Agumbe

Places in the vicinity of Agumbe that tourists visit include the Kundadri and Kodachadri Hills, Udupi, Malpe, Mangalore (for the airport and seaport), Karkala, Kolluru, Sringeri, Chickmagaluru, Shivamogga, Bhadravathi, N.R. Pura, Sagar, Hosanagar, Koppa and Thirthahalli. In the summer, a truck can be used to reach Narasimha parvata

Sunset Point

Sunset View Point rests on one of the highest peaks of the Western Ghats on the Udupi-Agumbe Road. It is ten minutes walk from Agumbe.[12] On a fine evening, the sunset can be seen over the Arabian Sea.[13]

Barkana Falls (Latitude 13.449315, Longitude 75.136015), Northeast of Agumbe, is 850 ft (259 m) in height.[14] It is the tenth highest falls in India.[15]

Onake Abbi Falls (latitude 13°30'44"N, longitude 75°4'25"E) at 400 feet, is smaller than Barkana Falls.[16] In the Kannada language, "onake" means 'pounding stick', an instrument used by villagers to pound grains to flour. Trekking for 5 km through rainforest is needed in order to reach a view of the falls.

Jogigundi is a small water fall near Agumbe. This is about 800m deep. It is usually filled with water.

Koodlu Theerthra waterfall is located 25 km from Agumbe.

Srimane falls is located at about 40 km from Agumbe.

The driest month in Agumbe is February with an average rainfall of 1 mm. The wettest month is July with an average rainfall of 2,647 mm. The mean annual rainfall is 7,620 millimetres (300 in).[20] The highest recorded rainfall in a single month was 4,508 millimetres (177.5 in) in August 1946.[21]

The table below is comparison of rainfalls for between Agumbe in Thirthahalli taluk in Shimoga district, Hulikal in Hosanagara taluk in Shimoga district, Amagaon in Khanapur Taluk in Belgaum district and Talacauvery in Madikeri taluk in Kodagu district, Kokalli of Sirsi Taluk, Nilkund of Siddapur Taluk, CastleRock of Supa (Joida) Taluk in Uttara Kannada District to show which one can be called the "Cherrapunji of South India".[22]

Maximum temperatures in Agumbe vary between 24.4 and 31.5 °C. Minimum temperatures vary between 16.2 °C and 21.4 °C. Average temperatures vary between 22.2 °C and 23.6 °C with an annual average temperature of 23.5 °C. April is the hottest month of the year and December the coolest. The average annual variation in temperature is 4.1 °C.[18] The lowest recorded temperature was 3.2 °C in 1975 and the highest, 37 °C in 2008-2009.[19]

The Agumbe Rainforest Research Station was founded in 2005 by Romulus Whitaker, a herpetologist. Whitaker had been familiar with Agumbe since the 1970s when he began studying the King Cobra.[29] Its purpose is to create a local biodiversity database, encourage individual scientific research, collaborate with India's Department of Forestry and conserve the rainforest of the Western Ghats as well as to educate the residents of the region in the importance of forestry conservation. The King Cobra, an endangered species is the station's "flagship species".[10] The station occupies an area of 8 acres (32,000 m²). Funding for the station came from Whitaker's mother, Doris Norden and from the Whitley Award received by Whitaker in 2005.

The Agumbe Medicinal Plants Conservation Area was established in 1999 to protect the important medicinal plants of the region. The "Foundation for Revitalisation of Local Health Traditions" recorded 371 plant species at Agumbe, of which 182 were medicinal.[28][30]

Endangered plant species

Endangered plant species in the area include[31]

• Dipterocarpus indicus
• Dysoxylum malabaricum
• Calophyllum apetalum
• Garcinia indica
• Garcinia gummi-gutta
• Myristica dactyloides
• Vateria indica
• Aristolochia tagala
• Tarenna agumbensis
• Adenia hondala
• Celastrus paniculatus
• Persea macrantha

Plant species named for Agumbe

• Meliola agumbensis - fungus[32]
• Tarenna agumbensis - shrub[33]
• Hygroaster agumbensis - mushroom[34]
• Dactylaria agumbensis- fungus[35]
• Impatiens agumbeana- plant

Other plant species discovered at Agumbe

• Caudalejeunea pluriplicata - liverwort[36]
• Notothylas dissecta - Hornwort[37]

orchids of attraction

• rhynchostylis retusa
• aerides crispa
• Oberonia brunoniana
• smithsonia maculata
• dendrobium ovatum
• Dendrobium nanum
• dendrobium heyneanum
• dendrobium macrostachyum
• Dendrobium barbatulum
• Luisia tenuifolium
• Coelogyne breviscapa
• pholidota pallida
• Habenaria heyneana
• Habenaria grandifloriformis
• Habenaria crinifera
• Cleisostoma tenuifolium
• Cottonia peduncularis
• sirhookera lanceoleta
• Bulbophyllum mysorense
• Diploprora championii
• Porpax exilis
• porpax reticulata
• Porpax jerdoniana
• Porpax filiformis
• Nervilia plicata
• Nervilia crociformis
• Vanilla planifolia
• Zeuxine gracilis

A Panorama of Agumbe

Mammals

Agumbe provides an environment for large and small mammals such as the endangered lion-tailed macaque,[38][39] tiger,[40] leopard, sambar, giant squirrel, dhole, a wild dog of India, gaur, the Indian bison and barking deer.

Reptiles and amphibians

In creating funds for conservation of the Agumbe rainforest, the Ophiophagus hannah, king cobra is a 'flagship' species.[41] An Agumbe-based scientific project to radio-locate rescued king cobras aims to determine whether relocation is helpful to their survival.[42] other reptiles and amphibians of the area include the cane turtle and a flying lizard.

Birds

Agumbe is a popular destination for bird watchers and photographers. Among the endemic birds are the Malabar trogon, the yellow-browed bulbul and Sri Lankan frogmouths.[43]

Great Hornbill

Insects and marine species

Agumbe's many insect species include the Atlas moth, Cyclotoma alleni (a beetle discovered in Agumbe),[44] Selenops agumbensis, a spider and Drosophila agumbensis a small fly species. Cremnoconchus agumbensis is a local small fresh water snail.[45]