreen and the
wet temperate habitat of this park contain teak, rose wood and many
miscellaneous tropical species. The park comprises of around 8,000 species of
plants.
Major Attractions of Indira Gandhi National Park are:-
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, and Three-striped Palm
Squirrel.
Over 250 species of birds have been identified in the Park . Some of the most
important groups include, cormorants, ducks, teal, darter, partridge, quail,
jungle fowl, spurfowl, Indian peafowl, parakeets, hornbills, barbets, drongos,
orioles, shrikes, warblers, flycatchers, woodpeckers, chloropsis, trogons,
kingfishers, storks, egrets, fish eagle, hawk eagles, harriers, falcons, kites,
owls and nightjars.
It is home to 15 of 16 species of birds endemic to the Western Ghats.
Reptiles include Toads, Spotted Leaping Frog and Leith's Leaping Frog, Black
Torrent Frogs, tree frogs, Pythons, Cobras, Kraits, Vipers, Grass Snakes, Forest
Cane Turtles, Travancore Tortoises, Flapshell Turtless, Star Tortoises, Flying
lizards, Chameleons and Forest Lizards.
315 species of butterflies belonging to five families have been identified in the
Annaimalai Hills. 44 are endemic to the Western Ghats.
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.