Kudremukh
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Kudremukha is the name of a
mountain range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have aris ...
and an individual mountain peak located in
Chikmagalur district Chikmagalur, officially Chikkamagaluru () is an administrative district in the Malnad subregion of Karnataka, India. It was called Kadur (''Cuddoor'') district till 1947. Coffee was first cultivated in India in Chikmagalur. The hills of Chikm ...
, in
Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...
,
India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
. It is also the name of a small hill station and iron ore-mining town situated near the mountain, about 20 kilometres from
Kalasa Kalasa is a taluk located in Chikmagalur district in Karnataka. Kalasa is home to the Kalaseshwara Temple dedicated to Shiva. Kalasa lies 92 Kilometres West of Chickmagalur and is located on the banks of the Bhadra River. Kannada language is s ...
in Kalasa Taluk. The name ''Kuduremukha'' literally means "horse-faced" in
Kannada Kannada () is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, and spoken by a minority of the population in all neighbouring states. It has 44 million native speakers, and is additionally a ...
and refers to a particular picturesque view of a side of the mountain that resembles a horse's face. It was also referred to as 'Samseparvata', historically since it was approached from Samse village. Kuduremukha is Karnataka's 2nd highest peak after Mullayanagiri and 26th highest peak in western ghats. The nearest International Airport is at
Mangalore Mangaluru (), formerly called Mangalore ( ), is a major industrial port city in the Indian state of Karnataka and on the west coast of India. It is located between the Laccadive Sea and the Western Ghats about west of Bengaluru, the st ...
which is at a distance of 99 kilometres. The Kudremukha National Park in the Western Ghats is a part of the world's 38 ‘hottest hotspots’ of biological diversity, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.


Location

The Kudremukha National Park (latitude 13°01'00" to 13°29'17" N, longitude 75°00'55' to 75°25'00" E) is the second-largest Wildlife Protected Area (600.32  km2) belonging to a tropical wet evergreen type of forest in the Western Ghats. Kudremukha National Park is located at the tri-junction of
Dakshina Kannada Dakshina Kannada district is located in the states and territories of India, state of Karnataka in India, with its headquarters in the coastal city of Mangaluru. The district covers an area nestled in between the Western Ghats to its east and the ...
,
Udupi District Udupi district (also Udipi () in Kannada or Odipu () in Tulu language) is an administrative subdivision in the Karnataka state of India, with the district headquarters in the city of Udupi. It is situated in the Canara old north Malabar c ...
and,
Chikmagalur district Chikmagalur, officially Chikkamagaluru () is an administrative district in the Malnad subregion of Karnataka, India. It was called Kadur (''Cuddoor'') district till 1947. Coffee was first cultivated in India in Chikmagalur. The hills of Chikm ...
of
Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...
. The Western Ghats is one of the thirty-four hotspots identified for biodiversity conservation in the world. Kudremukha National Park comes under the Global Tiger Conservation Priority-I, under the format developed jointly by the
Wildlife Conservation Society The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) is a global 501(c)(3) organization, 501(c)(3) non-governmental organization, headquartered at the Bronx Zoo in New York City, with a mission to save "wildlife and wild places across the globe". Founded in ...
(WCS) and World Wide Fund-USA.


Geography

The town of Kudremukha (KIOCL & etc.) lies at an elevation of around , whereas the peak stands at . The southern and western sides of the park form the steep slope of the Western Ghats ridgeline, with the altitude varying from 100 m - 1892 m (peak). The northern, central, and eastern portions of the park constitute a chain of rolling hills with a mosaic of natural grassland and shola forests. Kudremukha receives an average annual rainfall of 7000 mm, largely due to the forest types of mainly evergreen vegetation that can be found here.


History


National park

Well known
environmentalist Environmentalism is a broad Philosophy of life, philosophy, ideology, and social movement about supporting life, habitats, and surroundings. While environmentalism focuses more on the environmental and nature-related aspects of Green politics, g ...
and
tiger The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is a large Felidae, cat and a member of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Asia. It has a powerful, muscular body with a large head and paws, a long tail and orange fur with black, mostly vertical stripes. It is ...
expert, K Ullas Karanth undertook a detailed and systematic survey of the distribution of the endangered
lion-tailed macaque The lion-tailed macaque (''Macaca silenus''), also known as the wanderoo, is an Old World monkey endemic to the Western Ghats of South India. Characteristics Lion-tailed macaques are covered in black fur, and have a striking gray or silver ...
in
Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...
during 1983-84 with support from the Government of Karnataka. He observed that suitable and extensive rainforest habitat for the lion-tailed macaque existed in Kudremukha and that the tract probably harboured the largest contiguous population of lion-tailed macaques in the Western Ghats, outside the Malabar region. He further suggested that lion-tailed macaques could be effectively used as a 'flagship' species to conserve the entire biotic community in the region and prepared a conservation plan for the survival of wild populations of lion-tailed macaques in the region delineating the present national park area as a proposed nature reserve. Based on his report, the Karnataka State Wildlife Advisory Board suggested to the government that Kudremukha National Park be created. Three important rivers, the Tunga, the Bhadra and the Nethravathi are said to have their origin here. A shrine of goddess ''Bhagavathi'' and a ''Varaha'' image, 1.8 m within a cave are the main attractions. The
Tunga River The Tunga River (alternatively spelled Thunga) is a river in Karnataka state, southern India. The river is born in the Western Ghats (Sahyadri mountains) on a hill known as ''Varaha Parvata'' at a place called '' Gangamoola''. From here, the riv ...
and Bhadra River flow freely through the parklands. The area of the Kadambi waterfalls is a definite point of interest for anyone who travels to the spot. The animals found there include malabar civets, wild dogs, sloth bears and spotted deer.


