सह्याद्री, The King Mountain

The Western Ghats are a mountain range in India. They run along the western edge of the Deccan Plateau, and separate the plateau from a narrow coastal plain along the Arabian Sea. The range starts south of the Tapti River near the border of Gujarat and Maharashtra, and runs approximately 1600 km through the states of Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu, to Cape Comorin or Kanyakumari, the southern tip of the Indian peninsula. The average elevation is around 900 meters. This range is known as the Sahyadri mountains in Maharashtra and Karnataka and Malabar region in Kerala.

Sahyadri is known for it's fascinating and amazing spectacle of the nature, from the magical deep valleys to the cloud catching peaks, from the spectacular waterfalls to the fascinating hill stations, from mystical evergreen forests to the huge open table lands and hard rocky patches, Sahyadri shows the great diversity within it.

Located in the serene mountain range of Western Ghats, Sahyadri not only has the geographical but also the historical importance. Sahyadri provides the evidence for battles of Maratha Kingdom, the greatest history of its time and glorify the foundation of today's Maharashtra by the great Maratha warrior Chhatrapati Shivaji. There are around 300 forts in the Sahyadri range. Many forts are still of difficult access, perched on top of precipitous hills even 2,000 feet above the surrounding country. Yet, have not lost the forbidding aspect of military strongholds, still apparently impregnable.

This beautiful paradise with fascinating wilderness and amazing widerness has always been an attraction for tourists, trekkers and naturalists.


Welcome to Sahyaadri:


Located in the serene mountain range of Western Ghats is the Sahyadri known for it's fascinating and amazing spectacle of the nature.

The Sahyadri has numerous trekking hot spots, waterfalls, hill stations and about 300 forts spread all over the state of Maharashtra which makes it of great historical importance. No wonder it has always been an attraction for tourists.

The Sayhyadris have a wonderful mix of flora and fauna which makes it much more exciting than any other range. Moreover the extensive dense rain forests add to the wonder. The area is blessed with many rivers; the Bhima River, Malaprabha River, Manimuthar River, Kabini River, Kallayi River, Kundali River, Pachaiyar River, Pennar River, and the Tambaraparani River.

Sahyadri shows the greatest biological diversity and that within the Sahyadri range there are certain ‘hotspots’ showing high degree of variation. Biological diversity is stated to be at the maximum in the hills north and south of the Palghat Gap.

Unlike the Himalaya which is tectonic raised to the present elevation by the coming together of two tectonic blocks, the Sahyadri of the Peninsula has long been considered to be a relict of an ancient tableland remaining unaffected by any later tectonic activity. Recent geomorphological studies have, however, indicated that the peninsular block owed its present position to uplift and the Sahyadri represents the western edge of an elevated plateau subject to marine denudation and erosional modification on a vast scale. This seaward facing escarpment and one of the steepest environmental gradients in the tropics, is believed to have formed as an effect of a rift in the Deccan Trap Volcanic Province. The formation of the scarp and its retreat eastward is considered to be the combined effect of erosion resulting in the removal of vast quantities of rock and its deposition in the Arabian Sea which is being compensated on the landward side by uplift . The extremely youthful character of the Sahyadri landscape with its steep gorges and water-falls is indicative of rejuvenation and uplift in mid-Tertiary to recent times. Based on these studies a statement has been made that the Sahyadri is as young, if not younger, than the mighty Himalaya, although the causes for their tectonic uplift are different.

The Sahyadri has played an important role in fashioning the climate of India and the timing of elevation of this mountain range is therefore crucial to our understanding the periodicity and predictability of the Indian monsoon.

Konkan is a coastal strip of land bounded by the Sahyadri hills on the east and Arabian Sea on the west on the western coast of India. It is a region with rich mineral resources, dense forest cover, and a landscape fringed with paddy, coconut and mango trees.

source: http://www.sahyaadri.com/
Photographs: Yogi