Hot spots in kerala  "THe BIOME"

Beautiful greenery exists in almost everyplace you behold.Seamless experience in the hot spots of this BIOME.

Best season October - May
Monsoon is ananother experience

Major rivers which originate from the mountain are the Karanama river, which flows through the Trivandrum district and is the major source of drinking water to the city, and the Neyyar river (Trivandrum district).

Trekking routes

Athirumala Base Station in Agastya Mala

Trek Route.

Important places

Murti of Agasthya Muni at the top of Agasthyamalai hill

Agasthyakoodam

Kalakakad Mundanthara
Peppara
Neyyar
Ponmudi
Kallar-Meenmutty
Mankayam
Vazhvanthol

Agasthya mountain  "The Biome"

Is about 3500sq.kms, widely spreaded in Trivandrum,Kollam , Pathanamthitta about 1828sq.kms and remain in Tamil Nadu.Agasthya mountain is the one of the most abundant area among Western ghats.

1) Agasthyakoodam

• The lower elevations of this peak are known for their abundance of rare herbs and medicinal plants.
• Around 2,000 medicinal plants used in Ayurvedic treatments are found here.  
• Europeans, particularly those from England, were the first to establish tea gardens around the base stations of the mountain at Brimore,Bonacaud, and Ponmudi.
•   The agasthyamala biosphere reserve harbours rare flora and fauna. 
• Most of the adventure travellers gathering here for defeating the high altitudes.
• Trekking through forest up to 36 km very adventurous.
• The trekking route starts from Bonacaud. The route "Neyyar-Agasthyakoodam" is not open to the public
• Tourists are permitted to the area only with permission from the forest department of Kerala.
• Annual trekking passes to the peak are issued from the forest department during January–February only [sivarathry day]
  
• For thispiplgrimers need to take pass from forest department by paying Rs 200.
• For one day only 100 passes  (limited)

Location :  Trivandrum district of Kerala
                     Thirunelveli & Kanyakumari district of Tamil 
                     Nadu

How to reach
         By Road :  Trivandrum - nedumangad-Vithura - 
                             Bonacaud [61 kms]  

         By Rail : Thiruvananthapuram [65 kms]
                  
         By Air   : Thiruvananthapuram [70 kms]

Stay : Trivandrum or Nedumangad

Ticket charges : Entrance fee Rs.10/-

Agasthya park trekking fee Rs.200/ head during season 
                                                   Rs.4,000/ head during off season

Sights around : Bonacaud, Pandipathu,Neyyar

What to do     : Trekking,Bird watching

contact               : Wild life warden [Trivandrum]
                                             0471-2360762, 9447979082


Contact us for better package, we serve than you expect
                                                                                                                                                                                       

How Can I Afford to Travel?

The question we are asked the most is:

"How Can You Afford to Travel?"

This post marks the first in a series about how we can afford to travel, which will hopefully be useful for you if you want to travel longterm too! 

We're very excited to start off the posts with this one. Below 18 successful bloggers have agreed to answer the question 'How Can You Afford to Travel?'

Make sure you don't miss out the guys at the bottom! (Especially if you want to find out how Travelling Weasels can afford to travel). 

just listen how they enjoing these all

How Can You Afford to Travel?

I (Caz) first started travelling in 97 and have ever since. Craig joined me in 02 after we married and we've been travelling ever since. We have always followed the working holiday strategy and still do, only this time we have our own online business and so earn money through that while we continue to travel.

If you work as you travel, you never have to worry about saving too much to begin with and you can slow travel for as long as you like. You've always got income coming in. I was a primary school teacher and Craig a carpenter so we easily found work in other countries. We both also did other jobs like hospitality. We'd work for 1- 2 years, exploring the region we lived in during this period. We'd then take a few months in between jobs to travel through cheaper countries.

In 97, I lived in London for two years teaching and travelled around Europe in a campervan with some girlfriends. I then moved to work in Dublin for the summer before moving back home via two months travel in Vietnam and Thailand. 

