The Kalhatti Ghat Road plunges into the Segur plateau on the outskirts of Udhagamandalam. The road aprons are ideal points for viewing the vast expanse of the magnificent plateau in almost its full splendour.
Looking down with a pair of binoculars from the 13th hairpin bend of the road, tourists can see the Kalhatti stream meandering down the plateau, eventually meeting the Sigurhalla River, the Moyar and the Bhavani Sagar Dam further downstream. The area, comprising Mudumalai, Nagarhole, Bandipur, Sathyamangalam and Wayanad, forms part of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, a tract measuring over 5,000 square kilometre, which is home to the largest population of Asian elephants in the world, numbering over 6,000, says Priya Davidar, a conservation biologist who lives in the Segur plateau region. Ms. Davidar adds that the Segur elephant corridor, notified by the Tamil Nadu government in 2010, is a critical “elephant corridor that links these habitats to the Eastern Ghats”.
