Wildlife Sanctuaries in Kerala: All 18 Sanctuaries and 6 National Parks (2026 Guide)

Periyar is the reason most people come to Kerala for wildlife. The reserve covers 925 km² around a reservoir created in 1895 by the Mullaperiyar dam, and the drowned tree stumps standing in the water are where cormorants and darters dry their wings. It is one of India’s 58 tiger reserves, but you come here for elephants. Herds walk down to the lake edge in the early hours, and the 7:30 am boat is the one that finds them.

KTDC runs the main boat cruise, which leaves five times a day, and the Forest Department also runs its own lake boats, booked on periyartigerreserve.org. The Forest Department’s eco-development committees run everything else: bamboo rafting (a full day on the lake with armed guards), the overnight Tiger Trail trek, Border Hiking along the Tamil Nadu ridge and the night Jungle Patrol. These programmes are run by former poachers and tribal trackers from the fringe villages, which is why Periyar is a case study in community conservation. Book them at periyartigerreserve.org. Travellers consistently report that the rafting day is the better sighting bet than the cruise, because the raft is silent and pulls into coves the big boats cannot reach.

For the town side of the trip (spice farms, Kathakali, stays), see our Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary page.

Eravikulam protects the largest surviving population of the Nilgiri tahr, a mountain goat found only in the southern Western Ghats, and the tahr here are so used to the visitor road at Rajamala that they graze a few metres from the railing. The park is 97 km² of rolling shola grassland on the Anamudi massif, and Anamudi itself, at 2,695 m the highest peak in South India, is inside it. Private vehicles stop at the gate; a Forest Department bus takes you up the Rajamala road.

It is also the home of the Neelakurinji, the shrub that turns the slopes blue once every 12 years. The Eravikulam slopes last flowered in 2018 and are next expected in 2030.

Wayanad is Kerala’s second largest sanctuary at 344.44 km², and it is not three sanctuaries. Muthanga, Tholpetty and Begur, which many lists (including an older version of this page) show separately, all fall inside this one sanctuary, whose official ranges are Sulthan Bathery, Muthanga, Kurichiat and Tholpetty. Wayanad’s forest runs straight into Bandipur and Nagarhole in Karnataka and Mudumalai in Tamil Nadu, forming one of the largest elephant ranges in Asia, and that continuity is why sightings here are so good.

Muthanga, on the Kozhikode to Mysuru highway 16 km from Sulthan Bathery, runs the busiest safari. The morning slot allows 40 jeeps and the evening slot 20, so the queue at the counter forms well before 7 am. Tholpetty, about 55 km from Kalpetta near the Karnataka border, is quieter and lies on the way to Thirunelly temple. The Begur area near Tholpetty is part of the same north Wayanad forest. Both safari centres usually close for a month or two in the hot summer (usually March into April) to cut fire risk; check with the Wildlife Warden’s office at Sulthan Bathery before you plan a spring trip.

Silent Valley is the least disturbed rainforest in the Western Ghats, saved in the late 1970s when a public campaign stopped a hydroelectric dam on the Kunthipuzha river. It was declared a national park in 1984. Its star is the lion-tailed macaque, a black monkey with a silver mane, and troops are often seen from the jeep road on the 23 km drive from Mukkali up to the Sairandhri watchtower.

Visits are only by Forest Department jeep with a mandatory guide. Book 24 to 48 hours ahead on the Forest Department portal and report at Mukkali with your QR code and photo ID. Carry salt or tobacco powder in the monsoon for leeches. For the full drive, fees and trek options, see our Silent Valley National Park guide.

Parambikulam is the best-managed forest experience in Kerala, and the oddest to reach. Although it is in Palakkad district, there is no road in from the Kerala side. You drive through Tamil Nadu via Pollachi and the Top Slip checkpost of Anamalai Tiger Reserve. That isolation keeps numbers low. It was notified as a tiger reserve in 2010 and holds some of the densest gaur herds in South India, along with the Kannimara teak, a tree more than 450 years old.

The reserve sells all-inclusive packages rather than loose tickets: a jungle safari by bus or jeep, guided treks, bamboo rafting on the reservoir and nights in tree-top huts or tented camps. All of it is booked through parambikulam.org, which also lists the current entry and safari timings; check them before you set out, as published times vary.

Thattekad was Kerala’s first bird sanctuary, set up in 1983 on the recommendation of ornithologist Dr Salim Ali, and it still carries his name. It sits between branches of the Periyar river about 12 km from Kothamangalam, and birders come for three species above all: the Sri Lanka frogmouth, the Malabar trogon and the Sri Lanka bay owl. Frogmouths roost in the same thickets day after day, so a local guide can walk you straight to them.

Go at dawn. By 10 am the canopy goes quiet, and a first visit without a guide usually means seeing plenty of birds but missing the three you came for.

Chinnar lies in the rain shadow on the eastern side of Munnar, so it is dry thorn scrub and deciduous forest where everything else in Kerala is green. It is the only home in Kerala of the grizzled giant squirrel, and the star tortoise and mugger crocodile live along the Chinnar river. The trek to Thoovanam waterfall is the standard outing. Chinnar adjoins Eravikulam and Anamudi Shola, so it pairs with a Munnar trip.

