Destinations - Destinations - Western Ghats

1 2 3 The Western Ghats: Sri Lanka’s Sister Mountains Across the Straits

2 - Tree Ferns in Blackburn , Several months ago, I found myself in the very Sri Lanka’s Central Highlands these ranges are Palni Hills fortunate situation of gazing over southern lower in elevation. The Sahyadris fall in steep, Large tree ferns (Cyathea Sri Lanka from a high boulder protruding out dramatic ‘ghats’ (steps) to the sea along the nilgirensis) in Blackburn Shola of Sinharaja’s ethereal rainforest canopy. I coast north of . It is here, in just adjacent to the hill-station stared over the multiple greens as a Chestnut- places like the hill station of , of Kodaikanal. Shola forests are Backed Owl called. The hazy, but unmistakable that one can see the obvious reasons for the tropical montane forests that are unique to the high altitude regions silhouette of Sri Pada (Adam’s Peak) was name ‘Western Ghats’. of the Western Ghats. Similar to mesmerizing. Gazing out, I was struck by Sri Lanka’s cloud forests, the similarities between Sri Lanka’s forest The southern Western Ghats, including the are stunted by fierce wind and and hills and a mountain range that I know Ashumba, Anaimalai, , Palni and are characterized by gnarled well: the Western Ghats. Nilgiri Hills, share the same ancient geological branches dripping with mosses history as that of the Central Highlands. As and epiphytes. Sholas contain Across the Palk Strait, running up ’s the Central Highlands separate Sri Lanka’s a wealth of endemic plant and is a vein of mountains that distinctive ‘wet’ and ‘dry’ zones, the Western animal species not found at lower shares numerous similarities with Sri Lanka’s Ghats delineate the two distinct climatic altitudes. Central Highlands. The southern Western zones of peninsular India. Both of these hill 3 - on hillside with Ghats, composed of several elevated ranges ranges are made up of very old horsts that Mist & Hills, Eravikulam National averaging 2,000m, are remarkably similar, were uplifted in Pre-Cambrian times. Biologically Park, both geologically and biologically to the rich, the Western Ghats and Central Highlands A herd of Nilgiri tahr (Hermitragus mountains that dominate the interiors of are both blessed with high rates of endemism hylocrius) scampers down a central Sri Lanka. In fact, these mountains (a term used to describe species that are hillside near the tourist zone of ranges were closely linked in the not-so- isolated to a limited area and found nowhere Kerala’s Eravikulam National distant geological past! Today, seawater else). In recent years as a global alarm has Park. Nilgiri tahr are endemic and political divisions separate the two sounded on declining , the Western mountain goats found amongst areas, and most people are unaware of the Ghats and Sri Lanka have been designated as 1 - Stream Reflection, Eravikulam the most inaccessible cliffs and links that connect the two mountain regions. one of 25 ‘Global Biodiversity Hotspots’. This escarpments of the southern Hand-printed black and white National Park, Kerala designation, made by Conservation International A stream weaves it way through natural Western Ghats. They feed The Western Ghats are a collection of – one of the leading organizations dealing with photography draw us into the grasslands in the upper plateau of exclusively on grasses and . The natural use the natural advantage of heterogeneous geological formations that biodiversity – considers the two mountain beauty of India’s Western Ghats, grasslands of the Western Ghats, like precipitous cliffs to escape separate the wet Malabar Coast from the arid ranges as one critical unit under threat from the patanas of Horton Plains, are rare from predators. Eravikulam was interiors of the Indian peninsula. Starting at anthropocentric forces. and reveals how its ecosystem and highly endangered ecosystems. established in 1978 to protect this the tip of India at Kanyakumari, the mountains highly endangered ungulate. rise abruptly from the sea and plains. The The southern Western Ghats are characterized is paralleled in Sri Lanka – once The park hosts an estimated 50% Western Ghats continue in a nearly unbroken by a variety of habitats that are based on of the surviving wild Nilgiri tahr. 1,500km mountainous spine and end at the altitude and proximity to the coast where the joined to one another by an Tapi River on the border between Southwest monsoon makes landfall every and . From northwards, the June. The slopes on the windward side of the ancient land-mass. Words and Ghats meet the expansive Deccan Plateau. Ghats, mainly in the states of Kerala, Karnataka, The northern reaches of the Ghats, called the Goa and Maharashtra, receive abundant photography by Ian Lockwood. Sahyadris, are younger volcanic mountains rainfall and support evergreen rainforests. and are a unique physical feature in South Sanctuaries such as in Kerala and Asia. Compared to the southern Ghats and Kalakad Mundanthurai in contain

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1 1 - Bathing at Lower falls, 2 , Tamil Nadu. In June when the southwest monsoon rolls up the western coast bathers and pilgrims flock to the south Indian ‘spa’ of Courtallam. Waterfalls like this symbolise the close relationship between people, natural forests and the life-giving water of these streams.

