Locations
The Western Ghats extend from the Satpura Range in the north, go south past Goa, through Karnataka and into Kerala and Tamil Nadu end at Kanyakumari embracing Indian ocean.
We have two sites in the Western Ghats, one in the northern part, known as Sahyadris; the other in the northwestern part forming a part of the Nilgiri Biosphere System.
Aghnashini, in the Uttara Kannada region forms a part of the Malenadu region of Karnataka. Malenadu covers the western and eastern slopes of the Western Ghats or Sahyadri mountain range, roughly 100 kilometers in width. They are majorly evergreen forests to moist deciduous types mixed with areca plantations.
Tropical Montane Forests, also known as Sholas , form a part of the Nilgiris Biosphere reserve. They are a mosaic of mountane evergreen forests and grasslands. They are found only in high altitude (>1500 metres asl) regions within the tropics, and are limited to the southern part of the western ghats. They are characterised by undulating grassland patches, interspersed with thickets of stunted evergreen tree species, and are home to a host of endemic and endangered plants and animals. They are also vitally important in keeping water cycles alive. They retain most of the rain they get over the monsoons, and release it slowly through the year via a network of streams and rivers, that eventually serve the needs of a huge number of human settlements across south India.