Silent Valley - Location : 40 km from Mannarkkad, Palakkad district,
north Kerala.
Silent Valley - Attractions : Extremely fragile, a unique preserve
of tropical evergreen rain forests lying above the equator and the
forest strip which causes the summer rains in Kerala.
The Silent Valley National Park has an area of 90 sq km is located
in the north eastern corner of the district. It rises abruptly to
the Nilgiri Plateau in the north and overlooks the plains of Mannarkkad
in the south.
The core of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve is the Silent Valley National
Park. Despite its name, the Silent Valley (the clamour of Cicadas
is conspicuously absent here) echoes with the sounds of teeming wildlife.
The denizens of this sprawling habitat of endangered virgin tropical
forests include rare birds, deer and tiger.
Perhaps, nowhere else can one also find such a representative collection
of peninsular mammals, over a 100 species of butterflies and 400 species
of moths and other fauna like the Ceylon Frog Moth, Great Indian Hornbill,
the Nilgiri Laughing Thrush and the Lion-tailed Macaque.
The river Kunthi descends from the Nilgiri hills, an altitude of
2000 m above sea level, and traverses the entire length of the valley
and rushes down to the plains through the deep forest. The river Kunthi
never turns brown and is always crystal clear, perennial and wild.
The evapo-transpiration from these forests is much higher than from
any other surfaces. This cools the atmosphere, helps easy condensation
of water vapour and thus causes the summer rains.
Silent Valley - Getting there :
Silent Valley - Nearest railway station : Palakkad, about 80 km.
Silent Valley - Nearest airport : Coimbatore (in neighbouring Tamilnadu
State), about 55 km.
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