MUDUMALAI TIGER RESERVE

             
                                                 
                                                  MUDUMALAI TIGER RESERVE

Mudumalai Tiger Reserve is about 240 Km from Bangalore, about 90 Km from Mysore, about 68 Km from Ooty and about 124 Km from Calicut by road. The reserve straddles the Ooty -Mysore interstate national highway, roughly midway between the two cities and thus could be approached with equal facility either way. Of Ooty, another approach is through extremely steep ghat road via Kalhatti having 36 hair-pin bends on a narrow road, but with a truncated distance of approximately 40 Km.   

In April 2007, the Tamil Nadu state government declared Mudumalai to be a tiger reserve, under section 38V of the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972, in an effort to conserve the country's dwindling tiger populations. Consequently, about 350 families living in the core area were evicted from the park and given INR 10 Lacs compensation. Those in the 5 km buffer area around the park fear they, too, will be evicted; nobody will be dislodged from the buffer zone. In an episode, some people in this zone will become trackers and guides to enhance their income through eco-tourism.

Approximately 15 cat species in India, four live in Mudumalai: Bengal tiger, Indian leopard, jungle cat and leopard cat. There are 44 to 80 tigers in the Mudumalai forest. The original largest tiger population in India comprises the Mudumalai tigers. These tigers are a breeding source for populating the northern and eastern parts of the Western Ghats. The population exists at high density due to the high density of prey species thriving in its deciduous forests