PARAMBIKULAM
TIGER RESERVE
INTRODUCTION
Parambikulam Tiger Reserve is
situated in the Palakkad and Thrissur districts in the state of Kerala. It is
surrounded by Vazhachal Forest Division in the South, Chalakudy Forest Divison in
the West, Nemmara Forest Division in the north and Anamalai Tiger Reserve in the East. It has an area of 231.16 Sq. km as
Core and 412.5 Sq Km as buffer. Thus the total area of Parambikulam Tiger
reserve is coming to 643.66 Sq km. it has three reservoirs namely Parambikulam,
Thunakadavu and Peruvanpallam
CONSERVATION
HISTORY
The forest of Parambikulam were
managed as Sungam Forest Reserve and Parambikulam Forest Reserve during the 19
century. The first Plan by Porter in 1886 for managing Sungam Reserve Forest
initiated heavy exploitation of forests for valuable timber. Teak planting
began in Parambikulam during 1921 and the last plantation was raised in 1983.Shri
T.P. Viswanathan in his first working plan for Parambikulam Forest Reserve
prescribed artificial regeneration of and other valuable timber species
especially to remedy the over-exploitation the past. Teak plantations were
raised and maintained by taungya system of cultivation. The tramway conceived
by J C Kohloff in 1894 and implemented by Alwar Chetty in 1900 started
functioning in 1907. This accelerated the exploitation of timber till the
Special Financing Committee recommended abolition of the system in 1926 and
done away with in 1951.
A special Teak Plantation Division
was constituted in 1962 covering the Parambikulam Forest Reserve and six ranges
were formed. The Sungam Forest Reserve was declared as Parambikulam Wildlife
Sanctuary under the administrative control of State Wildlife Preservation
Officer Peerumedu. Later in 1973 the Teak Plantation Division was dissolved and
merged with the notified sanctuary and a total area of 271 km under the dual
control of DFO TP division and DFO Nemmara .Finally in 1985, the sanctuary was
administratively reorganized with an extent of 285 km In 1996, 14.39 ha. of the
sanctuary was de-notified for Karappara-Konarkutty multipurpose project which
has not been implemented till date. Recently in 2008, 235 km of the Sanctuary
was declared Core or Critical Tiger Habitat Parambikulam Tiger Reserve. Later
in 2009 the present shape of Prambikulam Tiger Reserve with 231 16 sq km as butter
and 412 50 as core areas came into existence
There are three reservoirs in the
Sanctuary occupying about 20.65 Sq.km .Parambayam has been always famous for
its wildlife especially for the sighting of larger mammals in an area with
about 87 km2 of teak plantation. The Sanctuary is bordered by the
Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary of Tamil Nadu on the part of North and East.
The rest of the area is bordered by Forest Divisions of Nemmara, Vazhachal and
Chalakudy and forms a part of a larger landscape with an extent about 4500 km2
Out of the total area of 643. 66 Sq
km 390.89 Sq km have been declared as core area and 252.77 Sq km as buffer area.
GEOGRAPHICAL
FEATURES SUCH AS
Location
Geographically Parambikulam Wildlife
Sanctuary lies between the longitudes 760 35’ and 760 50'
East and latitudes 100 20’ and 100 26’ North. The
sanctuary situated in the Chittur taluk of Palakkad revenue district in the
state of Kerala. Surrounding the sanctuary are Pollachi and Valparai taluks of
Coimbatore district, Tamil Nadu and Thrissur and Mukundapuram taluks of
Thrissur district of Kerala
Area
Parambikulam Tiger Reserve had an
area of 643.662 Sq. Km
Altitude
Parambikulam Tiger Reserve exhibits
mountainous terrain with altitude ranging from 300 m to 1438 m above MSL
Annual
Rain fall
The sanctuary is blessed with rain
during both North West monsoon and North East monsoon, the former contributes
maximum to the total precipitation recorded in the sanctuary. In addition pre
monsoon showers are felt dung April and May. This Intense rainfall availability
for nearly 6 months make the sanctuary more or less wet through out the year.
