SILENTVALLEY

SILENT VALLEY NATIONAL PARK

Situated in the Kundali Hills of the Western Ghats, at the South-western corner of the Nilgiri Hills in Palghat District. Mannarghat, the nearest town and location of park headquarters, is 40km by road to the South. The park is bounded by Attappadi Reserved Forest to the East, and the vested forests of Palghat Division and Nilambur Division to the South and the West, respectively. The Northern boundary is largely contiguous to the Nilgiri Forests. The Silent Valley Forests, locally known as 'Sairandhrivanam' and considered by many to be one of the last representative tracts of virgin tropical evergreen forest in India.This forest is spread over an area of 8,951.65 hectares. The Park is contiguous to the proposed Karimpuzha National Park (22,500ha) in the north and to Mukurthi Sanctuary (7,846ha) to the Northeast in Tamil Nadu. Height Rrnges from 658m to 2,383m . Most of the park lies between 880mand 1,200m High peaks such as Anginda (2,383m), Sispara (2,206m) and Kozhipara (1,904m) are to the Northern part of the park.

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 1,000m to the plains of Kerala and by sheer cliffs to the North and East which rise a further 1,000m to the Upper Nilgiri Plateau. Kuntipuzha River flows Southwards through the entire 15km length of the park, dividing it into a narrow western sector of less than 2km and a wider eastern sector of 5km. The valley is drained by five main tributaries of the Kuntipuzha, which originate near the Eastern border and flow Westwards. Only a few minor streams drain into the Kuntipuzha from the Western sector. The river is uniformly shallow, with no flood plains or meanders. Its bed falls from 1,861m to 900m over a distance of 12km, the last 8km being particularly level with a fall of only 60m. Kuntipuzha is one of the less torrential rivers of the Western Ghats, with a pesticide-free catchment area. Soils are blackish and slightly acidic in 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

Climatic conditions vary greatly, becoming progressively wetter with increasing altitude and diminishing from West to East due to rainshadow effects. Prevailing winds are from the West and Southwest in April-September and from the East in October-March. Most rain (80%) falls during the south-west monsoon from June to September, and least in December and January. Rainfall is significant during the Northeast monsoon, from October to November. Mean annual rainfall based on data for 1965-1973 is 3180mm, with a range of 2800-3450mm

Mean annual temperature is 20.2 degrees C. Conditions are hottest in April and May, with a monthly mean of up to 23.5 degreesC, and coolest in January and February with a monthly mean of about 18 degrees C. Relative humidity is consistently high from June to December, often about 95 %.

Four main types of vegetation can be recognised: tropical evergreen forest, which forms extensive dense stands along hills and valleys between 900m and 1300mm; sub-tropical hill forest between 1,500m and 2,000m; temperate forest, popularly referred to as 'sholas' and characterised by unrelated evergreen species with a dense closed canopy; 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. Associations characterised by predominant tree species are exceptional for tropical rain forests, but they are an unusual feature of the forests of Silent Valley. Faunal diversity is very high and includes a number of endemic and threatened species. Many new species were recorded by the Zoological Survey of India during its expedition in 1980 These include 15 species of invertebrates, two fishes (Holaloptera pillae and Garra menini) and two amphibians (the primitive caecilian Ichthyophis longicephalus and Malabar tree toad Nectophryne tuberculosa). Some 26 species of mammals, excluding bats, rodents and insectivores, have been recorded. Notable species include Nilgiri leaf monkey , lion-tailed macaque , tiger , leopard , Jerdon's palm civet , wild dog , Nilgiri marten , Asian elephant , gaur , and Nilgiri tahr , some of which are endemic to the western Ghats. Six species of bats have been recorded, of which Peshwa's bat and hairy-winged bat are considered to be rare.

Kerala's avifauna is well represented within the park. Some 120 species of birds have been recorded, and a number of which are endemic to the Western Ghats including the Nilgiri woodpigeon . Amphibians total 19 species, lizards 9 species and snakes 11 species. Lepidoptera comprise about 100 species of butterflies and about 400 of moths, of which 13 are endemic to South India and now have very restricted distributions, mostly within the Western Ghats.

Although the area is believed never to have been settled, even by hunter-gatherers, the Mudakar tribals is indigenous to the area. There is no official record of any settlement in the area. Tribals live in the adjacent valley of Attappady Reserved Forest. The nearest habitation is a 200ha cardamom and coffee plantation in Panthanthodu Valley, 2km to the South-east of the park boundary. Five kilometres to the south-west are some settlements and rubber estates, and there are more settlements to the north, including Kunhali Colony in the vested forests of Nilambur Visitors are relatively few and number about 1,000 per year. Visitors may walk from Mukkali to the park, where there are about 80km of bridlepaths, but cannot stay there overnight. There are no visitor facilities at Mukkali, although an Inspection Bungalow is available for visiting officials. There are plans to establish an interpretation centre and dormitory accommodation at Mukkali

Silent Valley comprises one of the least disturbed extensive patches of tropical rain forest remaining in the Western Ghats. Tree diversity is high and comparable to the rain forests of Barro Colorado Island, Panama but the presence of several distinct tree associations is an unusual feature, reflecting local differences. Together with the adjacent Nilgiri Plateau and Karimpuzha forest block to the North, this constitutes some of the finest forested habitat for wildlife in India. A considerable number of rare, threatened or economically important plants or animals are found in Silent Valley, some of which are endemic to the Western Ghats and others new to science. The Kuntipuzha is one of only two rivers in the Southern Western Ghats having extensive riparian vegetation and, with no record of permanent human settlement or interference in the form of plantations, is an undisturbed, pesticide-free catchment area . Silent Valley is an integral part of the Nilgiri ecosystem

Contact Assistant Wildlife Warden, Silent Valley National Park, Camp Mukkali, via Mannarghat, Palghat District, Kerala, India