After we married, we lived in Bangkok for 6 months teaching English. We then travelled South East Asia for a few months before moving to Dublin where we lived and travelled for nearly a year. After that we backpacked Africa for five months and then moved to Western Australia to work on a pearl farm for five months. We earned awesome money here, which topped up the bank for our big move to the States.

We lived in Raleigh, North Carolina for two years, finishing with a road trip across the country and then a few months travel through  China, Laos and Thailand. We then had our daughter back in Australia and when she was nine months moved back to Raleigh for another two years. We then moved back home, built up our travel blog and 16 months ago set off for a road trip around Australia.

  Try the best one or create new ideas 

                                            

                                                  
Goood Luck...!

Ghats cherished with wide variety of species ,[discovered are less]

 These ranges are known for their rich bio-diveristy and natural heritage. The mountains intercept the rain-bearing westerly monsoon winds, and are consequently an area of high rainfall, hence known also as monsoon mountains. 

A large number of herbivores also make the ghats their home due to this abundant vegetation. And the Nilgiri Tahr (Nilgiritragus hylocrius) is one of them. It is a high altitude dweller and is found mostly in grasslands above 1,200 meters
Though their main diet is fruits, they are omnivorous and forage for seeds, fresh leaves, flowers and insects. They are mostly arboreal, and seldom get down from the trees. And are often mistook for the more commom Nilgiri langur as that too is dark in color.
While some species are gray in color like the tahr and others dark like the macaques. There are other species which are bright in color and the Rufous colored Malabar Giant Squirrel (Ratufa indica) is among them. They too are arboreal and their huge bushy tail which can grow upto 2ft helps them balance on the precarious tree tops.
Though the thick forests of western ghats is well suited for canopy dwellers, there are some predators who have used this to their advantage. And one such predator, a master of stealth is the Leopard.

While most animals are shy and are hidden in the thick forests, the Malabar whistling thrush (Myophonus horsfieldii) is probably the most elusive. Most often one can only hear their calls in the morning, click to hear the morning raga of the whistling trush.

While the thrushes are found mostly on the ground and much below the canopy, some birds are found mostly on the canopy over looking the evergreen forests.
One flagship bird of the western-ghats, the Malabar pied hornbill (Anthracoceros coronatus) is found motly on treetops of fruiting trees. Though figs form a major part of their diet, they do sometimes feed on fish and small mammals.
Some birds are also found in the coffee plantations. One such bird, the Scarlet Minivet (Pericrocotus flammeus) feeds on the small insects that come to feed on the coffee fruit.
Birds are not the only habitants of plants and bushes in the rainforest. A group of frogs known as bush frogs are mostly found on sitting on leaves and calling for their mates. 9 bush frogs have been discovered in the year 2011 alone.

The Blue-eyed bush frog (Philautus leutolus) is one of the prettiest bush frogs which has been recently discovered in the western ghats. Click to hear the call of the Blue-eyed bushfrog (Frog call source : Dr. Gururaja K.V.)

Another bush frog, the Ponmudi bush frog (Philautus ponmudi) gets its name from a small hill station in Kerala were it was first recorded
There are frogs found higher up in the tree too. These tree frogs are slightly bigger in size and have webbed feet that allow them to leap from branch to branch. One such tree frog is the Malabar Gliding frog (Racophorous Malabaricus).
Most frogs though are found on the ground close to water bodies. The Bronzed frog (Hylarana temporalis) is mostly found on edges of rocky streams. They sit exposed on flat rocks and stones and can leap, often to a considerable distance.
Frogs fall under the classification of amphibians, having the ability to live in and out of water. While the tree frogs and bush frogs live close to water, there are some frogs which live in water! One such species is the Alice's wrinkled frog (Nictibatrachus aliciae). Like most frogs they are nocturnal and hence their name Nictibatrachus meaning "Night frog".
Where there are frogs, there are bound to be snakes. And one common yet beautiful non-venomous snake of the western ghats is the Green Vine Snake (Ahaetulla nasuta)
The venomous Malabar pit viper (Trimeresurus malabaricus) is another beautiful snake from the western ghats which uses its heat sensing pits to track and hunt prey.
But the flagship species of the western ghats is the King Cobra (Ophiophagus hannah). Growing upto 15ft and weighing upto 10kgs. It's the world's largest venomous snake. The snake derives its scientific name from the fact that it feeds only on snakes. They've recently be documented to be cannibalistic.
The western ghats are also home to a wide range fauna. Caterpillars, Butterflies, Lizards and Spiders are just some of them. The Forest Calotes is another lovely lizard from this area.
The ghats have also been home to several indigenous tribes for centuries. Venkatappa is a Goudlu tribal. The Goudlu tribe is one of the last traces of pure Malnad culture in the Indian western ghats, farming is their primary occupation. The tribe is no longer protected from urbanization, the plastic sheet he wears has replaced the traditional rain blanket "KAMBLI". All is not lost, "MUTTALE" - the Arecanut leaf headgear still remains.
As urbanization creeps into these beautiful habitats, the forest suffers. As forests make way to towns and tea plantations, the western ghats face a bleak future
As more roads cut across the forests, the animals have to make way for the traffic at the cost of their lives
These ghats that are home to several species of animals are also life giving. They refresh the atmosphere with the oxygen they produce. The ghats also account for most rivers that feed our towns and cities. The loss of these forests have far reaching consequences than we can comprehend now.

