Peppara Wildlife Sanctuary
Highlights: Palode reserve, Kottoor reserve and Peppara National Park
How To Reach:
By Air: Thiruvananthapuram is the nearest airport (at a distance of 32 kilometers)
By Rail: The nearest railway station is Thiruvananthapuram
By Bus: Peppara can be approached from all parts of the country. It is conveniently accessible from Vithurai on Thiruvananthapuram - Ponmudi road.
Peppara Wildlife Sanctuary was granted the status of a Wildlife Sanctuary in 1983. The terrain of the Park is quite hilly. The sanctuary spreads overran area of 53 square kilometers. Peppara Dam built over river Karamana supplies water throughout Thiruvananthapuram city.
Butterflies and moths in the region attract many birds in the region. The birds found in the Park are water birds like little cormorant, darter, pied king fisher and egrets. While walking in the jungle be careful from a number of snakes crawling in the reserve. It is reported that 13 tribal settlements are presently living in the Peppara National Park.
Peppara Sanctuary also includes the Palode reserve (24 square kilometers) and the Kottoor reserve (29 square kilometers). Peppara National Park provides habitat to panther, tiger, elephant, wild dog, gaur, Nilgiri langur, sambhar, barking deer, wild boar, lion tailed macaque, mouse deer, Malabar squirrel etc.
There are three major forest belts in this region namely southern hilltop tropical evergreen forest (at an altitude of 1000 meter), west coast semi- evergreen forests (150 to 1050 meters) and southern moist mixed deciduous forests (in the lower slopes).
The best time to visit the sanctuary is the months between January to May. In the months between October to December because of chilling cold, the animals go for hibernation, so visiting the sanctuary becomes waste and during rains, the park becomes difficult to penetrate.
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