CityDekho
Anamalai Tiger Reserve

Anamalai Tiger Reserve

wildlife park · Tamil Nadu

The Anamalai Tiger Reserve, also known as the Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary, lies in the Anaimalai Hills of the Western Ghats in Tamil Nadu near Pollachi and Valparai.

State
Tamil Nadu
Type
Wildlife Park

The Anamalai Tiger Reserve, also known as the Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary, lies in the Anaimalai Hills of the Western Ghats in Tamil Nadu near Pollachi and Valparai. Part of a UNESCO-listed Western Ghats landscape, its shola forests and grasslands shelter tigers, elephants, gaur, the endangered lion-tailed macaque and the Nilgiri tahr.

When to go

Roughly November to April is best; the drier months improve sightings while the Western Ghats receive heavy monsoon rain.

Why visit

Safari through classic Western Ghats wildlife country at Topslip, spot elephants and rare lion-tailed macaques, and combine it with the misty tea slopes of Valparai.

Cultural notes

The reserve is part of the Western Ghats, one of the world's biodiversity hotspots, and shelters several endemic and endangered species.

How to reach

By Road: The Topslip entry is about 35 km from Pollachi. By Air and Train: Coimbatore has the nearest airport and major railway station, around 65 km away.

Anamalai Tiger Reserve guide & itineraries

Shopping

Valparai and Pollachi offer tea, coffee, spices and jaggery.

Frequently asked questions

What is Anamalai Tiger Reserve known for?

Tigers, elephants, gaur and endangered species like the lion-tailed macaque and Nilgiri tahr in the Western Ghats near Valparai.

Where do safaris start?

From Topslip, about 35 km from Pollachi, through the forest department.

Been to Anamalai Tiger Reserve?

Write what you would tell a friend — where you stayed, what you would skip, the thing you wish somebody had mentioned before you went. We read every submission before it goes up.

Share your story

People also explored

Travellers viewing Anamalai Tiger Reserve also loved these

Tamil Nadu

Dhanushkodi (Rameswaram)

At India's southeastern tip, Dhanushkodi is a hauntingly beautiful ghost-town beach on a thin sandbar where the Bay of Bengal meets the Indian Ocean, near…

Tamil Nadu

Marina Beach (Chennai)

One of the world's longest urban beaches, Chennai's Marina is a vast city shoreline of promenades, statues, sunrise crowds and street food along the Bay of…

More wildlife escapes

More places you'll love

Chhattisgarh

Kanger Valley National Park

Roughly 200 square kilometres of Bastar, running about 33.5 km from the Teerathgarh waterfalls in the west to the Kolab river on the Odisha boundary, and only…

Andaman & Nicobar Islands

Mount Harriet National Park

Look at the back of a twenty-rupee note: that picture was taken here.

Assam

Dibru-Saikhowa National Park

Water sets the terms here. The park lies between the Brahmaputra and Lohit in the north and the Dibru in the south, at an average of 118 metres, and it holds…

Chandigarh

Parrot Bird Sanctuary, Chandigarh

The parrots keep their own timetable, flying out in flocks in the morning and coming back in the evening.

Assam

Dehing Patkai National Park

India's largest surviving stretch of lowland rainforest sits here, 231 square kilometres of dipterocarp forest across Dibrugarh and Tinsukia districts, part…

Andhra Pradesh

Coringa Wildlife Sanctuary

The tide runs this place. The forest floods at least twice a day, and the mangroves hold themselves clear of the water on a tangle of stilt-like prop roots…

Assam

Hoollongapar Gibbon Sanctuary

The hoolock gibbon, India's only ape, lives in this patch of evergreen forest, calling from the hollong trees that dominate the upper canopy, and you are far…

Arunachal Pradesh

Kamlang Wildlife Sanctuary

Few places in India can list a Bengal tiger and a snow leopard on the same sheet.

Maharashtra

Kihim Beach

Situated just 12 km north of Alibaug town, Kihim is easily accessible via the ferry route from Mumbai to Mandwa.

Maharashtra

Velas Beach

Located at the northern tip of Ratnagiri district near Mandangad, Velas is a secluded coastal village roughly 220 km from Mumbai.

Gujarat

Narara Marine National Park Beach

A unique coastal area where low tide allows visitors to walk shallow waters and observe living corals, sea anemones, and crabs up close.

Maharashtra

Radhanagari Wildlife Sanctuary

Radhanagari Wildlife Sanctuary, in the Western Ghats of Kolhapur district in Maharashtra, is one of the region's oldest protected areas and is known for its…

Trending in Tamil Nadu

Madurai (Meenakshi Amman Temple)

Madurai (Meenakshi Amman Temple)

The Meenakshi Amman Temple stands at the heart of Madurai, an ancient city on the banks of the Vaigai River, and it is the great Dravidian temple complex of South India. It is dedicated to the Goddess Meenakshi, a powerful form of Parvati, and her consort Sundareswarar, a form of Shiva. Massive high stone walls enclose it, and 14 towering gopurams rise above them, each one carpeted with thousands of brightly painted stone sculptures of deities, demons and celestial beings. Inside are the grand columned assembly halls, the legendary Hall of a Thousand Pillars among them, and the sacred golden lotus pond, where millions of devotees perform their rituals each year.

Ooty (Udhagamandalam)

Ooty (Udhagamandalam)

Ooty sits at 2,240 metres and was built by the British as a hot-weather escape, which is still exactly what it is used for — and why April and May are the months to avoid, when the plains empty into it. The Nilgiri Mountain Railway is the best thing in the district. It climbs from Mettupalayam on a rack-and-pinion section, takes about five hours, and is UNESCO-listed. Book ahead in season or take the ordinary carriage, which is fine. Doddabetta, the highest point in the Nilgiris, is ten kilometres out and usually inside cloud by afternoon. The Botanical Garden dates from 1848 and has a fossil trunk around twenty million years old in it. The lake is man-made and rented out by the hour. Tea here is grown for volume rather than for named estates, and the roadside shops sell a great deal of flavoured dust. Buy from an estate if you care about it. September to November, and January to March.

Rameshwaram (Ramanathaswamy Temple)

Rameshwaram (Ramanathaswamy Temple)

Rameshwaram sits at the very tip of a slender island connected to the Tamil Nadu mainland by the Pamban Bridge, looking out across the Palk Strait toward Sri Lanka. At its heart is the Ramanathaswamy Temple, famous for the longest corridor of any temple in India — a nearly 1,200-metre passage of sculpted pillars that seems to stretch to the horizon. As one of the twelve Jyotirlingas and one of the four Char Dham, it draws pilgrims from every corner of the country, many of whom arrive after Varanasi, believing a visit to Rameshwaram completes the pilgrimage circuit.

Chettinad (Karaikudi)

Chettinad (Karaikudi)

Chettinad, centred on Karaikudi in Tamil Nadu, is a region famous for the grand mansions of the Nattukottai Chettiar merchant community and for one of India's most celebrated cuisines. The palatial 19th and early 20th-century homes, built with Burmese teak, imported marble and Athangudi tiles, reflect the community's global trade, while Chettinad food is prized for its bold, aromatic spices.

Where next?

More like Anamalai Tiger Reserve

Wildlife & Safari

Or a different kind of trip

Hill StationsBeachesHeritage

Everything in Tamil NaduBrowse all destinations