Anaimalai Tiger Reserve, earlier known as Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary and National Park and as Anaimalai Wildlife Sanctuary, is a protected area in the Anaimalai Hills of Pollachi and Valparai taluks of Coimbatore District and Udumalaipettai taluk in Tiruppur District, Tamil Nadu, India. The Tamil Nadu Environment and Forests Department by a notification dated 27 June 2007,[3] declared an extent of 958.59 km2 that encompassed the erstwhile IGWLS&NP or Anaimalai Wildlife Sanctuary, as Anaimalai Tiger Reserve under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. According to the National Tiger Conservation Authority, the Reserve presently includes a core area of 958.59 km2 and buffer/peripheral area of 521.28 km2 forming a total area of 1479.87 km2.[4]
Etymology
The park is named after former Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi who visited the park on 7 October 1961. The main tourist facilities are located in the northeast corner of the park at "Topslip", so named because of the local 19th century practice of sliding timber logs down the hills from here.[5]
History
Boundary of the Anamalai Tiger Reserve
By the mid-1800s, large tracts of Valparai plateau in the Anamalais were under intense tea or coffee plantations after deforestation of the natural forests. By 1866 two-thirds of the plantations were owned by Europeans and the remaining by Indians from coastal towns. Since most native inhabitants either refused to work or were inefficient workers, labour for plantations was brought from the plains of Tamil Nadu to clear forests and grow coffee.
Some parts of the forest however were reserved for timber including large areas around Top Slip. This part of the Western Ghats, under the Madras Presidency were exploited extensively for teak which was supplied to the Bombay Dockyard for shipbuilding and later for railroad ties.[6]
The area was notified as Anaimalai Wildlife Sanctuary in 1974. of its unique habitats at 3 places – Karian Shola, Grass hills, Manjampatti Valley were notified as a National Park in 1989. The 108 square kilometres (42 sq mi) National Park is the core area of the 958 square kilometres (370 sq mi) Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary.[1] IGWS was declared a Project Tigertiger reserve in 2008.
The Steering Committee of Project Tiger granted approval in principle to inclusion of Indira Gandhi WLS and NP under Project Tiger in 2005.[10] IGWS was declared a Project Tiger sanctuary in 2008.[11] Continuance of 'Project Tiger' in Anamalai Tiger Reserve for FY 2010/11, at the cost of ₹ 23,547,000 was approved by the National Tiger Conservation Authority on 31 August 2010.[12]
This tiger reserve, together with the several other contiguous protected forest and grassland habitats, is the core of the Parambikulum-Indira Gandhi tiger habitat landscape complex, with tiger occupancy area of about 3,253 km2 (1,256 sq mi) and an estimated metapopulation of 42 tigers.[7]
In 1997, annual celebration of Elephant Pongal at Top Slip was begun. For Pongal, several decorated elephants stand in front of the Pongal pot to mark the commencement of the celebration. The elephants are fed chakkarai pongal, banana and sugarcane while lined up behind a barricade, so tourists can have a close look. In 2011, Elephant Pongal was celebrated on 18 January.[16]
^National Geographic Channel, OFF THE BEATEN TRACK, Indira Gandhi National Park
[1]
^Government of India. "Bombay Dock". Early History (Indian Navy). National Informatics Center. Archived from the original on 10 March 2010. Retrieved 14 March 2012.
^ abJhala Y.V.; Qureshi, Q.; Gopal, R.; Sinha, P.R. (2011). Status of the Tigers, Co-predators, and Prey in India(PDF). New Delhi, Dehradun: National Tiger Conservation Authority, Govt. of India and Wildlife Institute of India. Archived from the original(PDF) on 20 January 2012. Retrieved 13 March 2012.
^UNESCO, World Heritage sites, Tentative lists, Western Ghats sub cluster, Anamalai, 2007. [2]
^Protected Area Update (Oct. 2005) "New Tiger Reserves" (No. 57) p.17 [3]Archived 17 October 2006 at the Wayback Machine
^"Eight New Tiger Reserves". Press Release. Ministry of Environment and Forests, Press Information Bureau, Govt. of India. 13 November 2008. Retrieved 31 October 2009.