Post-flood, Silent Valley beyond reach

For want of repair, the national park remains closed for visitors

Kochi Business Line 1/7/04-For Archives. Entrance of silent valley.Threatened home: Silent Valley, the evergreen cliff forest descending from Nilgiri plateau to the plains of Kerala is about 8952 hectares large. 23 mammalian species including three endangered ones, i.e., Tiger, Lion tailed macaque, and Nilgiri langur make it their home. Declared a National Park in 1984, Silent Valley in Palakkad in Kerala is one of the richest, most threatened and least studied forest tracts in India. The new proposed Pathrakkadavu hydroelectric project has sent fresh tremors among environmentalists. Digital Picture By K_K_Mustafah.

One of the oldest rainforests in the world, the Silent Valley National Park remains out of bounds for nature enthusiasts ever since the deluge that wreaked havoc in August for want of funds to conduct immediate repair works.

Hundreds of visitors reach Mukkali, near Mannarkkad, the entry point to the evergreen forests, every morning unaware of the travel ban. They disperse after knowing that they cannot enter the national park.

Deluge

The deluge had destroyed the approach road to Sairandhri, Silent Valley’s core area, on more than 50 locations.

Major landslips have occurred in several parts. Huge tress had been uprooted. The famous suspension bridge across the Kunthi river at Sairadhri, the major attraction of the ecotourism trekking route, was washed away fully in the flood.

“It was only in May-June the suspension bridge was renovated to attract more visitors. The rusted old portions of the bridge were replaced with new ones. Now not even the skeleton of the bridge, located 3 km away from Sairandhri inside the thick forests, remains. The trekking from Sairandhri was the greatest attraction we offered to the visitors,” said Samul V. Pachuau, wildlife warden of the park.

On their part, the national park authorities have submitted a proposal worth ₹12.4 lakh for conducting immediate repair works to facilitate tourist movement. If the government approves the proposal, visitors could access the park from December first week.

In the absence of visitors, 25 taxi jeeps that operated inside the park for guided tourism under Eco Development Committees (EDCs) remain unutilised.

They, along with 40 approved private jeeps, formed part of the guided tourism inside the park. The drivers and guides who depended on the tourism project have not been getting any income since mid-August.

According to local people the lack of tourism activities has also affected shops and eateries that functioned at Mukkali, Kakkupathi and Kalkkandi. During operational days, those who paid ₹400 at the department’s cash counter at Mukkali were eligible to get six-hour jeep journey inside the park under the supervision of a guide. In Mukkali, the department had also maintained limited accommodation facilities for nature enthusiasts.

According to officials, the income from ecotourism activities during last fiscal was ₹17,35,186. In addition, there was an ecotourism fund into which the visitors were prompted to contribute generously. In the season between November and June, at least 3,000 tourists had visited the park each month.