Sathyamangalam Wildlife Sanctuary, the 4th largest sanctuary in Tamil Nadu, is a proposed Tiger Reserve. The sanctuary is spread over an area of 1400 sq km. Situated across the Moyar River Valley, it borders the Bhavani Sagar Reservoir. Sathyamangalam is essentially a dense forest range because of which it is an important wildlife corridor in Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve. Placed strategically between Western Ghats and rest of Eastern Ghats, the weather of this forest subtropical is also dry. This is typical to the Nilgiri Hills. Winters are the best time to visit this place. Therefore, a good time to visit this place is between the months of November and May.

History

Sathyamangalam Wildlife Sanctuary was set up in 2008 and the area was expanded in 2011. During 2008, Governor of the state of Tamil Nadu had declared the Sathyamangalam Sanctuary to be a Tiger Reserve and proposed the same was proposed the inclusion in the Project Tiger of the Government of India.

Flora in Sathyamangalam Wildlife Sanctuary

The vegetation in this sanctuary is dry deciduous and dry tropical forest mixture, which comes from Deccan Plateau and Western Ghats respectively. The low-lying regions and the ravines here at the high altitudes here are featured with the evergreen foliages and the short exposed plains are featured with the shrubs and grassland vegetation.

Fauna in Sathyamangalam Wildlife Sanctuary

Indian elephant is found here in abundance and apart from this, you can find many herbivores animals such as barking dog, spotted deer and the four horned antelope. Mammals that are found here mainly include Sloth Bear, Leopard, Tiger and Striped Hyena. A huge number of tigers are found here and there have been about 260 various avian species identified here. You can also get to see good population of amphibians and reptiles.

How to Reach

Air

Visitors can reach the closest International Airport, which is in Coimbatore and this is located at a distance of 100 km from here.

Rail

Erode railway station is the closest to this place, which is located at a distance of 80 km from the sanctuary. You can also choose to travel from the Coimbatore railway station.

Road

You can check out for good state and national highways around Sathyamangalam Sanctuary. Erode - Gobichettipalayam state highway is known to pass through this sanctuary.

Visitor Information

For any non-conventional route for the sake of safari or trekking, you will require the approval of Sanctuary administration. Once you have travelled to the sanctuary, you can choose to travel towards Germalam, Bannari, Thalavadi, Hasanur and Bhavani Sagar. The forest entry fees here are Rs.250.

Other Attractions

You can check out for numerous sanctuaries and hill stations that surround this place and they are Sigur Plateau, Bandipur National Park Wildlife Sanctuary, Biligiriranga Swamy Temple and Mudumalai National Park. You can also choose to visit Bhavani Sagar Reservoir and Moyar Dam. You can also choose to visit the temples here like Arulmigu Bannari Mari Amman Temple and Kongalli Temple.