Mukurthi National Park

Mukurthi National Park covers about 78 square kilometres of the western Nilgiris in Tamil Nadu and was set up to protect the Nilgiri tahr. It lies within the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, the first in India to gain international recognition, and has been part of the Western Ghats World Heritage Site since July 2012. The landscape is montane grassland and scrub broken by patches of shola forest, with heavy rain, near-freezing nights and strong winds. Tigers and elephants also live here.

Toda herders have long grazed buffalo and gathered wood in the sholas, but large-scale felling began with the British hill settlements in the early 19th century. At the park's south-west end, Bangitappal lay on the old Sispara ghat road of 1832 from Kozhikode to Ooty, used by postal runners and smugglers of cannabis, tobacco and salt. Its 1930 rest house and trekkers' shed now serve park staff and researchers.