Cardamom Hills
Encyclopedia
Not to be confused with Cardamom Mountains
in Cambodia
. For other uses, see Cardamom (disambiguation)
The Cardamom Hills are part of the southern Western Ghats
located in southeast Kerala
and southwest Tamil Nadu
in South India
. Their name comes from the cardamom
spice grown in much of the hill's cool elevation, which also grows pepper
and coffee
. The Western Ghats, Periyar Sub-Cluster including the Cardamom Hills, is under consideration by the UNESCO
World Heritage Committee for selection as a World Heritage Site
.
, Mullakudy and Pamba
rivers. It includes Idukki Dam
and Mullaperiyar Dam
. They conjoin the Anaimalai Hills
to the northwest, the Palni Hills
to the northeast and the Agasthyamalai Hills to the south as far as the Ariankavu pass (at c. 9° N). The crest of the hills form the boundary between Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The highest peak in the range is Anamudi
, with a height of 2,695 metres (8,842 ft) in Eravikulam National Park
, the highest point in India south of the Himalayas
.
to 31°C in summer (April-May). The annual rainfall of 2,000 mm to 3,000 mm in Periyar decreases to less than 1,500 mm in the east in Srivilliputtur Wildlife Sanctuary. On the western side, two-thirds of the precipitation is received during the southwest monsoon from June to September. The areas also receive rainfall from the northeast monsoon (October-December) and from pre-monsoon showers (April-May).
intended to restrict human access, protect specific endangered species
and preserve some of the still undeveloped forest biome
s. The central part of the hills comprise the Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary
covering an area of 777 km². The 350 km² core zone of the sanctuary is the Periyar National Park and Tiger Reserve. Periyar is a major ecotourism
destination.
To the south of the Periyar Tiger Reserve are the reserve forest
s of the Ranni
, Konni and Achankovil Forest Divisions. The Srivilliputtur Wildlife Sanctuary and reserved forests of the Tirunelveli
Forest Division are contiguous with Periyar on the eastern side of the hills in Tamil Nadu in the rain-shadow area with mostly drier forests. The Meghamalai reserve forest
, also contiguous with Periyar, is proposed to be the 600 km² Meghamalai Wildlife Sanctuary to protect several threatened species
including: Bengal Tiger
, Indian Elephant
, Nilgiri tahr
, lion-tailed macaque
, Slender loris
, Grizzled Giant Squirrel
, Salim Ali's fruit bat, Great Indian Hornbill, Hutton's pitviper and Vindhyan Bob butterfly
.
in April 1822 to promote cardamom cultivation and to give facilities and protection to cardamom farmers. The Cardamom Hill Reserve (CHR) is within the Cardamom Hills Idukki District
. It comprises about 15721 acres (63.6 km²) as per 1897 royal proclamation of the Kingdom of Travancore
. But later the area was misquoted by many experts as 2, 15721 acres (63.6 km²), which originated as a typographical error. It is bordered by the Tamil Nadu border to the east, Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary on the south, the Periyar River
on the west, and Boddi Mettu, Chokkanad and Wudirapuza to the north. The rain forests of CHR are a natural wildlife corridor to Periyar National Park from the Anaimalai Hills and Palani hills of Tamil Nadu and is the catchment area of 6 major hydro-electric projects in Idukki District. Now it is situated in the Idukki District of Kerala.
According to Chief Secretary Government of Kerala Cardamom Hill land is Government land under the control of Revenue Department for more than a century. The total extent of Cardamom hill area was 1071.9746 km² (264885 Acres) of which 568.6 km² (140500 Acres) was assigned under various Land Assignment Rules. The balance of
503.38 km² (1, 24,386 Acres) is leased to farmers for cardamom cultivation The CHR accounts for about 70 percent of the cardamom production of India. CHR contains The Cardamom Research Station, situated in the Pampadumpara village of Udumbanchola
taluk. It is located on the eastern side of Kumily-Munnar road. See:map.
CHR is the center of a controversy between the Forest department and the Revenue department over control of the Cardamom plantations in the Reserve. Non-cardamom cultivation, illegal land conversion, and large scale destruction of trees in the CHR have been blamed for flash-floods and landslips in Idukki and siltation problems in the Idukki dam.
Cardamom Mountains
The Krâvanh Mountains, literally the "Cardamom Mountains" , is a mountain range in the south west of Cambodia, jutting into southeastern Thailand.-Location and description:...
in Cambodia
Cambodia
Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...
