Silent Valley National Park

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Silent Valley National Park
Malayalam: സൈലന്‍റ് വാലീ നാഷണല്‍ പാര്‍ക്ക്
IUCN category II (national park)[1]
The Nilgiri Mountains as seen from Silent Valley National Park
Location in Kerala, India
Location	Kerala
Nearest city	Mannarkkad
Coordinates	11°08′N 76°28′E / 11.133°N 76.467°E / 11.133; 76.467
Area	89.52 km2 (34.56 sq mi)
Established	26 December 1984
Governing body	Department of Forests and Wildlife (Kerala)

Silent Valley National Park is a national park in Kerala, India. It is located in the Nilgiri hills and has a core area of 89.52 km² (34.56 sq mi). It is surrounded by a buffer zone of 148 km² (57 sq mi). This national park has some rare species of flora and fauna. Silent Valley National Park was explored in 1847 by the botanist Robert Wight.^[2] It is located in the border of Mannarkkad Taluk of Palakkad district, Nilambur Taluk of Malappuram district, Kerala, and Nilgiris district of Tamil Nadu.

It is located in the rich biodiversity of Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve. The Karimpuzha Wildlife Sanctuary, New Amarambalam Reserved Forest, Nedumkayam Rainforest in Nilambur Taluk of Malappuram district, Attappadi Reserved Forest in Mannarkkad Taluk of Palakkad district, and Mukurthi National Park of Nilgiris district are located around Silent Valley National Park. Mukurthi peak, the fifth-highest peak in South India, and Anginda peak are also located in its vicinity. The Bhavani River, a tributary of the Kaveri River, and Kunthipuzha River, a tributary of Bharathappuzha river, originate in the vicinity of Silent Valley. The Kadalundi River also originates in Silent Valley National Park.

The national park is one of the last undisturbed tracts of South Western Ghats mountain rain forests and tropical moist evergreen forest in India. Contiguous with the proposed Karimpuzha National Park (225 km² (87 sq mi)) to the north and Mukurthi National Park (78.46 km²) to the north-east, it is the core of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve (1,455.4 km²), and is part of the Nilgiri Sub-Cluster (6,000⁺ km²), Western Ghats World Heritage Site, recognised by UNESCO in 2007.^[3]

Plans for a hydroelectric project that threatened the park's biodiversity stimulated an environmentalist social movement in the 1970s, known as the Save Silent Valley movement, which resulted in cancelling the project and creating the park in 1980. The visitors' centre for the park is at Sairandhri.