The highest recorded rainfall in the sanctuary (697mm) for the past 11 year
period occurred in August 2000. The month of January has consistently been the
best month for the last 11 years with a monthly average of just 3.24mm .July
has been the wettest month with 456mm of monthly average rainfall. Annual
rainfall figures reveal the fact that the year 1992 was the wettest with a
total rainfall of 236mm and 1993 comparatively the rest with just 1,400mm
Annual average figures show that year 2000 registered the greatest annual
average rainfall of 192mm and year 1993 registered the lowest with 114.68 m.
This indicates that wth raise temperature over time an d increased
Temperature
Based on the temperature data for
the last 10 years, it can be seen that the mean monthly temperature fluctuates
between 25.60 C (March) and 20.90C (January). The mean
monthly range of temperature indicates that March is the month of extreme
temperature variations with 160 C of difference between mean monthly
minimum and maximum temperatures and such flux is the least in August Mean
diurnal range for each month shows that March is the month of maximum diurnal
range. This is due to the long days of hot, cloud free nights. Annual extreme
range of temperature in the sanctuary is 15.300C. Absolute extreme
range of temperature in the sanctuary is 32.80C. However, March is
the hottest month with mean monthly temperature of 25.740 C and
January the coolest month with 21.20 C. Temperature condition
prevailing in the sanctuary is infuenced by normal lapse rate due to which
every 100m of ascent from MSL will experience a fall of 0.650 C in
temperature.
Climate
The Tiger Reserve experiences wet
tropical climate Temperature varies from 150 C to 320 C.
March is the hottest month and January the coolest. Total annual rainfall
varies from 1400 mm to 2300 mm .July is the wettest month and January the
driest. The Tiger Reserve is blessed with rain from both South West and North
East monsoon. September - March is the best to visit
Major
peaks with altitude
The sanctuary lies in between the
Anamalai hills and Nelliyampathy hills. Much of the sanctuary is part of
Anamalai hills with peaks up to 1,438m (Karimala Gopuram) in the southern
boundary of the sanctuary, 1.120m (Vengoli malai) in the eastern boundary.
1010m (Vallarpadam in the west and 1290m (Pandaravadai peak) in the north . Nelliyampathy
hills that lies in the core scale down and opens up itself at a place called
Thoothampara, just abutting the room boundary of the sanctuary which provides a
natural opening through the Nelliampathy hills from Anamala hills. at an
average elevation of 600m above mean sea level. The lowest elevation registered
the sanctuary fall in the north eastern corner namely the Keerappady valley
where in the 300m contour criss-crosses. The sanctuary has 15 and odd peaks
scaling above 900m from mean sea level.
Major
Forest Types
West coast tropical evergreen
forests
West Coast tropical semi-evergreen
forests
Southern moist and deciduous forest
Southern dry mixed deciduous forests
Moist bamboo brakes
Reed brakes
Southem montane wet temperate forests
(Sholas)
In addition this sanctuary harbours
three minor vegetation types of which two are man-made. They are low altitude
marshy grassland known locally as vayals
Teak plantations
Eucalyptus plantations
FLORA
Parambikulam Tiger is a rich
treasure of 1438 species of flowering plants falling under 704 genera and 136
families. It includes 81 species of orchids both terrestrial and epiphytic. The
natural forests of the Sanctuary were a rich treasure of medicinal plants.
About 50 endangered medicinal plants are found in Karianshola alone. About 17
of them are already listed in the red data Book of IUCN . There are about 285
rare endemic and endangered species of flora found the Sanctuary.
FAUNA
The Sanctuary is endowed with very
rich and diverse fauna due to the existence of mosaic of habitats. The faunal
diversity found in the Sanctuary include:
Mamma- 36 Species
Amphibia- 16 Species
Birds- 268 Species
Reptiles- 61 Species
Pisces- 47 Species
Insects- 1046 Species
HOW
TO REACH
The Sanctuary is approachable only
by Road
Distance from nearest town
(Pollachi)---- 39 Kms.
Distance from Coimbatore------ 100
Kms
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