Western Ghats

The mountain chain running for nearly 1600 kms, along the south-western coast, is the principal watershed for peninsular India. Monsoon clouds from the Indian ocean hit the peaks precipitating more than 29 feet of rains.Some 60 rivers,including the Godavari,Krishna and Kavery and countless streams have watered fields for atleast 5,000 yrs.

                              About one third of plants, almost have the reptiles, more than three fourth of amphibians and 325 bird species found in India inhabit the13,000 sq.kms of the ghats down from 160,000 sq.kms, of forest  at the begining of the 20th century.Tigers, Elephants,Langurs,Hornbills,and King cobras too are denizens.Threatened species include the Gaur,Sloth bear and Malabar squirrel,Wroughton's free tailed bat & white bellied shortwing.Silent valley a "a bio diversity hot spot" too nestles here.We proudly offer you our green heritage increasingly threatened by predatory interests 
 

Facts & Figures 

• Nilgiri is the meeting point of western and eastern ghats.
• NIlgiri and Agasthyamalai are the only biosphere reserves.
• Largest Bird Sanctuary is Thattekad bird sanctuary in Kerala (25sqkm) 
• Major East flowing Rivers are Krishna,Godavery and Kavery 
• Largest protected areas are Indhira gandhi wildlife sanctuary and National park in tamil Nadu (850sqkm)
  • Smallest protected areas are Gudavi bird sanctuary in karnataka(.74sqkm)
• Scientific name of the recently discovered purple frog is Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis 
• Total Forest cover - approximately 20% of western ghats 
• Major Forest types
  Evergreen,Semi evergreen,Moist deciduous and Dry deciduous.
   

                                                  Highest waterfall 
  

 

                                                                                             The jog falls or the Gersoppa falls,falling from a height of 253 m [829 ft] along the course of Shravathy river in Shimogha district of Karnataka,is the highest natural plunge waterfall in Southasia.This is listed among the 1001 natural wonders of the world and is one of the major tourist attraction.

 Highest Peak

Anamudi 2695m [8,842 ft] in the southern part of the range in the anamalai hills,in western Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

 

  Second Highest Peak

Dodabetta 2,637m [8651 ft] in Nilgiris,Tamil Nadu.

Most prominent gap/Pass in the range

The palghat gap(on the Kerala/Tamil nadu border between the Nilgiri hills and Anamalai hills);32 km at its widest and 13 km at its narrowest.Considered to represent the valley formed by a major river of the territory times.

Global 200 priority ecoregions

South western ghats moist forests and western ghats rivers and streams

  

Degree of endemism

Of all the faunal groups ,highest endemism seen among land snails(invertebrates) and amphibians (vertebrates)

 

The Chirapunji of south India

Agumbe in Shimogha district of Karnataka.Recieves the second highest rainfall in the country after chirapunji in Meghalaya

 Protected areas

The largest proportion (45%) of the area protected in western ghats lies within the 19 protected areas in the state of Karnataka