2 - Manavan Shola Panorama, High Range, Kerala In this image, enormous tree ferns (Cyathea nilgirensis) tower over a stream bed in one of Kerala’s largest sholas and newest national parks. Endemic Western Ghats bird species, such as the White Bellied Shortwing (Brachypteryx major), Grey- Breasted Laughing Thrush (Garrulax jerdoni), and Black & Orange Flycatcher (Ficedula bigrorufa) can easily be seen in this shola!

excellent examples of this development. Sholas are stunted Getting there protected valleys. Horton Plains rainforest habitat. These multi- high-altitude rainforests with very The Western Ghats can is just the opposite, with the storied forests host a variety of close affinity to Sri Lanka’s cloud best be visited from a grasslands found in the valleys creatures from the endemic Lion forests. Both forest types, for number of Indian cities. and cloud forest crowning ridges Tailed Macaques (Macaca silenus) example, have rhododendron Tiruchirappalli (or ‘Trichy’) and slopes! Both habitats have has easy access to the to large Great Pied Hornbills trees (Rhododendron arbroreum) experienced die-back in recent Palni Hills, host to remnant years, something that continues (Buceros bicornis). Visitors familiar that presumably migrated from shola forests and the quaint with Sri Lanka’s Sinharaja World the Himalayas at a time when the to mystify scientists studying hill station of Kodaikanal. these habitats. Heritage site will find significant climate of South Asia was cooler. Cochin and Trivandrum are parallels in these forests. Although sholas have suffered as excellent ports to explore habitat has been lost to hill stations, Periyar Tiger Reserve, the Dry, deciduous forests still carpet Above the lowland rainforests of tea estates and eucalyptus and the many of the slopes on the eastern the Western Ghats, and protected plantations, there is a growing High Range (home to tea face of the western Ghats. Forests by steep escarpments, are movement to protect and restore estates, Anai Mudi and of teak, Terminalia sp. and bamboo plateaus whose biotic composition them in the Palni and Nilgiri hills. Eravikulam National Park). make a secure home for some of is influenced by the colder Bangalore is the best point India’s largest herds of elephants of access to the Nilgiri hills, temperatures and high-velocity One of the most interesting The forests also support a sizable the colonial hill station of prey base for a host of carnivores. winds. Many of these plateaus linkages between the Western Ooty and national parks were developed as hill stations Ghats and Central Highlands is The area north of the Nilgiri Hills is such as Bandipur and one of the best surviving examples during colonial times. the high-altitude grasslands. Nagarhole. Mumbai is the of this type of vegetation. Here, Horton Plains’s grasslands (locally closest large city to the Ootacamund (‘Ooty’) in the Nilgiris called patana) are similar to the Sahyadris. Nagarhole, Mudumalai and and Kodaikanal in the Palnis both montane grasslands of the Nilgiri Bandipur sanctuaries help protect have dramatic views over the and Palni hills. Anyone who has SriLankan operates 81 a significant area of this deciduous lower plains. The panoramas are seen both habitats will testify to flights each week to India. and semi-evergreen forest. The not dissimilar to those of Ella Gap the unmistakable similarity in the For more details, area has many similarities to visit www.srilankan.aero. near Nuwara Eliya in the Central landscapes. A perplexing and Minneriya and Kaudulla National Highlands. The unique grasslands/ unusual feature is the fact that in Parks set amongst Sri Lanka’s shola ecosystem, found above the Western Ghats, the grasslands cultural triangle. The rare Slender 1,800m, dominates the higher dominate ridges and open slopes Loris (Loris tardigradus) is plateaus that have escaped while sholas are mainly found in restricted to this type of habitat

