VUFF-0005 BANNERGHATTA BIOLOGICAL PARK.

VUFF-0005.    BANNERGHATTA BIOLOGICAL  PARK.

Activated using call sign  AT8WFF, the FIRST EVER VUFF operation  from 01 Oct to 07 October 2008  coinciding with the  Karnataka State Forest Department  celebrating the 54th Wildlife Week. Operators were VU2JHM and others of  BARC group. This being close to Bangalore city,  has been activated more than any othe VUFF site. 

This  Park was founded in 1970 and declared as a national park in 1974. In 2002 a portion of the park, became a biological reserve, the Bannerghatta Biological Park. The Bannerghatta Park has various units such as Zoo, Safari and Butterfly park spread over 731.88 Ha.

Created an opportunity to the citizens, specially to children of Bangalore Metropolitan City to have a Biological Recreation Center very close to the city in the midst of the forests in the valley of the famous Champakadhama hills inside the Bannerghatta National Park.A  mini zoo was created in 1972  which gradually grew  into the present Biological Park by 2002. With the creation of Bannerghatta Biological Park, the vision  to  educate  younger generations;  to create awareness on the importance of conservation of flora and fauna - the biodiversity of the nature for the benefit of the future generation .

The Zoo Authority of Karnataka (ZAK) with Department of Biotechnology (DoBT), Government of India, initiated the project of a Butterfly Park, during the year 2003. The construction work was completed during 2007 and opened to the public . It is the unique project in the entire country and is serving as a role model in the nation, and most of the Zoos and parks interested to establish Butterfly Park are using this as knowledge hub.

Buses from the KBS(Majestic) City bus stand, ply to the Park. Will be a  day's programme with children. 

Lion and Tiger safaris are available to the visitors.

Revised Tariff (Entry Fee Rate w.e.f. 01-01-2020)
Zoo	Monday to Friday	Saturday, Sunday & Govt Holidays
Adults	100/-	100/-
Children	50/-	50/-
Sr. Citizen	60/-	60/-
Butterfly Park	Monday to Friday	Saturday, Sunday & Govt Holidays
Adults	50/-	50/-
Children	30/-	30/-
Sr. Citizen	30/-	30/-

( please refer to:    http://bannerghattabiologicalpark.org/    for more details )

The Gulf of Mannar Marine National Park and Biosphere Reserve. VUFF-0030

VUFF-0030 The Gulf of Mannar Marine National Park and Biosphere Reserve.

The Gulf of Mannar Marine National Park ,established in 1986,(later as First Biosphere Reserve of India in 1989) is a protected area of India consisting of 21 small islands and adjacent coral reefs in the Gulf of Mannar in the Indian Ocean. It lies 1 to 10 km away from the east coast of Tamil Nadu, South India for 160 km between Thoothukudi (Tuticorin) and Dhanushkodi. It is the core area of the Gulf of Mannar Biosphere Reserve which includes a 10 km buffer zone around the park, including the populated coastal area. The park has a high diversity of plants and animals in its marine, intertidal and near shore habitats. Public access inside the Park is limited to glass bottom boat rides, when the breeding season of several fish, is over.

Mangroves dominate the intertidal zones of the park islands. They consist of species belonging to the  Rhizophora, Avicennia, Bruguiera,Ceriops and Lummitzera genus.  Mangroves:  Introduced  Prosopis   genus of tree species are dominant on land in all the islands. Pemphis acidula  ( Lythracease  family of flowering herb) is the only endemic plant species. 12 species of sea grass and 147 species of seaweeds were recorded. This vegetation provides important feeding grounds for the vulnerable marine mammal, the Dugong, endangered Greenturtles and vulnerable Olive Ridley turtles , sea grasses.     

Dugong, is the flagship mammal of the park. Indo-Pacific bottle nose dolphin,  finless porpoise,  spinner dolphin, common dolphin, Risso's dolphin  melon headed whale, and dwarf sperm whale  are often sighted.

Four species each of  shrimp and lobster, 106 species of  crab, 17 species of sea cucumber r, and 466 species of mollusc   including 271  gastropods , 174  bivalves, 5 polyplacophorans,  16 cephalopods   and 5  scaphopods ,  108 species of sponge  and 100 species of echinoderm  occur in this Gulf.