Opposition to national park

People residing inside the national park did not welcome the idea of such a concept, as it involves eviction and Kudremukha Rashtriya Udyana Virodhi Okoota, an NGO, fights on behalf of people residing inside the forest and opposes the formation of the national park. To curb the supposed Naxalite activity inside the premises, police opened fire on activists and killed five suspected Naxalites on 10 July 2007.


Conservation

After years of campaigning by environmentalists, Kudremukha was declared a National Park in 1987


Ecology

A diverse assemblage of endangered large mammals is found in the park supporting three large mammal predator species such as the
tiger The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is a large Felidae, cat and a member of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Asia. It has a powerful, muscular body with a large head and paws, a long tail and orange fur with black, mostly vertical stripes. It is ...
,
leopard The leopard (''Panthera pardus'') is one of the five extant cat species in the genus ''Panthera''. It has a pale yellowish to dark golden fur with dark spots grouped in rosettes. Its body is slender and muscular reaching a length of with a ...
and
wild dog A free-ranging dog is a dog that is not confined to a yard or house. Free-ranging dogs include street dogs, village dogs, stray dogs, feral dogs, etc., and may be owned or unowned. The global dog population is estimated to be 900 million, of whi ...
. The important tiger prey base found within the park is
gaur The gaur (''Bos gaurus''; ) is a large bovine native to the Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia, and has been listed as Vulnerable species, Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 1986. The global population was estimated at a maximum of 21,000 ...
, sambar, wild pig,
muntjac Muntjacs ( ), also known as the barking deer or rib-faced deer, (URL is Google Books) are small deer of the genus ''Muntiacus'' native to South Asia and Southeast Asia. Muntjacs are thought to have begun appearing 15–35 million years ago, ...
,
chevrotain Chevrotains, or mouse-deer, are small, even-toed ungulates that make up the family Tragulidae, and are the only living members of the infraorder Tragulina. The 10  extant species are placed in three genera, but several species also ar ...
,
bonnet macaque The bonnet macaque (''Macaca radiata''), also known as zati,Chambers English Dictionary is a species of macaque endemism, endemic to southern India. Its distribution is limited by the Indian Ocean on three sides and the Godavari River, Godavari a ...
, common
langur The Colobinae or leaf-eating monkeys are a subfamily of the Old World monkey family that includes 61 species in 11 genera, including the black-and-white colobus, the large-nosed proboscis monkey, and the gray langurs. Some classifications split ...
and the
lion-tailed macaque The lion-tailed macaque (''Macaca silenus''), also known as the wanderoo, is an Old World monkey endemic to the Western Ghats of South India. Characteristics Lion-tailed macaques are covered in black fur, and have a striking gray or silver ...
. The wet climate and the tremendous water retentive capacity of the shola grasslands and forests have led to the formation of thousands of perennial streams in the region converging to form three major rivers of the region, Tunga, Bhadra and Nethravathi which form an important lifeline for the people of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. Lobo's house is an old abandoned farm on the upper reaches of Kuduremukha.


Trekking in Kudremukha

There are numerous peaks inside the National Park, each offering a mesmerizing view of the evergreen forest and the western escarpments. Notable ones are as follows: * Tirimarigubbe * Soojigallu * Bangarabailge * Hirimariguppe (popularly known as The Netravathi Peak) * Elneer waterfalls But trekking is restricted to Kudremukha & Netravathi by the Forest department.


Kudremukha Peak


Mining town

The Kudremukha township developed primarily as an
iron Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's o ...
ore
mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...
town where the government ran Kudremukha Iron Ore Company Ltd. (KIOCL). This public sector company operated for almost 30 years but was closed in 2006 due to environmental issues. The company proposed eco-tourism in the area and insisted that the land lease be renewed for 99 years. However, environmentalists opposed such an idea because the area should be given time to regenerate completely rest. Thus, the mining lease lapsed on 24 July 1999. The mining town now known as Kudremukha originally known as Malleshwara village whose residents have relocated to Jamble village of Kalasa taluk in the 1970s. Mining town had 3 schools named Giri Jyothi Convent School, Kendriya Vidyalaya (KV Kudremukh) & Government school, which had an education from Nursery to class 12.


Demographics

India
census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...
, Kudremukha town had a population of 8095. Males constitute 54% of the population, while females constitute 46%. Kudremukha has an average literacy rate of 80%, which is higher than the national average of 59.5%; male literacy is 83% while female literacy is 77%. 11% of the population is under six years of age. Due to closure of mining activity, the population fell drastically. As per 2011 census, the Kudremukha Notified Area Council (NAC) which spans had a population of just 2,241 with 719 households.


