Accessing Thekkady
Accessing:
Telephone access code: +91 4869
Nearest Airports: Madurai: 140 Km
Kochi: 190 Km
Thiruvananthapuram: 265 Km
Chennai: 570 Km
Railway Stations:
Kottayam: 110 Km
Changanacherry: 116 Km
Madurai: 140 Km
Road:
Direct buses from Kottayam (4 hours), Thiruvananthapuram (8 hours), Kochi (6 hours), Munnar (4 hours), Madurai (4 hours).
Thekkady Fact file
Area 777 sq. km.
Location Longitude:76º 55’- 77º 26’ E, Latititude:9º 16’ – 9º 40’ N
Climate: Moderate
Altitude : 100m to 2000m
Tallest Peak : Kottamala, 2019m
Monsoon : South West and North East
Humidity: High
Temperature: 15ºc to30ºc
December and January generally cool and April and May are hotter.
Best time to visit: August to May
Boundaries
North Peermedu taluk
South Pathanamthitta district
East Theni,Tirunelveli & Ramnad districts of Tamil Nadu
West Kottayam district
Terrain & Geomorphology
Terrain is undulating with lofty peaks of over 1700 meters bordering the north and east. Towards the west it merges into an extensive tableland Mount Plateau of average elevation 1200 meters.
From the edge of this plateau the land falls steeply to the thickly forested tracts of Sabarimala hills in the Pamba River basin.
The overall elevation ranges from 100 meters at Pambavalley to 2019 meters at Kottamalai.
Geology
Rock granites and gneisses
Soil laterite, fine loamy, with large amount of quartz gravel formed from crystalline rock.
Climate & Rain fall
The temperature ranges from 15ºC in December and January and up to 31ºC in April & May.
The Annual rainfall ranges from 2000 mm to 3000 mm.
Two–thirds of the rainfall occurs during the southwest monsoon from June to September. The northeast monsoon impacts from October to December. There are some pre-monsoon showers from mid April.
Rivers
Periyar and Pamba
Area of lake : 26 sq. km. (at max. water level)
Zonation
For administrative convenience, the Tiger Reserve is divided into three zones.
Core Zone
The core area of 430 sq. km. is the primary watershed of river Periyar, free of all disturbances and intended for total preservation.
Tourism Zone
The 55 sq.km. area around the lake and the lake fringes from the boat landing to the dam site is the Tourism zone.
Tourism activities like boating, guided trekking, adventure trekking, elephant ride, camp in watchtowers are confined to this zone.
Buffer Zone
The 347 sq. Km. buffer zone lies outside the core but includes the tourism zone, Sabarimala pilgrim management zone, ecodevelopment zone and the erstwhile Eucalyptus plantations.