Agasthyamalai Community Conservation Centre (ACCC)

Pothigai hills or Agasthyamalai is a great treasure for southern Tamil Nadu. River Tamiraparani is one of the few perennial rivers of Tamil Nadu that originates from the hills and symbolises a rich culture, unique biodiversity and overall human wellbeing. The banks of the 128 km long river is studded with several ancient temples, countless local deities with their own legends and rituals, and an ancient civilization at Adichanallur now an archaeological site that dates back 3800years. With time an irrigation system was established that connected Tamiraparani with several wetlands and transformed the semi-arid region of Tirunelveli and Thoothukudi districts into a rice bowl and banana basket of southern Tamil Nadu. These wetlands support large number of waterbirds and diverse aquatic fauna and flora apart from providing livelihood options. While some popular bird spots such as the Koonthankulam Birds Sanctuary are well known, the whole landscape can be considered an ideal ha

நீர்இன்று அமையாது உலகெனின் யார்யார்க்கும் வான்இன்று அமையாது ஒழுக்கு                                                               - திருவள்ளுவர். Thiruvalluvar in this couplet ‘Neer Indru Amaiyathu Ulagu’ recorded the universal truth, there is no world without water and further stated there will be a collapse of morality if the rains fail. In this context and present scenario on water usage and conservation, there is an urgent need to create awareness about wetlands and its wildlife. In connection to this, following its successful first edition ATREE’s The Family WilD Quest 2.o (Wetlands Special Edition) was conducted as a part of ATREE’s Tamiraparani WaterBird Carnival 2020 arousing a general awakening in the common man in favour of protection of wildlife and wetlands in special through a quiz competition with 49 teams jointly organized by ATREE’s Agasthyamalai Community Conservation Centre (ACCC), Manimutharu, Tamil Nadu Forest Department, Kalakadu Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve

THE HINDU 13 November 2019 Page-2 DINATHANTHI 13 November 2019 Page-19

HINDU TAMIL 18 Nov 2019 Page 4

HINDU TAMIL 05 November 2019,page-3 DINAMANI 06 November 2019, page-3

Hindu Tamil 26 October 2019-Page 2 THE NEW SUNDAY EXPRESS 27 November 2019-Page-3 (Tirunelveli)

Vagaikulam Bird Sanctuary வாகைக்குளம் பறவைகள் வாழ்விடம்  Sorimuthu Ayyanar Kovil சொரிமுத்து அய்யனார் கோவில்  Kurumalai Ayyanar Kovil குறுமலை அய்யனார் கோவில்  Tamiraparani Waterbird Carnival - 2020 தாமிரபரணி நீர்வாழ் பறவைகள் திருவிழா - 2020

ATREE’s WilD KiDZ ‘Camp WilD’ 2019,  was two days and one-night camp organized for 21 students from grade 5 to 8 on September 14 and 15, 2019. The camp is a unique venue that connected the kids with nature, allowed kids to become independent and self-confident, while socializing and making new friends, and learning new skills. The campers stayed in the Agasthyamalai Community Conservation Centre (ACCC), ATREE’s research station on September 14, 2019. They climbed and walked in the Canopy walk-way to understand the uses of canopy ecology and later after the tea they attended presentations on Western Ghats ‘a overview’ in which they learned about Western Ghats and Kalakad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve in specific followed by a talk on basics of butterflying helped the campers to identify the five families of Butterfly, then two documentary on Big 4 Snakes and Snake bite mitigation were screened along with a briefing on Indian Snake. After a sumptuous dinner, the campers went for a night

The camp site for ATREE’s WilD KidZ ‘wild camp 2019’ was Mundanthurai, a part of Kalakad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve (KMTR), Tamil Nadu, India’s first Tiger Sanctuary declared in 1962. As a part of Agasthyamalai Community Conservation Centre’s (ACCC) Conservation Education Program, a 3 days and 2 nights wild camp was organized for the students of Grade 7 students from Pushpalata Vidya Mandir, Tirunelveli from August 29 to 31, 2019. The main objective of the camp is to connect the campers with nature and to expose them to various phenomenon in the wilderness. The 20 campers (10 boys and 10 girls) along with 3 staff got this opportunity to explore the nature through presentations, activities, games and stories.  In the first day of the camp, the campers were introduced to the wild camp, Forest types of KMTR, Butterflying and Tree Tracking through powerpoint presentations, which helped them to get a  clear overview of the camp and the camp site. The second and third day

Thennan meiman gives trainng to draw elephant Presentation about butterflies Introduction about KMTR The ATREE’s Wild Kidz ‘Monsoon Camp’ was a three-day two-night residential camp, held at Mundanthurai, Kalakad-Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve (KMTR), organized by the Agasthyamalai Community Conservation Centre (ACCC), Manimutharu in association with Tamil Nadu Forest Department. This wild camp exposed 13 boys, 6 girls and 4 teachers of Muthamil Public School, Muneerpallam, Tirunelveli to the marvels of nature through lectures on line-drawings, uniqueness of KMTR, the morphology of plants and identification of the butterflies of KMTR. The camp helped the Muthamilaites to develop their outdoor skills through multiple activities such as a forest Hike, Road-kill Survey, Butterfly walk, and night watch, in which they have sighted many animals including Nilgiri Langur ( Semnopithecus johnii ), South Eastern Langur ( Semnopithecus priam ), Bonnet Macaque ( Macaca radiata ),