Threats

Kudremukha Iron Ore Company Limited (KIOCL) is a public sector company that was mining iron ore from the Kudremukha hills. KIOCL conducted its operations in an area of 4,604.55 ha for over 20 years. Opposition to its activities built up over the years from environmentalists and wildlife conservationists who were concerned about the threat to the region's flora and fauna, and farmers who were affected by the pollution of the streams that originated in the mining area. KIOCL has been banned from operating in this beautiful Natural Reserve, according to a Supreme Court order. The rainfall in Kudremukh, which is one of the highest for any open cast mining operation in the world, greatly accentuates the impacts of siltation as claimed by environmentalists. The topographic and rainfall characteristics in combination with the open cast mining of low-grade iron ore and other land-surface disturbances caused by the KIOCL operations resulted in very high sediment discharge, with over 60% of the total siltation in the Bhadra system being contributed by the mining area which forms less than six per cent of the catchment. With high-quality practices adopted by KIOCL to mine, the flora and fauna remained intact, causing no adverse effects on nature . KIOCL used to send iron ore through pipes running through districts of
Udupi Udupi () also known as 'Odipu' () is a city in the Indian state of Karnataka. It is the administrative headquarters of Udupi district, and one of the fastest-growing cities in Karnataka. Udupi is one of the top tourist attractions in Karnataka an ...
and
Dakshina Kannada Dakshina Kannada district is located in the states and territories of India, state of Karnataka in India, with its headquarters in the coastal city of Mangaluru. The district covers an area nestled in between the Western Ghats to its east and the ...
and converted to pellets at their plant in Panambur.


Lakhya Dam

The dam is built across ''Lakhya hole''(stream), a tributary of Bhadra river. Construction of this earthen dam was completed in the year 1994. It is operated by KIOCL. It was built as a tailing pond, that is, to dump the unwanted
gangue Gangue () is the commercially worthless material that surrounds, or is closely mixed with, a wanted mineral in an ore deposit. It is thus distinct from overburden, which is the waste rock or materials overlying an ore or mineral body that are di ...
materials from the extracted iron ore. The dam has a Gross Storage Capacity of (9.66
Tmcft Tmcft, (Tmc ft), (TMC), (tmc) is the abbreviation of thousand million cubic feet (1,000,000,000 = 109 = 1 billion), commonly used in India in reference to volume of water in a reservoir or river A river is a natural stream of fresh wa ...
). Besides using this reservoir as a tailing, during odd years, water from this dam is used to compensate for deficit drinking water supply to
Mangaluru Mangaluru (), formerly called Mangalore ( ), is a major industrial port city in the Indian state of Karnataka and on the west coast of India. It is located between the Laccadive Sea and the Western Ghats about west of Bengaluru, the stat ...
city, and also to the dependents of Tungabhadra basin.


See also

*
Baba Budangiri Baba Budangiri (), also known as Chandradrona (, as the range naturally forms the shape of a crescent moon), is a hill and mountain range in the Western Ghats of India, located in the Chikkamagaluru district of Karnataka. The main peaks in th ...
*
Chikmagalur Chikmagalur (officially Chikkamagaluru, ), previously known as ''Kiriya-Muguli'' is a city and the headquarters of Chikmagalur district in the Indian state of Karnataka. Located on the foothills of the Mullayanagiri, Mullayanagiri peak of the We ...
* Hanumangundi Falls *
Kalasa Kalasa is a taluk located in Chikmagalur district in Karnataka. Kalasa is home to the Kalaseshwara Temple dedicated to Shiva. Kalasa lies 92 Kilometres West of Chickmagalur and is located on the banks of the Bhadra River. Kannada language is s ...
* Karkala *
Kemmanagundi Kemmannugundi (Red Soil Pit) is a hill station in Tarikere taluk of Chikkamagaluru district in the state of Karnataka, India. It is at the elevation of 1434m above sea level, with its peak at 1863m. This was the summer retreat of Krishnaraja Wo ...
*
Mangalore Mangaluru (), formerly called Mangalore ( ), is a major industrial port city in the Indian state of Karnataka and on the west coast of India. It is located between the Laccadive Sea and the Western Ghats about west of Bengaluru, the st ...
* Mullayangiri


References


External links


kudremukha trekChecklist of Amphibians reported from Kudremukha National ParkChecklist of Aquatic Insects reported from Kudremukha National ParkChecklist of Birds reported from Kudremukha National ParkChecklist of Butterflies reported from Kudremukha National ParkChecklist of Fishes reported from Kudremukha National ParkChecklist of Mammals reported from Kudremukha National ParkChecklist of Non-Woody Plants reported from Kudremukha National ParkChecklist of Reptiles reported from Kudremukha National Park
{{Authority control Mountains of the Western Ghats National parks in Karnataka Iron ore mining in India Mountains of Karnataka Hill stations in Karnataka Populated places in the Western Ghats Protected areas established in 1916 Cities and towns in Chikmagalur district Mountain ranges of India Geography of Chikmagalur district Tourist attractions in Chikmagalur district