Neyyar is a sanctuary, not a national park, and it is the easiest wildlife trip from Thiruvananthapuram, about 32 km away. The draw is the reservoir, with a boat ride out to the forest edge, and the crocodile rehabilitation centre near the dam, which has housed mugger crocodiles since 1977. The old Lion Safari Park is no longer open. For elephants, go to the Kottoor Kappukadu Elephant Rehabilitation Centre on the sanctuary’s edge instead.

Idukki covers 70 km² around the reservoir behind the Idukki arch dam, between the Cheruthoni and Periyar rivers. Elephants, gaur and sambar use the shores, and the reservoir boat ride is the best way to see them. It is an easy half-day from Thekkady or Munnar, and it sees far fewer visitors than either.

Chimmony shares a boundary with Peechi-Vazhani and Parambikulam, which makes it a quiet corridor for elephants. The Chimmony dam reservoir is the setting for bamboo rafting and guided treks run by the local eco-tourism committee, and the Forest Department dormitory takes groups for overnight stays.

Declared in 1958, Peechi-Vazhani shares the title of Kerala’s second oldest sanctuary with Neyyar (both after Periyar), and it wraps around the Peechi and Vazhani reservoirs about 20 km from Thrissur. The Kerala Forest Research Institute has its campus at Peechi. Expect elephants, sambar and hornbills rather than big cats, and pair it with Athirappilly falls.

Shendurney takes its name from the chenkurinji tree (Gluta travancorica), which grows almost nowhere else, and it surrounds the Parappar reservoir of the Kallada dam. Its gateway is Thenmala, India’s first planned eco-tourism destination, with canopy walks, a deer rehabilitation centre and treks run by the Thenmala Ecotourism Promotion Society.

Peppara, named after the Peppara dam on the Karamana river, is the starting point for the Agasthyarkoodam trek, a two-day climb from the Bonacaud picket station to a 1,868 m peak sacred to the sage Agastya. Trek passes are released online in a short January to February season and sell out fast. Outside that window, Peppara is a quiet birding and waterfall trip about 50 km from the city.

Aralam is Kerala’s butterfly forest. Every year, from roughly December to February, tens of thousands of butterflies migrate through it, and in recognition the state now calls it the Aralam Butterfly Sanctuary. The trek to Meenmutty waterfall is the other reason to come. Iritty, 20 km away, is the nearest town with hotels.

At 0.027 km², Mangalavanam is Kerala’s smallest sanctuary, a mangrove patch in the middle of Kochi, right behind the Kerala High Court. Night herons and cormorants roost here, and an hour at dawn is enough. It is the only sanctuary in this list you can reach by Kochi Metro.

Kurinjimala was notified in 2006 to protect the Neelakurinji habitat around Kottakamboor and Vattavada, east of Munnar. Outside a bloom year it is a quiet grassland walk with a chance of Nilgiri tahr; in a bloom year the hills turn blue. It is reached from Munnar, not Idukki town.

Malabar is the forest around the Kakkayam and Peruvannamuzhi dams, about 60 km from Kozhikode, and it links to Wayanad’s forests to the east. It is one of the better places in north Kerala for the great hornbill. Most visitors come on a day trip to the Kakkayam dam viewpoint and a guided trek.

Mathikettan means “mind-confusing” in Malayalam, and locals say the shola forest here is thick enough to lose your way. It is a 12.817 km² park near Poopara that protects an elephant corridor between Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Access is by guided trek only.

Notified in 2011, Kottiyoor adjoins Aralam and protects the forest around the Kottiyoor temple belt. Elephants and gaur move between the two sanctuaries, and it is best done as part of an Aralam trip.

Choolannur is Kerala’s only peafowl sanctuary, named after the ornithologist K. K. Neelakantan, who wrote under the name Induchoodan. At 3.42 km² it is tiny, and the peafowl are easiest to see on the forest edges in the first two hours of daylight. The grey junglefowl lives here too.

Karimpuzha, notified in 2019 per the Forest Department (some sources date it to 2020), is Kerala’s newest sanctuary and the first in Malappuram district. It covers 227.97 km² of the old New Amarambalam forests near Nilambur, climbing from 40 m to over 2,500 m, and it is home to the Cholanaikkan, one of India’s last hunter-gatherer communities. Tourist access is restricted. Visit the Nilambur teak plantations and Teak Museum and look into the sanctuary from the edges.

Periyar National Park is the 350.54 km² core of Periyar Tiger Reserve, so the boat and rafting programmes above take you into it. Anamudi Shola (7.5 km²) groups the Mannavan, Idivara and Pullardi sholas near Marayoor. Pambadum Shola, at 1.318 km², is Kerala’s smallest national park, on the Munnar to Vattavada road, and the Forest Department runs a small camp and guided shola walks there. The three Idukki sholas are good for Nilgiri marten and endemic shola birds.