Silent Valley - Twenty Five years of non-silence.
Kerala is a state blessed with a vast area of ever green forests and rain forests. Most of them are protected as either national parks or as wild life sanctuaries. Silent Valley is one of the tropical evergreen rain forest of Kerala.
Silent Valley is a National Park situated in Western Ghats of Palakkad District in Kerala State of South India. It is also called as “Sairandhree Forest”.The history of Silent Valley begins when the Madras Government declared it as a protected zone long long ago. Now Silent Valley celebrates its Silver Jubilee.
When we walk through any forest we will hear a number of sounds from here and there. It may be birds sound or animals sound or various insects sound or the sound of a stream flowing over the rocks in the forest . Every forest is always noisy by cricket’s sound. But Silent Valley was a contradiction to this. It was free from even cricket’s sound and hence the name Silent Valley literally meaning noiseless area. But some says that the local name of the forest “Sairandhree Vanam” had deformed as Silent Valley . Sairandhree Vanam means forest in the valley. Some stories relate Droupati to Sairandhree Vanam. Another group says that the name Silent Valley was originated from the scientific name of Lion tailed Macaque ( Macaque Silenus). Any how now the cricket’s sound is heard in Silent Valley. It was Romulus Whitaker who drew public attention to Silent Valley for first time. Some document reveals that the name Silent Valley was coined by Scotish Botanist Robert Whight who first studied about the ecosystem existed in Silent Valley in 1847. Some of you may have heard about Robert Whight earlier. He is the father of Madras Botanical Gardens. Also Robert Whight had authored the famous book named “ Icones Plant arum Indiae Orientalis “
After Robert Whight’s exploration, in 1914 Silent Valley was notified as reserved forest. On November 15 , 1984 Silent Valley was declared as National Park under 1972 wild life protection act of state government. It was inaugurated by the then Prime Minister Mr. Rajiv Gandhi on September 7 , 1985. Later it was declared as buffer zone by the Kerala Chief Minister Mr. V . S . Achuthanandan on September 23 , 2007. Now Silent Valley is the core area of Nilgiri International Biosphere Reserve. The newly proposed Karimpuzha National Park comes inside Silent Valley. The core zone of Silent Valley spreads over an area of 89.52 square kilometers. Actually the park spreads over Nilgiri Hill , Covy district of Tamil Nadu and Palakkad district of Kerala.There is a river named Kunthi descending from Nilgiri hills at an altitude of about 2000 meter above sea level. It traverses the entire length of valley . Kunthi never turns its water into brown. It is always clear like glass.
Silent Valley is a very old forest and is very rich with variety of flora and fauna.. Thousands of species are identified to be inhabiting in this natural forest. Also a lot of species are yet to be discovered. About one thousand types of plants are also recognized out of which nine hundred and sixty six ( 966 ) are of flowering type. Silent Valley an abundant collection of Orchids also. One hundred and Eight ( 108 ) types of orchids are seen in this forest. One hundred types of butterflies , Four hundred types of moths , Two hundred and Ninety types of birds etc are also found to be inhabiting this beautiful forest. Also thirteen species of fishes are seen in Silent Valley. Out of this 13, six types are seen in the world only in Silent Valley . The variety of species does not end. Thirty four types of mammals , Thirty one types of reptiles and Twenty two types of amphibians are also recognized to be living in Silent Valley.
The Lion tailed Macaque is a type of monkeys and are seen in Western Ghats only. They are an endangered species. They have silver coloured hairs around the face like a lion. Their tail are exactly like lion tail and hence the name Lion tailed Macaque .Their body hairs are either black or brown in colour. Face is always black in colour. A Lion tailed Macaque weighs below 10 Kilo gram and length varies from 45 cm to 60 cm. Their life span is about twenty years. Tree leaves , flowers and fruits are the food of Lion tailed Macaque. It is the oldest species among monkeys. Lion tailed Macaques move in groups. Each group may have 10 to 20 numbers including male and female. Besides Lion tailed Macaques we can see Ceylon Frog Moth , Nilgiri Laughing Thrush, Giant Malabar Squirrel, Nilgiri Langur , Indian Tiger , Elephant , Leopard , Wild bear , Sambar and Great Indian Hornbill in Silent Valley. The Nilgiri Langur and Lion tailed Macaque are both listed in IUCN’s (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Red List of Threatened Animals.
Silent Valley had four sections namely Sairandhri , Pochipara , Neelikkal and Vallakkad. Silent Valley is the one of the best tourist spots in God’s own Country Kerala. It is surrounded by Attappadi Reserve Forest in east , Forests of Palakkad and Nilambur divisions in west and south and Nilgiri forest in north. Silent Valley is located about 40 kilometer away from Mannarkkad of Palakkad district.
One of the main threats that the park now facing is the hydro electric projects proposed inside the park. A large area of forest will be drowned by these projects badly affecting the flora and fauna of the forest. The Silent Valley Hydro Electric Project ( SVHEP ) sanctioned earlier was cancelled due to the continuous and prolonged agitation by local and public people. But now the threat came again in the name Pathrakkadav Hydro Electric Project ( PHEP ). Authorities ensure the proposed Pathrakkadav Hydro Electric Project will not affect the forest and its diversity adversely. But nature lovers are anxious about any project implementing inside the nature’s lap , the Silent Valley.
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