. For other uses, see Cardamom (disambiguation)
Cardamom (disambiguation)
-Botanical:*Cardamom , species within two genera of the ginger family Zingiberaceae, namely Elettaria and Amomum*Black cardamom , a plant in the family Zingiberaceae having pods used as a spice...
The Cardamom Hills are part of the southern Western Ghats
Western Ghats
The Western Ghats, Western Ghauts or the Sahyādri is a mountain range along the western side of India. It runs north to south along the western edge of the Deccan Plateau, and separates the plateau from a narrow coastal plain along the Arabian Sea. The Western Ghats block rainfall to the Deccan...
located in southeast Kerala
Kerala
or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....
and southwest Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...
in South India
South India
South India is the area encompassing India's states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu as well as the union territories of Lakshadweep and Pondicherry, occupying 19.31% of India's area...
. Their name comes from the cardamom
Cardamom
Cardamom refers to several plants of the genera Elettaria and Amomum in the ginger family Zingiberaceae. Both genera are native to India and Bhutan; they are recognised by their small seed pod, triangular in cross-section and spindle-shaped, with a thin papery outer shell and small black seeds...
spice grown in much of the hill's cool elevation, which also grows pepper
Black pepper
Black pepper is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit, which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. The fruit, known as a peppercorn when dried, is approximately in diameter, dark red when fully mature, and, like all drupes, contains a single seed...
and coffee
Coffee
Coffee is a brewed beverage with a dark,init brooo acidic flavor prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, colloquially called coffee beans. The beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia,...
. The Western Ghats, Periyar Sub-Cluster including the Cardamom Hills, is under consideration by the UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
World Heritage Committee for selection as a World Heritage Site
World Heritage Site
A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...
.
Geography
The Cardamom Hills Central point is about 9°52′N 77°09′E. They cover about 2,800 km² of mountainous terrain with deep valleys, and includes the drainages of the west flowing PeriyarPeriyar River
Periyar is the longest river in the state of Kerala, India, with a length of 244 km. The Periyar is known as the lifeline of Kerala; it is one of the few perennial rivers in the region and provides drinking water for several major towns...
, Mullakudy and Pamba
Pamba River
Pamba River is the third longest river in the South Indian state of Kerala after Periyar and Bharathappuzha and the longest river in the erstwhile princely state of Travancore...
rivers. It includes Idukki Dam
Idukki Dam
The Idukki Dam, located in Kerala, India, is a 555 foot tall arch dam. The dam stands between the two mountains - Kuravanmala m and Kurathimala m. It was constructed and is owned by the Kerala State Electricity Board....
and Mullaperiyar Dam
Mullaperiyar Dam
Mullaiperiyaru Dam is a gravity dam made with lime stone and surkhi and the cunstruction technologies of 19th century on the Periyar River. It is located above mean sea level on the Cardamom Hills of Western Ghats in Thekkadi, Idukki District of Kerala, India...
. They conjoin the Anaimalai Hills
Anaimalai Hills
The Anaimalai Hills is a range of mountains in the Western Ghats in Tamil Nadu and Kerala states of South India. The name "Anaimalai" derives from the Tamil word 'Ana' meaning elephant and 'Mala' meaning hill, thus Elephant Hill. The highest peak of the Anaimalai Hills is Anamudi, , located in the...
to the northwest, the Palni Hills
Palni Hills
The Palni Hills are a mountain range in Tamil Nadu state of South India. The Palni Hills are an eastward extension of the Western Ghats ranges, which run parallel to the west coast of India. The Palni Hills adjoin the high Anamalai range on the west, and extend east into the plains of Tamil Nadu,...
to the northeast and the Agasthyamalai Hills to the south as far as the Ariankavu pass (at c. 9° N). The crest of the hills form the boundary between Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The highest peak in the range is Anamudi
Anamudi
Anamudi is located in the Indian state Kerala. It is the highest peak in the Western Ghats and South India, at an elevation of , and a topographic prominence of...
, with a height of 2,695 metres (8,842 ft) in Eravikulam National Park
Eravikulam National Park
Eravikulam National Park is a 97 km² national park located along the Western Ghats in the Idukki district of Kerala in India, between 10º05'N - 10º20'N latitude and 77º0'E - 77º10'E longitude...
