The Peppara Wildlife Sanctuary is a wildlife sanctuary in Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala, India. It consists of the catchment area of the Karamana River, which originates from Chemmunjimottai, the tallest hill within the sanctuary. The sanctuary is named after the

Peppara Dam Peppara Dam is a masonry gravity dam on the Karamana River in Trivandrum District. It is built by the Kerala Water Authority in 1983 has a catchment area of 83km² and receives an average rain fall of 481 cm. The 423m long dam unifies all upper ...

, commissioned in 1983 to augment the drinking water supply to Thiruvananthapuram city and suburban areas. Considering the ecological significance of the area, it was declared a sanctuary in 1983. The terrain is undulating with elevation ranging from 100 m to 1717 m. The area of the sanctuary is 75 km2 with tropical moist evergreen forests and

myristica swamp ''Myristica'' swamps are a type of freshwater swamp forest predominantly composed of species of ''Myristica''. These are found in three localities in India. ''Myristica'' swamps have adapted to inundation by way of stilt roots and knee roots. ''M ...

s. It is part of the

Agasthyamala Biosphere Reserve The Agasthyamala Biosphere Reserve is a biosphere reserve in India established in 2001, located in the southernmost end of the Western Ghats and includes of which 1828 km2 is in Kerala and 1672.36 km2 is in Tamil Nadu. It encompasses ...

. Peppara Wildlife Sanctuary is by car from the nearest railway station, at Thiruvananthapuram, and from the Thiruvananthapuram airport.

History

The area was formerly a part of the

Paruthippally Kuttichal (formerly known as Mannoorkara) is a village in Thiruvananthapuram district in the state of Kerala, India. The Kuttichal panchayath has borders with Aryanad, Poovachal, Kallikkad, panchayaths and Thiruneveli District of Tamil Nadu ...

range of the Thiruvananthapuram

territorial division A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, particularly belonging or connected to a country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually either the total area from which a state may extract power resources or an ...

. Forests consist of part of the Palode reserve () and part of Kottoor reserve (). The total water spread of the reservoir is .

Geography

The Peppara Wildlife Sanctuary is situated on Thiruvananthapuram-

Ponmudi Ponmudi (the Golden Peak) also known as Kashmir of Kerala is a hill station in the Peringamala gramapanchayath of Trivandrum District of Kerala in India. It is located 22km west of Vithura town, 53 km north-east of Trivandrum City, 78&n ...

Road, about 50 km northeast of Thiruvananthapuram. The area is hilly, with elevation varying from to . The major peaks in the sanctuary are Chemmunjimottai (1717m), Athirumalai (1594m), Arumukhamkunnu (1457m), Koviltherimalai (1313m) and Nachiyadikunnu (957m). Annual average rainfall is . The major rivers are Karamana River and its tributaries.

Biology and ecology

Forest types include West coast tropical evergreen, Southern hilltop tropical evergreen, West coast semi-evergreen, Southern moist mixed deciduous forest, Myristica swamp forest, sub-montane hill valley swamp forest etc.

Trees

Common tree species are ''

Terminalia paniculata ''Terminalia paniculata'' is a tree native to southwest India (including the Western Ghats and Karnataka). Known in the timber trade as kindal, it has a variety of names in local languages. It is economically important for wood, medicinal uses, ...

'', ''T. bellerica'', ''

Pterocarpus marsupium ''Pterocarpus marsupium'', also known as Malabar kino, Indian kino, Vijayasar, or Venkai is a medium to large, deciduous tree that can grow up to tall. It is native to India (where it occurs in parts of the Western Ghats in the Karnataka-Kerala ...

'', ''

Palaquium ellipticum ''Palaquium ellipticum'' is a tree in the family Sapotaceae. This is a common canopy tree in low and medium elevation evergreen forests up to 1500 m. This species is endemic to the Western Ghats. Description This is a tall, buttressed tr ...

'', '' Mesua ferrea'', '' Hopea parviflora'', '' Bombax ceiba'', ''

Syzygium cumini ''Syzygium cumini'', commonly known as Malabar plum, Java plum, black plum, jamun, jaman, jambul, or jambolan, is an evergreen tropical tree in the flowering plant family Myrtaceae, and favored for its fruit, timber, and ornamental value. It is ...

'', ''

Lagerstroemia microcarpa ''Lagerstroemia microcarpa'' is a flowering tree that is endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are in ...

'', ''

Albizia procera ''Albizia procera'', commonly known as white siris or karoi tree, is a species of large tree found natively in southeast Asia and India. It is most commonly found in open forests, but may also be found on the margins of rain forests and in monsoo ...

'', ''

Alstonia scholaris ''Alstonia scholaris'', commonly called blackboard tree, Scholar Tree, Milkwood or devil's tree in English, is an evergreen tropical tree in the Dogbane Family (Apocynaceae). It is native to southern China, tropical Asia (mainly the Indian subcon ...

'', etc.

Animals

The sanctuary has several mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians. 43 species of mammals, 233 species of birds, 46 species of reptiles, 13 species of amphibians and 27 species of fishes are reported from the sanctuary. The common mammals found are tiger,

leopard The leopard (''Panthera pardus'') is one of the five extant species in the genus '' Panthera'', a member of the cat family, Felidae. It occurs in a wide range in sub-Saharan Africa, in some parts of Western and Central Asia, Southern Russia, a ...

sloth bear The sloth bear (''Melursus ursinus'') is a myrmecophagous bear species native to the Indian subcontinent. It feeds on fruits, ants and termites. It is listed as Vulnerable species, vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, mainly because of habitat loss ...

, elephant, sambar (deer), bonnet macaque, Nilgiri langur, Nilgiri tahr.

Gallery

Image:Peppara Dam Reservoir Gate IMG 20141003 174618.jpg, Peppara Dam Reservoir Entrance Image:Peppara Reservoir.jpg, Peppara Reservoir as seen from the dam File:Peppara Dam Reservoir IMG 20141003 174412.jpg, Dam top view

External links

Kerala tourism official site

Information about Nedumangad

Notes

{{Tourism in Kerala, state=collapsed Geography of Thiruvananthapuram district Wildlife sanctuaries in Kerala Tourist attractions in Thiruvananthapuram district South Western Ghats moist deciduous forests Wildlife sanctuaries of the Western Ghats South Western Ghats montane rain forests Protected areas of Kerala 1983 establishments in Kerala Protected areas established in 1983

History

Geography

Biology and ecology

Trees

Animals

Gallery

See also

External links

Notes