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Nilgiri Mountain
Nilgiri also known as Blue Mountains are the cluster of total twenty four peaks that stand at an elevation of 2000 metres situated in western part of the state of Tamil Nadu at the intersection of two states that are Karnataka and Kerala that are the states in southern part of the country. These mountain forms the part of Western Ghats mountain group that together forms the south western part of the Deccan Plateau.
From the north side, the hills have been detached the state of Karnataka by River Moyar while from the southern side, the hills have been detached via Anaimalai Hills and Palni Hills that forms the Palghat Gap.
History
The history of the place says that the name Nila was discovered for this region during the 1117 AD when Hoysalas king threatened Todasand drove off the Kangas after thrashing Pallavas and slaughtering Malayala sand, finally petrifying the Kala King for offering the Nila Mountain to Goddess Lakshmi who is also referred to as Goddess of Wealth.
Toda, Kota, Badaga, Irula and Kurumbas were the first ever occupants of the Nilgiri hills. During the initial days, Nilgiri Hills was part of Chera Empire. Further, this area was part of Western Ganga Dynasty and later, during the 12th century the Nilgiri hills were ruled by Hoysala Empire. At a point, this was ruled by Tipu Sultan, Kingdom of Mysore who later capitulate these hills in 18th century to British.
Facts
The hills that forms the part of the Nilgiri hills are listed below:-
- Doddabetta Peak that is located 4 km towards the eastern southeast part of Udhagamandalam that elevates to 2637 metres and is listed as the highest peak of the Nilgiri hills.
- Snowdon peak elevated to a height of 2530 metres that is part of northern end while the other are the club hill and Elk hill that has elevation of 2448 metres and 2466 metres.
- Devashola peak has a height of 2261 metres and comprises of blue gum trees and belongs to southern part of Doddabetta range.
- Kulakombai peak has a height of 1707 metres that is located in the eastern part of Devashola. It is also the originator of the Bahvani valley and comprises of Lambton’s range of peak that is part of district of Coimbatore.
- Hullikal Durg is a small hill with height of 562 metres. The literal meaning of HullikalD urg is Tiger Rock Fort while as per Sanskrit name it is referred to as Bakasura Parvata. The baseof the hill is richly adored with Tropical Pine trees.
- Coonor Betta has an elevation of 2101 metres and is also referred to as Teneriffe. This hill also has the Nilgiri Mountain Railway that goes through this hill till Coonoor.
- Rallia Hill that elevates toa height of 2248 metres and is centrally located from Udhagamandalam and Kotagiri.
- Dimhatti hill heights up to 1788 metres and is dedicated to deity Rangaswamy.
Conservation
The current development on Nilgiri hills is that the Western Ghats of the Nilgiris are being considered as part of World Heritage site as per the UNESCO World Heritage Committee. This complete site would comprise of Mukurthi National Park that is located towards the southern east part of the Nilgiris.
The other consideration has been for the UNESCO World Network for Biosphere Reserves that are considering Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve under this project that comprises of Nilgiri Hills.
Flora
The Nilgiri hills comprises of almost 2700 different species of flowering plants while the hill also has 160 kinds of species of various fern and fern cronies. The other species that can be found on this hill are mosses, algae, plants, fungi etc. There is no other hill in the country that is so richly adored with the variety of exotic species.
Fauna
The species like animal Nilgiritahr are also found in this area.
Visitor Information
The easiest way to access Nilgiri Mountains is by Nilgiri Mountain Railway.
The most favourable time for trekkers is in the months from April to June and the months from September to December. Special permission has to be taken from Wildlife warden before making a plan for trekking and these plans must be made well in advance.
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