South India Wildlife - Western Ghats

The key ecosystems are situated in the Western Ghats in Southern India. They encompass several states of the country some of them in south. The Western Ghats begin at Tamil Nadu and end up in Western India in Gujarat. The long stretch is spread of 140, 000 square kilometres and most of it contains dense crown cover of true tropical forests.

The biodiversity of this extensive range is spectacular and is home to millions of life forms from major mammals, reptiles, birds and insects. This is as a result of altitude variation, geography and ever changing floral elements. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site besides thirty nine others in this amazing land..

The Western Ghats run parallel to the country Western sea coast leaving a strip of Konkan plains which separates the Deccan Plateau from the Arabian Sea. The Ghats encompass several hills like the Annamalai and Nilgiri mountain systems. Both in terms of fauna and flora endemic life forms are found here and no where else.

These true tropical forests are home to most amazing creatures found in numerous wildlife sanctuaries and National Parks in states of Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Some of the major National Parks and tiger reserves in Southern India are:

Periyar Tiger Reserve Eravikulum National ParkNagarhole Mukurthi National ParkKali Tiger Reserve Silent Valley National Park Kudremukh National Park

Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve encompasses protected areas and includes Wayanad, Mudumali and Bandipur. Total area is four thousand plus of this biosphere reserve and it protects amazing diversity of floral and fauna species in South. Some of the endemic species are the Nilgiri Tahr, Nilgiri Langur, Malabar Giant Squirrel, Lion Tailed Macaque besides the tiger and the leopard. Black panther not a different species is often seen in these regions and attracts a large number of tourists.

The forest diversity in terms of floral leans on true tropical, subtropical broad leaf, tropical moist and dry types. Over three thousand species of floral elements form the ecoregions and more than 100 species of mammals, 370 species of birds, 69 species of reptiles and innumerable insect species thrive in the various ecosystems.

Some of the National Parks and bird sanctuaries are the hub of tourism. A large number of tourists including those from overseas visit these wildlife hot spots. The road connectivity and infrastructure for tourism makes the visit possible.

Eastern Ghats also form an important cluster of wilderness in South. From Nothern Odisha they stretch through Andhra Pradesh, Telengana, Tamil Nadu and some parts of Karnataka.

Some of the Protected Areas in Eastern Ghats in South are:

Nagarjuna Sirsailam National ParkShri Ventkateshwara National ParkRollapadu Bird Sanctuary Bhitarkanika National ParkSaythamangalam WildlIife Sanctuary Caurvery Wildlife Sanctuary

The Eastern Ghat Mountains are low rising as compared to Western Ghats and are older in origin. They run parallel to Eastern Sea Coast of India. The Eastern Ghat are discontinuous unlike their western counterparts and are inundated by rivers Krishna, Kaveri, Mahanaddi and Godavari.

Most of the tourism takes places in protected areas of Western Ghats. Packages organized for South India wildlife tours are most popular globally. Because of several endemic species the protected areas are gaining popularity and thus share substantial tourism in India.

Uday writes often on Indian wildlife especially about the tigers. He works as a naturalist and is fond of travel. Uday also provides search engine optimization service and website contents in English.