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Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary :India February 17, 2006

Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary is located 16 kilometers east of Sulthaan Bathery. Here one can find freely roaming elephants and tigers. The best time to visit is between June and October.

If you are in Wayanad on your Kerala tour, Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary is a must visit. The sanctuary is part of the Wayanad plateu and is home to tigers, leopards, elephants and a number of other animals. The Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary is located 16 kilometres east of Sultan’s Battery and is also known as Muthanga Wildlife Sanctuary. The Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary is adjacent to Bandipur National Park, which is in Karnataka and Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary in Tamil Nadu. The Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary is part of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve and is rich in bio diversity. The Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary comprises of deciduous forest. Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary is home to a number of animals that include monkeys, Elephant, Panther, jungle cat, tiger, civet cat, wild dog, deer, bear and bison. The sanctuary also has large number of birds. Some of the birds that you can watch on your tour to Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary like peacock, owl, bablers, wood pecker, cuckoos and jungle fowl.

Established in 1973, the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary is contiguous to the protected area network of Nagarhole and Bandipur of Karnataka on the northeast and Mudumalai of Tamil Nadu on the southeast. Rich in bio diversity, the sanctuary is an integral part of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve , which has been established with the specific objective of conserving the biological heritage of the region. The sanctuary is rich in flora and fauna. The management lays emphasis on scientific conservation with due consideration for the general lifestyle of the tribals and others who live in and around the forest. Elephant, spotted deer. Bison, tiger, cheetah, wild bear etc. can be spotted here. Elephant rides are arranged by the Forest department.

Wayanad’ literally means the ‘land of swamps’, the sanctuary is mostly covered with moist deciduous teak forests and pastures of semi-evergreen trees. The rich flora consist of Teak, Bamboo, Maruthu, Karimarithi, Rosewood, Venteak, Vengal, Chadachi, Mazukanjirarn, etc. Veteria indica, lagerstroemia, lanceolta, terminalia paniculata etc. are common in the semi evergreen patches.

Before feeding the young, the bird gives a special kind of call to its young ones, perching on a nearby tree as if signaling them to come to the entrance of the nest to receive the food. The nests are found to be almost two and a half meter long inside, a peculiar to this species. The nest and the chicks are highly vulnerable to attack of snakes.