, the highest point in India south of the Himalayas
Himalayas
The Himalaya Range or Himalaya Mountains Sanskrit: Devanagari: हिमालय, literally "abode of snow"), usually called the Himalayas or Himalaya for short, is a mountain range in Asia, separating the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau...
.
Climate
These hills experience average daily temperatures of 15°C in winterWinter
Winter is the coldest season of the year in temperate climates, between autumn and spring. At the winter solstice, the days are shortest and the nights are longest, with days lengthening as the season progresses after the solstice.-Meteorology:...
to 31°C in summer (April-May). The annual rainfall of 2,000 mm to 3,000 mm in Periyar decreases to less than 1,500 mm in the east in Srivilliputtur Wildlife Sanctuary. On the western side, two-thirds of the precipitation is received during the southwest monsoon from June to September. The areas also receive rainfall from the northeast monsoon (October-December) and from pre-monsoon showers (April-May).
Biome Protection
These hills are made up largely of several contiguous protected areasProtected areas of India
As of May 2004, the protected areas of India cover , roughly 4.95% of the total surface area.-Classification:India has the following kinds of protected areas, in the sense of the word designated by IUCN:-National Park:...
intended to restrict human access, protect specific endangered species
Endangered species
An endangered species is a population of organisms which is at risk of becoming extinct because it is either few in numbers, or threatened by changing environmental or predation parameters...
and preserve some of the still undeveloped forest biome
Biome
Biomes are climatically and geographically defined as similar climatic conditions on the Earth, such as communities of plants, animals, and soil organisms, and are often referred to as ecosystems. Some parts of the earth have more or less the same kind of abiotic and biotic factors spread over a...
s. The central part of the hills comprise the Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary
Periyar National Park
Periyar is a protected area, and a nature reserve in the South Indian State of Kerala, set high in the mountains of the Western Ghats along the border with Tamil Nadu. It lies in the districts of Idukki and Pathanamthitta...
covering an area of 777 km². The 350 km² core zone of the sanctuary is the Periyar National Park and Tiger Reserve. Periyar is a major ecotourism
Ecotourism
Ecotourism is a form of tourism visiting fragile, pristine, and usually protected areas, intended as a low impact and often small scale alternative to standard commercial tourism...
destination.
To the south of the Periyar Tiger Reserve are the reserve forest
Reserve forest
You may be looking for forest reserve, a generic term associated with protected forest areas, which is also used as a specific term for protected forests in some countries...
s of the Ranni
Ranni
Ranni , sometimes spelled Ranny, is one of the 5 Taluks in the Pathanamthitta district of Kerala, in India. According to the Census of India 2001, the population was 207,782. The taluk headquarters is a small township on both sides of the Pamba River. Ranni is also one of the largest taluks in...
, Konni and Achankovil Forest Divisions. The Srivilliputtur Wildlife Sanctuary and reserved forests of the Tirunelveli
Tirunelveli
Tirunelveli , also known as Nellai , and historically as Tinnevelly, is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the headquarters of the Tirunelveli District and the sixth biggest city in Tamil Nadu...
Forest Division are contiguous with Periyar on the eastern side of the hills in Tamil Nadu in the rain-shadow area with mostly drier forests. The Meghamalai reserve forest
Meghamalai
Meghamalai, popularly called High Wavy Mountains, is a cool and misty mountain range situated in the Western Ghats in Theni district, Tamilnadu, South India. It is a place of natural beauty dotted with cardamom plantations and tea estates. The place is situated at an elevation of 1,500 m above sea...
, also contiguous with Periyar, is proposed to be the 600 km² Meghamalai Wildlife Sanctuary to protect several threatened species
Threatened species
Threatened species are any speciesg animals, plants, fungi, etc.) which are vulnerable to endangerment in the near future.The World Conservation Union is the foremost authority on threatened species, and treats threatened species not as a single category, but as a group of three categories,...
including: Bengal Tiger
Bengal Tiger
The Bengal tiger is a tiger subspecies native to the Indian subcontinent that in 2010 has been classified as endangered by IUCN...
, Indian Elephant
Indian Elephant
The Indian Elephant is one of three recognized subspecies of the Asian elephant, and native to mainland Asia. Since 1986, Elephas maximus has been listed as endangered by IUCN as the population has declined by at least 50% over the last three generations, estimated to be 60–75 years...
