Mullaperiyar Dam Wildlife

The Mullaperiyar Dam which is also commonly known as the Mullaiperiyar Dam is a masonry gravity dam built on the Periyar River in the state of Kerala. The Mullaperiyar dam is situated on the Periyar River but is operated and maintained by the state of Tamil Nadu. The dam is about 175 feet tall in height and 5704 feet elongated.

It is located at a height of 881 meters above the sea level, on the Cardamom Hills of the Western Ghats in Thekkady in Kerala. The Mullaperyiar Dam is at a distance of 23 kilometers from Kumily and also the Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary is spread around the store framed by this dam. 

The Periyar River begins from the slopes in the region of the Periyar Sanctuary and the water of this store is then utilized for water scheme purposed in Tamil Nadu. The key reason of the construction of this Mullaperiyar Dam was to supply water to the parched regions of the city, Madurai which was in great need of water which is the reason why the Periyar River flows westward of Kerala. 

It was purposely diverted towards the Bay of Bengal to provide water to the people of Madras presidency. The sailing office in the supply is accessible from the Boat Jetty at Thekkady side of the repository. It is accepted to be the most gone by put in the region. This is an ideal place to which you can visit along with your relatives and friends and family.

In the past, the dam was known by the name Periyaru Dam which because it was basically meant to dam the Periyaru river. The present name Mullaperiyar is derived by vaguely joining together the names of the Mullayar River and the Periyaru River, at the convergence of which the dam is positioned.

This is probably the oldest dam in the world of tenuous power. As for tourists, it is just another dam with attractive boating facilities. As far as history goes, it can be considered as what imperialists could do to create permanent issues in the colonies. 

The successor governments of the Madras Presidency in Kerala and Tamil Nadu had a troublesome issue with many emotional overtones with no practical point of agreement in view regarding the dam.

Visitors keep gazing at the structure of the dam and just wonder how they managed to build something like this so many years back.

This dam is surely one of the must see places in Munnar and in the months of summer the water level is not very high also the fields and lake are good for young kids to play. But there is heavy traffic on weekends. The old dam also has a park nearby which makes up for a nice place to arrange picnics where children also enjoy playing.

The boating services arranged by the forest department must be experienced. You can even book the tickets for the scheduled boating online. 

If you plan to visit early in the morning then you are expected to capture glimpses of herd of elephants bathing and a wide range of birds. You will get mesmerized by seeing the mist covered lake in early in the morning pass into spectacular sun lit flora and fauna.

The Periyar National Park in Thekkady which is a protected area of Kerala is located very near to the dam's reservoir. The Periyar National Park suffers a lot from poaching of elephants majorly. The elephants are the worst affected in most of the South Indian sanctuaries. This sheltered region surrounding the dam and reservoir is classified as a biodiversity hot spot.