Ghats Occidentales

The Western Ghats run along the south-western coast of India for some 1,600 kilometres, parallel to the Arabian Sea, between the states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. They are a range older than the Himalaya, and their relief determines the regime of the south-west monsoon across the whole peninsula: they intercept the rains and create the divide between the humid western front and the dry Deccan plateau.

UNESCO inscribed them on the World Heritage List in 2012 as a serial natural property made up of 39 components spread across the various states, grouped into sub-clusters. One of them, the Nilgiri sub-cluster, includes the national parks of Mudumalai, Mukurthi, Nagarhole, Bandipur and Silent Valley alongside the Aralam, Wayanad and Sathyamangalam sanctuaries.

They are recognised among the most important biodiversity hotspots on the planet. Their vegetation includes tropical evergreen rainforest on the western slope, semi-evergreen and moist and dry deciduous forest, thorn forest and, at altitude, the singular system of sholas — montane forest patches in the hollows — alternating with grassland. Among their endemic fauna are the lion-tailed macaque, the Nilgiri tahr, the Nilgiri langur and the Malabar giant squirrel, alongside important populations of Bengal tiger and Asian elephant.