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Kerala, located on the Malabar Coast shares its borders with Karnataka to the north and Tamil Nadu to the northeast and the state forms 1.18% of India's total land mass. The land of Kerala is situated between the back waters of Alleppy and sapphire bodies of the Arabian Sea. Being a state of diverse topography, the geography of Kerala presents some unique features.
Kerala is geographically located in the southern peninsular part of India and stretches for an area of 38,863 Sq. Kms. It is a small state with Tiruvanthapuram (Trivandrum) as its capital. The state of Kerala is also known as "God's Own Country" just because of its beautiful and exotic geographical features. The width of Kerala varies from 35 - 120 kms, while the coastal length is around 580 kms. A large part of the state is subjected to little seismic activity as it lies near the center of Indian tectonic plate.
Kerala has 14 revenue districts, each of which has its own features for improving the beauty of landscape. Latitudinally, Kerala lies in between 88°.17'.30" N and 12°. 47'.40" N and longitudinally in between 74°.27'47" E and 77°.37'.12" E. Covered with land on all the three sides, Kerala is engulfed with the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian Ocean to its south and Western Ghats to the east.
On the basis of geographical features, Kerala is divided into :
This southern part of the Indian Subcontinent has golden seashores, high mountains, deep-cut valleys, and gorges, straggling plantations wadded with paddy fields and spices, fascinating flora and fauna, abundant coconut palm trees, beautiful rivers & gushing cascades and crisscrossed with the association of interconnected languid backwaters.
Kerala is situated within the humid equatorial tropics and its geography is characterized by three climatically distinct regions :
Kerala's climate remains wet most of the time as it is heavily influenced by seasonal rains brought by the monsoons. Kerala is subjected to humid tropical wet climate which is mostly experienced by Earth's rainforests. The extreme eastern side experiences drier tropical wet climate, with an average annual rainfall of 3107 mm, whereas the lowlands averages only 1250 mm of rainfall annually. The eastern highlands comprise the state's wettest region receiving an excess of 5,000 mm rainfall annually. Thus, the state of Kerala experience some 120 - 140 rainy days every year. The southwest monsoon starts from June and continues till September. Kerala gets most of its rains from seasonal monsoons. During summers, Kerala is prone to gale dangerous cyclones coming off the Indian Ocean. The maximum temperature throughout the year is around 36.7 °C and the minimum is around 19.8 °C. The mildly cold and pleasant weather can be experienced at its best in December and January. The climate is humid and hot during April to June, which is the period through which summer extends itself.
The total recorded forest reserves of the Kerala state is approximately 11, 270 Sq. Kms, a massive 28.90% of the total land area of the state. The forest cover spreads largely over the Western Ghats. The total 11,270 Sq. kms includes 9157.10 Sq. Kms of reserve forests, 214.31 Sq. Kms of proposed reserve and 1754.18 Sq. Kms of vested forests.
The Western Ghats is considered to be a store house of rare and endangered flora & fauna and houses 18 hot spots of bio-diversity in the world. The state's rivers and forests are inhibited by extraordinary plant life (around 5000 species of trees and flowering plants) and diverse animal life. There are 102 species of mammals, 453 species of birds, 202 species of freshwater fishes, 169 species of reptiles, and 89 species of amphibians.
Idukki and Pathanamthitta are the districts with the largest forest cover whereas, Alappuzha is the only district without any forest cover.
The forests of Kerala are divided into 5 distinct categories :
Though Kerala has a very large area under forest cover but is quite rich in vegetation. The vegetation in the tropical wet evergreen forests of Kerala are :
The vegetation in these moist deciduous forests of Kerala are :
Apart from these, Coniferpodocarpus wallichianus trees grow around Periyar Reserve. There are also thousands species of flowering and non-flowering plants, orchids and medicinal plants. Kerala has diverse types of soils such as sandy, loamy, red, black, ferruginous and peat soil. The major crops of the state are pepper, cassava, paddy, cashew and coconut and the cash crops like coffee and tea, vanilla, spices, cashew nut and nutmeg & the plantation crops like rubber also dominate the agricultural produce of Kerala. Kerala is also a home to a wide variety of feathered species like the darters, great and grey hornbills, mynahs, cormorants, racket-tailed oriels and peacocks and is even visited by a variety of migratory birds every year.
Kerala, inspite being a small state is blessed with huge water resources. Around 8% of Indian waterways are found in Kerala. There are 44 rivers that flow through the entire length and breadth of the state. Out of them, 3 rivers flows through the east whereas, the rest, 41 rivers flows through the west. Some of the notable rivers includes The Periyar (244 Kms) - the longest river of Kerala, The Bharathapuzha (209 Kms), The Pamba (176 Kms), The Chaliyar (169 Kms), The Kadalundipuzha (130 Kms), The Valapattanam (129 Kms) and The Achankovil (128 Kms). The shortest rivers are The Puraparamba and The Kalnadu with length just below 10 kms. They originate in the Western Ghats and flow towards the west, into the Arabian Sea.
Kerala is bestowed with quite number of lakes and backwater lagoons as well. The Backwater region is an interconnected system in which the salt water lakes, canals, estuaries and rivers lies inland and runs effectively through the length and breadth of the state of Kerala. Lake Vembanad (more than 200 Sq. Kms.) - The Heart of the Backwater Network is the largest water body of Kerala lying between Alappuzha and Kochi.
The other major lakes of Kerala includes :
Last Updated On: 2011/08/26
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