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Athirappally Waterfalls
Athirappally is the land of rivers and forests and great waterfalls. This place is 80 km away from Ernakulam.
The destination is the largest waterfall in Kerala. The Athirapally waterfall, a major tourist attraction A popular picnic spot and water falls of the Sholayar Ranges of the Vazhachal Forest Division. The waterfalls in the Chalakkudy river attract a lot of visitors. Local communities along the Chalakudy river banded together to stop the construction of a hydroelectric dam upstream from Athirapally Waterfall. The proposed dam would have submerged more than 140 hectares of forest, dried up extensive riparian areas downstream and destroyed Athirapally Waterfall, one of several scenic waterfalls important to the local tourism industry.The dam also would have destroyed the critical habitat of many important species, including the rare Cochin Forest Cane Turtle, the endangered Great Indian Hornbill, the Lion-Tailed Macaque and the Nilgiri Langur. Vazhachal forest areas are attraction of the place.
Flora & Fauna
The riparian forests of the Chalakudy River have revealed the existence of a thick riparian vegetation of more than 10 metres width for a distance of 10.5 km downstream from Peringalkuth, covering an area of 58.5 hectares. Out of this, 26.4 hectares lie within the Vazachal area, including three large islands densely covered by riparian forests.
The riparian forests of the area have been found to be characterized by the presence of typical riparian species of plants, in addition to evergreen and semi-evergreen species. Out of the 319 species of flowering plants identified from the study area, 24 are endemic species of the Western Ghats and 10 are rare and endangered. The Chalakudy River is known for its diversity, as it contains 85 species of fresh water fishes out of the 152 species known from Kerala. Among these, 35 are endemic species of the Western Ghats and nine are considered to be endangered.
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