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in southern India and Sri Lanka. flycatcher (Eumyias albicaudata) 1 - Rhododendron Tree (Rhododendron is restricted to similar hills in the arbroreum nilagiricum), Palni Hills, Tamil There are, of course, distinct Western Ghats. Names, however, Nadu. endemic species that are can bear little indication to The Western Ghats host a number of specialised to either the Western endemic status! Species like the endemic species of plants and animals. Ghats or Sri Lanka. For example Ceylon Frog mouth (Batrachosto- Several of these have distant Himalayan cousins, like this endemic Rhododendron the Western Ghats has the Nilgiri mus moniliger) and Malabar tree. Although it is a distinct species, it has Langur (Presbytis johni), a leaf- Trogan (Harpactes fasciatus) relatives in the Himalayas, as well as eating monkey found in sholas illustrate this phenomenon. Sri Lanka! This suggests a very ancient and rainforests in the southern The Malabar Trogan is a bird often link between the Himalaya, the Western Ghats. Sri Lanka has the similar- associated with the Western Ghats and Sri Lanka. Scientists believe looking but distinctive Purple Faced Ghats. It is, however, not truly that changing climate and geological Monkey (Presbytis senex) found ‘endemic’ because it is found conditions have isolated these in the Central Highlands and wet widely in Sri Lanka. Likewise, the populations. This species of Rhododendron rainforests. The Dull-Blue Flycatcher Ceylon Frogmouth inhabits several tree grows on high altitude grassy slopes (Eumyias sordida) is only found in rainforest sanctuaries in southern in the southern Western Ghats. Sri Lanka’s hills while the Nilgiri India!

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1 1 - Winter Light in Peppara, Kerala Sunlight filters through the rainforest along an ancient pilgrim’s path in Peppara Wildlife Sanctuary. This forest is part of the biologically rich zone that surrounds the peak of Agasthyamalai. This rugged and little known part of the Western Ghats has the closest affinity to Sri Lanka’s Central Highlands.

Kurinji Flowering

The kurinji plant (Strobilanthes kunthiana) is a unique variety of shrub that blooms in the high altitude hills of India’s Western Ghats every 12 years. It bloomed in 1982 and 1994, and is now expected during the 2006 spring and monsoon. The kurinji plant is associated with the grasslands/shola ecosystem and is a unique botanical feature of the southern Western Ghats.

During the years that it blooms, whole hillsides of native grasslands are covered in the mauve colours of the flower. In fact, some historians associate the name of the Nilgiris (literally ‘blue hills’) with the blooming of the kurinji flower. The kurinji blooming used to be much more widespread, but expansive plantations of non-native tree species have all but obliterated the rolling grasslands of the upper plateau. Excellent flowerings can be expected this year in Tamil Nadu’s Nilgiri and Palni Hills as well as the High Range of Kerala.

Another interesting parallel between the Western Ghats and Sri Lanka’s central highlands is the presence of prominent peaks.

Sri Lanka’s Sri Pada has been revered for several millennia, but few people know that across the straits a similar, pyramid-shaped peak lords over the Ashambu hills near Kanyakumari. Agasthyamalai (or Pothigai as it is known in Tamil) has long been worshipped by the people living in its shadow and is now protected for its high levels of plant diversity. Anai Mudi the highest peak in the Western Ghats (2,690m) has similarities with Sri Lanka’s Pidurutalagala (2,524m) in appearance as well as vegetation. Anai Mudi plays host to the most secure populations of Nilgiri tahr (Hermitragus hylocrius), an endangered mountain goat that is only found in the southern Western Ghats.

One of the reasons that the Western Ghats have been designated a ‘biodiversity hotspot’ is because of the intense pressure on the habitat. Hill stations are expanding into undisturbed areas, tea plantations have gobbled up large swathes of rainforests and there is tremendous pressure from mining companies and large- dam builders. As in Sri Lanka, native forests have been replaced with exotic trees (such as eucalyptus and pinus species), an unfortunate fact that has been very difficult to reverse. A number of individuals and organisations are working to reverse some of these negative developments and growing awareness is a key part to protecting this marvellous mountain range.

Ian Lockwood is an educator, photographer, and environmentalist currently working as a teacher of geography and environmental systems at the Overseas School of Colombo.

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