Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Wildlife sanctuary

The Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Wildlife Sanctuary is well known for its elephants, sambars and gaurs and a rich bio-diversity. The ancient temple of Biligiri Rangaswamy in the sanctuary is a place of pilgrimage for more than 500 years. The terrain is undulating with a chain of hilly ranges, running parallel to each other. Streams and rivers crisscross the sanctuary and end up draining to the South-West and to the North-East. This makes the sanctuary a richer and fertile environment. Most of the southern boundary of the sanctuary adjoins the state of Tamil Nadu.

The B.R.T. Wildlife Sanctuary is well known for its rich diversity of flora and fauna. This sanctuary has a large variety of plant and animal species in its total area of 572.56 sq. kms. It is unique because it has scrub, dry decidous, moist deciduous, semi-evergreen, evergreen and shola forests. The area has got a number of endemic species and medicinal plants.

The park is one of the richest wildlife areas in India. It is noted particularly for its intact assemblage of seven large ungulate (having hooves) species - the muntjac, chital, sambar, chousingha, gaur, wildpig and the elephant. Also, to be considered are three large predatory carnivores - Tiger, Leopard and the Dhole. This area is a fascinating forest environment because of a very high ratio of predator and prey species.

Kollegal forest division

The Kollegal forest division lies to the east of BRT Wild Life sanctuary. The other three sides are bounded by Cauvery Wild life Sanctuary, Sathyamangalam forest division and the Erode forest division. It is bounded by forests on all four sides. This makes it a virgin forest area. The mountain ranges in this forest division run parallel to each other. The undulations in the topography because of the mountain ranges and the presence of undisturbed wilderness creates an enormous opportunity for eco-tourism, nature-tourism, adventure-tourism and community tourism. The Karnataka Forest department and Kollegal Forest Division in particular is making a sincere effort to promote these virgin areas, to keen wildlifers, trekkers and nature lovers.

Cauvery Wildlife sanctuary, Kanakapura

Cauvery wildlife sanctuary is situated about 100 kms south of Bangalore. The river Cauvery which traverses along the eastern boundary of the sanctuary gives the name to this sanctuary. There are a number of low hills, rocky knobs and out crops all along the length of the Cauvery. The Cauvery leaves several waterfalls in its path towards the sea in this stretch. These waterfalls form the backdrop for famous Bangalorean weekend getaways - Mekedatu, Hogenakal falls, Sangama and Muthathi.

Notable are Sangama where two tributaries of the mighty Cauvery join the main river. Muthathi is a place mentioned in the Ramayana and thus is an important pilgrim place. This sanctuary has the famous cauvery fishing camp and is one of the best places to have a great time on the banks of a river.



The river cauvery passing through the sanctuary has otters, crocodiles and many varieties of fish. The famous "Masheer fish" is found here. The jungle contains very valuable trees like rose wood, teak and several hard wood. Evergreen sholas have joined forces with the hills and valleys to give us mortals a manifestation of divine beauty. Also, this is a bird watchers paradise. About 100 species of birds are identified and listed here. If this is not enough, add elephants, spotted deers, sambars, wild dogs, barking deers, jungle fowl, huge monitor lizard, giant squirrels, peacock, and monkeys to get the whole picture. Think of nature being perfect and it is in the Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary.