ಬೆಳ್ಳಿ ಬೆಟ್ಟಗಳ ಮಡಿಲಿನಲ್ಲಿ !!!! ಬಿಳಿಗಿರಿ ಶ್ರೇಣಿಯ ವಿಚಾರ ತಿಳಿಯೋಣ ಬನ್ನಿ!!!! ಪಯಣ..02

ಬಿಳಿಗಿರಿಗೆ ಸ್ವಾಗತ !!!

ಕಳೆದ ಸಂಚಿಕೆಯಲ್ಲಿ  ಯಳಂದೂರಿನ ಪರಿಚಯ ಮಾಡಿಕೊಂಡ ಬಹಳಷ್ಟು ಮಿತ್ರರು ಖುಷಿಪಟ್ಟು ಹಾರೈಸಿದ್ದಾರೆ.ಎಲ್ಲರಿಗೂ ಧನ್ಯವಾದಗಳು.ಮುಂದೆ ನಮ್ಮ ಪಯಣ ಬಿಳಿಗಿರಿ ಬೆಟ್ಟದ ಕಡೆಗೆ ಸಾಗಿತು.
                   

ಅರಣ್ಯದ ನಡುವೆ ಸಾಗುವ ಹಾದಿ !!!!

                                                                                                               

ಹಸಿರ ಚಪ್ಪರದ ಸ್ವಾಗತ ನಿಮಗೆ 

   

ಹಸಿರ ಒಡಲಲ್ಲಿ , ಸಾಗುವ ಹಾದಿ

 ಬಿಳಿಗಿರಿ ರಂಗನ ಬೆಟ್ಟಕ್ಕೆ ಎರಡು  ಕಡೆಯಿಂದ ಬರಬಹುದು. ಯಳಂದೂರಿನಿಂದ ಹತ್ತಿರದ 28 ಕಿ.ಮಿ   ಹಾದಿ ಇದ್ದು ಕಡಿಮೆ ಕಾಡು ಸಿಗುತ್ತದೆ.ಚಾಮರಾಜ ನಗರ ಕಡೆಯಿಂದ ಕೆ.ಗುಡಿ ಮಾರ್ಗ ವಾಗಿ ತೆರಳಿದರೆ   49   ಕಿ.ಮಿ .ದಾರಿ ಪ್ರವಾಸಿಗರಿಗೆ ಸುಮಾರು ಎರಡು ಘಂಟೆಗಳ ಕಾಲ ಕಾಡಿನ ದರ್ಶನ ಮಾಡಿಸುತ್ತದೆ.                         

ನನ್ನನ್ನು ನೋಡಲು ಬನ್ನಿ ಇಲ್ಲಿಗೆ.

ನಾವೂ ಇಲ್ಲಿದ್ದೇವೆ!!!

   

ಹತ್ತಿರ ಬಂದೀರ ಹುಷಾರ್!!!

    ಅದೃಷ್ಟ ವಿದ್ದವರಿಗೆ  ಕೆಲ ಒಮ್ಮೆ  ಆನೆ,ಚಿರತೆ, ಹುಲಿ, ಕಾಡೆಮ್ಮೆ, ಜಿಂಕೆ ಮುಂತಾದ ವನ್ಯ ಜೀವಿಗಳನ್ನು ಕಾಣುವ ಸೌಭಾಗ್ಯ ಸಿಗುತ್ತದೆ.ಬಿಳಿಗಿರಿ ರಂಗನ ದರ್ಶನಕ್ಕೆ ಮೊದಲು  ಬಿಳಿಗಿರಿ ರಂಗನ ಬೆಟ್ಟ ಶ್ರೇಣಿಯ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ತಿಳಿದುಕೊಳ್ಳುವುದು ಒಳ್ಳೆಯದು.ಬಿಳಿಗಿ ರಂಗನ ಬೆಟ್ಟದ ಶ್ರೇಣಿಯನ್ನು ಬಿ.ಆರ್.ಹಿಲ್ಲ್ಸ್ ರೇಂಜ್ ಅಂತಾನೂ ಕರೀತಾರೆ. ಇವು ಕರ್ನಾಟಕದ ಪೂರ್ವ ಹಾಗು ದಕ್ಷಿಣ ಭಾಗದಲ್ಲಿ ಹರಡಿರುವ ಬೆಟ್ಟಗಳ ಸಾಲು ,    ಹಾಗು ಪಶ್ಚಿಮ ಹಾಗು ಪೂರ್ವ ಘಟ್ಟಗಳ ಸಂಗಮ ಸ್ಥಳದಲ್ಲಿ ಇವು  ಕೊಂಡಿ ಗಳಾಗಿವೆ

ಬಿಳಿಗಿರಿ ಬೆಟ್ಟದ ಶ್ರೇಣಿಯ ನಕ್ಷೆ.

ಕರ್ನಾಟಕ ಹಾಗು ತಮಿಳುನಾಡು ರಾಜ್ಯದ ಗಡಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಸಾಗಿರುವ ಈ ಗಿರಿ ಶ್ರೇಣಿ ಸದಾ ಮೋಡಗಳಿಂದ ಅಲಂಕೃತ ಗೊಂಡು ದೂರಕ್ಕೆ ಬೆಳ್ಳಿಯ ಬೆಟ್ಟಗಳಂತೆ ಗೋಚರಿಸುತ್ತವೆ  ಹಾಗಾಗಿ ಇವು" ಬಿಳಿ ಗಿರಿ " ಅಥವಾ  ಬಿಳಿಯ ಬೆಟ್ಟಗಳು" ಎಂದೇ ಹೆಸರು ಗಳಿಸಿವೆ ಬನ್ನಿ  ಬಿಳಿಗಿರಿಯ ನೋಟ ನೋಡೋಣ.

ಬಿಳಿಗಿರಿ ಬೆಟ್ಟಗಳ ಸುತ್ತಾ ಮೇಘ ನರ್ತನ!!!!

ಬಿಳಿಗಿರಿ ಶ್ರೇಣಿಗೆ  ಮೋಡಗಳ  ಅಲಂಕಾರ !!!

ಬನ್ನಿ ಈ ಗಿರಿ ಶ್ರೇಣಿಗಳ ಬಗ್ಗೆ  ವಿಕಿ ಪೀಡಿಯಾ  ದಲ್ಲಿ ತಿಳಿಯೋಣ.                  The Biligiriranga Hills, (Kannada: ಬಿಳಿಗಿರಿರಂಗನ ಬೆಟ್ಟ) commonly called B R Hills, is a hill range situated in south-eastern Karnataka, at its border with Tamil Nadu in South India. The area is called Biligiriranga Swamy Temple Wildlife Sanctuary or simply BRT Wildlife Sanctuary. It is a protected reserve under the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972. Being at the confluence of the Western Ghats and the Eastern Ghats, the sanctuary is home to eco-systems that are unique to both the mountain ranges. The site was declared a Tiger Reserve in December 2010. 
The hills are in the Yelandur and Kollegal Taluks of Chamarajanagar District of Karnataka. The hills are contiguos with the Sathyamangalam Wildlife Sanctuary to the south, in the Erode District of Tamil Nadu. The hills that give the range its name are situated 90 kilometres (56 mi) from Mysore and 254 kilometres (158 mi) from Bangalore. The hills may be reached either from Yelandur or via Chamarajanagar.
The hills are located at the easternmost edge of the Western Ghats and support diverse flora and fauna in view of the various habitat types supported. A wildlife sanctuary of 322.4 square kilometres (124.5 sq mi) was created around the temple on 27 June 1974, and enlarged to 539.52 square kilometres (208.31 sq mi) on 14 January 1987. The sanctuary derives its name Biligiri from the white rock face that constitutes the major hill crowned with the temple of Lord Rangaswamy or from the white mist and the silver clouds that cover these lofty hills for a greater part of the year.
  

                        

Hill range

The BR hills links the Eastern Ghats and the Western Ghats allowing animals to move between them and facilitating gene flow between populations of species in these areas. Thus, this sanctuary serves as an important biological bridge for the biota of the entire Deccan plateau.
The BR hills along with the Male-Mahadeshwara (MM Hills) range forms a distinctly unusual ridge running north-south amidst the plains of Bangalore (~900 m above MSL), Mysore(~800 m above MSL) and Krishnagiri(~450 m above MSL). The peaks of these lofty range rise as high as 1800 m (BR hills 1400 to 1800 m; MM Hills 1000 to 1200 m). The highest hill is Kattari Betta, at 1800 MSL. Various observations point to a possible biogeographic link between BR hills and Nilgiri ranges.

