The
catchment area of Peppara dam built across Karamana River to supply drinking
water to Thiruvananthapuram city and suburban areas forms the forests of Peppara
National Park. It was declared a sanctuary in 1983 as thanks to the ecological
significance of the area. Located 50kms north east of Thiruvananthapuram city,
the sanctuary occupies an area of 53 sq.kms out of which the area of the reservoir
is 5.82 sq.kms.
The area also includes the areas of two other sanctuaries, the Palode reserve
(24sq.kms) and the Kottoor reserve (29sq.kms). The terrain of the sanctuary
is more or less hilly. Peppara National Park is the natural habitat of tiger,
panther, wild dog, elephant, gaur, mouse deer, Nilgiri langur, sambhar, lion
tailed macaque, barking deer, wild boar, Malabar squirrel etc. Birdlife of
the sanctuary is also prolific. The bird species include the water birds like
darter, little cormorant, pied king fisher and egrets. A wide variety of species
of snakes including the king cobra and python are also found in this reserve.
The Peppara National Park is also well known for its extensive variety of
moth and butterflies. In addition to the wildlife, 13 tribal settlements are
also found in the Peppara National Park.
Three major forest belts characterize the flora of the Peppara National Park.
These are: southern hilltop tropical evergreen forests that occur mostly on
the hills with an altitude of above 1000m, west coast semi- evergreen forests
that found atop the hills with an altitude of 150 to 1050m and southern moist
mixed deciduous forests found in the lower slopes of the hills and cover more
than 60% of the area.
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Peppara National Park