Nagarhole (nagar - snake, hole - streams), once the Mysore Maharaja's reserved forest it became a National Park in 1955. Covering gentle hills bordering Kerala, it includes swampland, moist deciduous and teak forest and many streams in an area of 645 sq km. The Kabini river which is a tributary of the Kaveri flows through the deciduous forest. The timber here is valuable with teak and rosewood and also stands of giant bamboo. Nagarhole is a known elephant habitat and in the summers they gather around the Kabini River to eat their favourite grass on the river banks. Apart from jumbo park has gaur (Indian bison), dhole (Indian wild dogs), 4-horned antelopes, flying squirrels, sloth bears, monkeys, sambar, leopards and tigers. Many varieties of birds including the rare Malabar trogon, great black woodpecker, Indian pitta, Malabar pied hornbill, whistling thrush and green imperial pigeon. It is also famous for a variety of reptiles including common cobra, checkered keelback, flying snake, trinket snake and spectacled cobra.

Bandipur, set up by the Mysore Maharaja in 1931 as a hunting reserve, was the first par in South India to be chosen for the Project Tiger Scheme and was expended to 874 sq km to be declared as National Park in 1973. Mixture of South tropical moist and dry deciduous forests (predominantly teak and Anogeissus) and scrubland in the Nilgiri foothills (Alt 780-1455m). The wetter areas support rosewood, sandalwood, silk-cotton and jamun. You should easily spot gaur, chital (spotted deer), elephant and sambar, but tigers and leopards are rare. Also good variety of bird life including crested hawk and serpent eagles and tiny-eared owl.

Set on attractive lake side, the 777 sq km sanctuary was created by the old Travencore State Govt in 1934. In 1895 the lake was created by building a dam which covered 55 sq km of rich forest. The sanctuary, near the border with Tamil Nadu, is in a beautiful setting and was designated a part of Project Tiger in 1973, though it is better known for its elephants. The road from the plains is through tropical evergreen forests, rubber and spice plantations, and pepper on the low land gives rise to tea and cardamom plantations.

Among the 62 species of mammals, many are rare, endemic and endangered. Periyar is prime elephant country and large herbs are often sighted at the lake fringes. There is an estimated population of 900-1000 animals which is likely to overlap with the population in the adjoining forest areas. Gaur, among the largest of bovines, occurs in all types of habitats. Sambar, the largest deer in India are extensively distributed, and constitute the principal prey base of tiger and wild dog. Wild pig, has wide distribution throughout the park. Some times these animals invade agricultural lands often leading to man-wildlife conflicts. Small relict populations of the highly endangered Nilgiri tahr are found in the high altitude grasslands of Mangaladevi. Four of the five primate species found in the Western Ghats are well represented in Periyar. While the Nilgiri langur enjoys a wide distribution in the moist forests, the highly endangered Lion tailed macaques are confined to the dense evergreen canopies. Malabar giant squirrel is common in the area. Though the presence of the endangered species, Small travancore flying squirrel is recorded from Periyar, the Large flying squirrel is more frequently seen. Salim Ali’s fruit bat reported which is an endemic and endangered species, considered to be among the rarest of bats.

320 species of birds are so far check listed from Periyar. The birds include raptors, water birds, galliform birds, pigeons, wood peckers and passerines. The reserve has a good distribution of southern western ghat endemics. All disjunct species, that occur in the eastern Himalaya but absent in between are reported from Periyar. A third of all the birds found in Periyar are trans-asian migrants.

Area 27 sq km. Best season May-Nov. Beautiful tree covered, rocky island in the Kaveri river. Numerous resident and migratory waterbirds include pond heron, cormorant, darter, little and cattle egrets, openbill stork, red wattled lapwing, spoonbill, white ibis. Also some crocodiles.

The Thattekad Bird Sanctuary, covering an area of hardly 25 km², and located about 60 km north-east of Cochin (Kerala state, India), is one of the important bird sanctuaries of India. Dr. Salim Ali, one of the best known ornithologist has described this sanctuary as “the richest bird habitat on peninsular India”. The literal meaning of Thattekad is flat forest, the region is an evergreen low-land forest and is located between the branches of Periyar River, the longest river in Kerala.