[ಚಿತ್ರ ಕೃಪೆ  ವಿಕಿಪೀಡಿಯ]

Panoramic view of the Biligirirangans. The pointed peak is Malkibetta, to its left is the high ridge of Honnematti.

Biogeographically, the sanctuary is unique. It is located between 11° and 12° N and the ridges of the hills run in the north-south direction. It is a projection of the Western Ghats in a north-easterly direction and meets the splintered hills of the Eastern Ghats at 78° E. This unique extension of Western Ghats constitutes a live bridge between the Eastern and Western Ghats with the sanctuary located almost in the middle of this bridge. Thus, the biota of BRT sanctuary can be expected to be predominantly of Western ghats in nature with significant proportion of eastern elements as well.^[1]

[edit] Climate and vegetation

The sanctuary, ~35 km long north-south and ~15 km wide east-west is spread over an area of 540 km² with a wide variation in mean temperature (9°C to 16°C minimum and 20°C to 38°C maximum) and annual rainfall (600 mm at the base and 3000 mm at the top of the hills) The hill ranges, within the sanctuary raise as high as 1200 m above the basal plateau of 600 m and run north-south in two ridges. The wide range of climatic conditions along with the altitude variations within the small area of the sanctuary have translated it into a highly heterogeneous mosaic of habitats such that we find almost all major forest vegetation types – scrub, deciduous, riparian, evergreen, sholas and grasslands.
The forests harbour close to 800 species of plants from various families and shows a close affinity to the Western Ghats.^[2]
       

Flora and fauna

The Biligiris are Charnocktite hills, covered with tropical dry broadleaf forest, part of the South Deccan Plateau dry deciduous forests ecoregion. The forests range from scrub forests at lower elevations, degraded by over-use, to the tall deciduous forests typical of the ecoregion, to stunted shola forests and montane grasslands at the highest elevations, which exceed 1800 meters. The forests form an important wildlife corridor between the Western Ghats and the Eastern Ghats, linking the largest populations of Asian Elephants and tigers in southern India. The most conspicuous mammals are the herds of wild elephants. The BR hills is the only forest east of the main Western ghats mountain ranges in the central southern peninsula to harbour these panchyderms in large numbers. The forests were the study area for R. Sukumar, a scientist who studied the elephants of the area in the early eighties. A recent survey has revealed the presence of 17 Tigers in this sanctuary.^[3]
The BR hills has been a good place for viewing large game and at the same time encountering numerous smaller life forms. The forests have been famous for the Gaur, a large Asian bovid. There are about 26 species of mammals recorded in the sanctuary.
The other mammals include sambhar, chital, the shy barking deer which are quite common here and the rare four-horned antelope. Carnivores include tigers, leopards, wild dogs, lesser cats and sloth bears and among arboreal mammals two species of primates and three species of squirrels including the giant flying squirrel are recorded. A recent (2005) survey of tigers by DNA analysis of scat samples has revealed 17 tigers, although the number may be more. 254 species of birds recorded in the BR hills.^[4][5][6][7] These include the enigmatic southern population of the White-winged Tit (Parus nuchalis), a specimen of which was collected by R. C. Morris and now housed in the Natural History museum at Tring.
A recently discovered species includes a microhylid frog Microhyla sholigari, named after the Soligas, an indigenous tribe that inhabit these hills.
   ಇಲ್ಲಿಂದ ಮುಂದೆ ಸಾಗಿದರೆ ದಕ್ಷಿಣದಲ್ಲಿ ಕಾಣುವುದೇ ನೀಲ ಗಿರಿ ಶ್ರೇಣಿಗಳು!!!! ಇವಿಷ್ಟು ಬಿಳಿಗಿರಿಯ ಶ್ರೇಣಿಯ ಹಿರಿಮೆ , ಮುಂದಿನ ಸಂಚಿಕೆಯಲ್ಲಿ . "ಬಿಳಿಗಿರಿ ರಂಗನ" ದರ್ಶನ ಮಾಡೋಣ.!!!!!