Anaimalai Hills
The Anamala or Anaimalai, also known as the Elephant Mountains, are a range of mountains in the southern Western Ghats of central Kerala and span the border of western Tamil Nadu in Southern India. The name anamala is derived from the Malayalam word aana and the Tamil word yaanai, meaning elephant, or from tribal languages. Mala or Malai means 'mountain', and thus literally translatable as 'Elephant mountain'.
Anamudi Peak lies at the southern end of the range and is the highest peak in southern India. The Palakkad Gap is the mountain pass which divides it from the Nilgiri Mountains. The northern slopes of the hills in Tamil Nadu now have coffee and tea plantations, as well as teak plantations of high economic value. The rest are mostly forests, of mainly two ecoregions-the South [Western Ghats moist deciduous forests] and the South Western Ghats montane rain forests.
The Western Ghats and Anaimalai Sub-Cluster, including the Anaimalai Hills, are now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Geography
The hills are located between 10° 13' and 10° 31' N. and 76° 52' and 77° 23' E with a central point of:. They are south of where the Western Ghats are broken by the Palakkad Gap, which in, turn is south of the Nilgiri Hills. They border on Kerala to the southwest and the Cardamom Hills to the southeast. To the west is the bamboo-rich Idamalayar-Pooyamkutty valley. The Palni Hills lies to the east, extending into Kerala as the Pampadum Shola National Park. They are spread largely over Palakkad district, Thrissur district, Ernakulam district and Idukki district of Kerala, Tamil Nadu's Coimbatore district and Tiruppur district.Their geological formation is metamorphic gneiss, veined with feldspar and quartz, and interspersed with reddish porphyrite. Twelve major forest types are found in the area. The landscape is fragmented by many coffee and tea plantations on the lower slopes and teak plantations higher up. Monsoon rains are heavy. Annual rainfall varies from 2,000 mm to 5,000 mm in the area. Formed by fault-block movements in the Holocene Epoch, the Anaimalai Hills descend to form a series of terraces about 3,300 feet high.
Fauna
The Anamala/Anaimalai Hills are known for their abundant wildlife. Eravikulam National Park, Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary, Idamalayar Reserve Forest, Mankulam Forest division Parambikulam Wildlife Sanctuary, and Anamalai Tiger Reserve located among these hills are well known for elephants. The Idamalayar Dam area is a major wildlife spot, along with Pooyamkutty and Aanakkulam. This area includes various tribal villages and is protected. Numerous wildlife species can be seen including elephants, gaur, water buffaloes, tigers, panthers, sloth bears, pangolins, black-headed orioles, crocodiles, green pigeons, civet cats, dhole, sambar, black buck, and 31 groups of endangered lion-tailed macaques. Birds seen include the Pied hornbill, Red whiskered bulbul and Drongo.Recently, a new frog species, Beddomixalus bijui, was found within the forest.