, Nilgiri tahr
Nilgiri Tahr
The Nilgiri Tahr, Nilgiritragus hylocrius, known locally as the Nilgiri Ibex or simply Ibex, is an ungulate that is endemic to the Nilgiri Hills and the southern portion of the Western Ghats in the states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala in southern India. It is the state animal of Tamil Nadu...
, lion-tailed macaque
Lion-tailed Macaque
The lion-tailed macaque is an Old World monkey that is endemic to the Western Ghats of South India.-Physical Characteristics:...
, Slender loris
Slender loris
The slender lorises are two species of loris native to India and Sri Lanka, the only members of the genus Loris:* the red slender loris, Loris tardigradus* the gray slender loris, Loris lydekkerianus...
, Grizzled Giant Squirrel
Grizzled Giant Squirrel
The grizzled giant squirrel is a large tree squirrel in the genus Ratufa found in the highlands of the Central and Uva provinces of Sri Lanka, and in patches of riparian forest along the Kaveri River and in the hill forests in the Tamil Nadu and Kerala states of southern India...
, Salim Ali's fruit bat, Great Indian Hornbill, Hutton's pitviper and Vindhyan Bob butterfly
Arnetta vindhiana
Arnetta vindhiana, commonly known as the Vindhyan Bob, is a butterfly belonging to the family Hesperiidae. It is native to India.-Description:...
.
Cardamom Hill Reserve
The Cardamom Hill was an administrative area under two revenue officers (Tahasildar) created by the royal proclamation of Kingdom of TravancoreTravancore
Kingdom of Travancore was a former Hindu feudal kingdom and Indian Princely State with its capital at Padmanabhapuram or Trivandrum ruled by the Travancore Royal Family. The Kingdom of Travancore comprised most of modern day southern Kerala, Kanyakumari district, and the southernmost parts of...
in April 1822 to promote cardamom cultivation and to give facilities and protection to cardamom farmers. The Cardamom Hill Reserve (CHR) is within the Cardamom Hills Idukki District
Idukki district
Idukki district is one among the 14 districts of Kerala state, India. The district headquarters is located at in Painavu.It is the second least populous district in Kerala, after Wayanad .-Etymology:...
. It comprises about 15721 acres (63.6 km²) as per 1897 royal proclamation of the Kingdom of Travancore
Travancore
Kingdom of Travancore was a former Hindu feudal kingdom and Indian Princely State with its capital at Padmanabhapuram or Trivandrum ruled by the Travancore Royal Family. The Kingdom of Travancore comprised most of modern day southern Kerala, Kanyakumari district, and the southernmost parts of...
. But later the area was misquoted by many experts as 2, 15721 acres (63.6 km²), which originated as a typographical error. It is bordered by the Tamil Nadu border to the east, Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary on the south, the Periyar River
Periyar River
Periyar is the longest river in the state of Kerala, India, with a length of 244 km. The Periyar is known as the lifeline of Kerala; it is one of the few perennial rivers in the region and provides drinking water for several major towns...
on the west, and Boddi Mettu, Chokkanad and Wudirapuza to the north. The rain forests of CHR are a natural wildlife corridor to Periyar National Park from the Anaimalai Hills and Palani hills of Tamil Nadu and is the catchment area of 6 major hydro-electric projects in Idukki District. Now it is situated in the Idukki District of Kerala.
According to Chief Secretary Government of Kerala Cardamom Hill land is Government land under the control of Revenue Department for more than a century. The total extent of Cardamom hill area was 1071.9746 km² (264885 Acres) of which 568.6 km² (140500 Acres) was assigned under various Land Assignment Rules. The balance of
503.38 km² (1, 24,386 Acres) is leased to farmers for cardamom cultivation The CHR accounts for about 70 percent of the cardamom production of India. CHR contains The Cardamom Research Station, situated in the Pampadumpara village of Udumbanchola
Udumbanchola
Udumbanchola is a taluk in Idukki district of Kerala state in India. This is in the high-ranges. Nedumkandam is the major town and capital of Udumbanchola taluk...
taluk. It is located on the eastern side of Kumily-Munnar road. See:map.
CHR is the center of a controversy between the Forest department and the Revenue department over control of the Cardamom plantations in the Reserve. Non-cardamom cultivation, illegal land conversion, and large scale destruction of trees in the CHR have been blamed for flash-floods and landslips in Idukki and siltation problems in the Idukki dam.