Glass-bottomed boats available at Mandapam cater to tourists visiting the area. Access to the islands is prohibited. The nearest railway stations is at Mandapam .

Please refer to the “Information Booklet on Gulf of Mannar Biosphere Reserve” of Environmental Information System of Government of Tamil Nadu, for more information.

The Gulf of Mannar Marine National Park (VUFF-0030)(also IOTA AS-173)         Activations:

AT0RI ,from 23^rd to 31st August 2004. Other Calls operated: VU2VIT, KGN, LR, GUR, NDR, UR ,RMJ ,FBI, SWS, VU3RRU, WIA, YFD(digi modes)

AT5RP, from 14 - 17 August 2014, operators were VU2LU, GGM , UR, LX and JHM. during the Rameshwaram & Pamban Island Light House Dxpedition, 14 to 17 August 2014 Simultaneously, 1.Pamban Island IOTA AS-173; 2.Pamban Channel LH  ARLHS IND-048  GL: MJ99og; 3.Rameswaram LH      ARLHS IND-058  GL: MJ99ph were also activated.

AT5P, from 06 – 09^, May 2016, other calls operated: VU2WH, CPL. VU3KPL

AT4DK, from 02 - 04 November 2018, other calls operated: VU3NPI. 345 QSOs in ClubLog

VUFF - Indian Flora Fauna: Information.

VUFF - Indian Flora Fauna: Information:
GENERAL INFORMATION: VUFF coordinator is Arasu VU2UR.

Our India is a very big country with many species of flora and fauna, scattered in various VUFF sites.
The number of National Parks, Game Reserves, Wildlife Sanctuaries, Bird sanctuaries, Biosphere Reserves, Marine Reserves, etc., exceed  600 and new ones are coming up.

World Wide Flora Fauna (WWFF) located in Europe, has compiled a  1524 page  worldwide FF sites  Directory. Whoever had compiled this information, had taken the data on India,  from available internet pages. The many  other important Indian sites, have NOT been taken to this list. If you see Australian data, there are over 3000 sites mentioned, as their data was uptodate at that time.

From this Directory, the data pertaining to Indian subcontinent is obtained.  If some unlisted site is being activated, please inform your friend Arasu VU2UR  at his  "arasuvu2ur@gmail.com"  so that, the site can be  got added to the Directory, by contacting the WWFF authorities. The log of the activity is to be uploaded to WWFF site in ADIF format, which is a mandatory condition, for getting the site enlisted as activated and a VUFF  number allotted.

The details of various sites of National Parks, Wild Life Sanctuaries,Bird Sanctuaries,  Biosphere and Marine Reserves, Zoos, Botanical Gardens,Wild Floral Parks,  Aquariums etc., are given in other posts in this blogspot itself, so that you can go through all the available information. Photographs which occupy lot of space, are not given. You can see them by going to the respective special  sites.

The Indian Sites list goes as follows: (those in Bold font were activated so far ((as in January 2020) from the WWFF Directory)

VUFF-0001	Anshi
VUFF-0002	Balphakram
VUFF-0003	Bandhavgarh
VUFF-0004	Bandipur
VUFF-0005	Bannerghatta Biological Park
VUFF-0006	Bansda
VUFF-0007	Betla
VUFF-0008	Bhagwan Mahavir (Mollem)
VUFF-0009	Bhitar Kanika
VUFF-0010	Blackbuck, Velavadar
VUFF-0011	Buxa Tiger Reserve
VUFF-0012	Campbell Bay
VUFF-0013	Chandoli
VUFF-0014	Corbett
VUFF-0015	Dachigam
VUFF-0016	Desert
VUFF-0017	Dibru-Saikhowa
VUFF-0018	Dudhwa
VUFF-0019	Eravikulam
VUFF-0020	Fossil
VUFF-0021	Galathea
VUFF-0022	Gangotri
VUFF-0023	Gir
VUFF-0024	Gorumara
VUFF-0025	Govind Pashu Vihar
VUFF-0026	Great Himalayan
VUFF-0027	Gugamal
VUFF-0028	Guindy
VUFF-0029	Gulf of Kachchh Marine
VUFF-0030	Gulf of Mannar Marine
VUFF-0031	Hazaribag
VUFF-0032	Hemis
VUFF-0033	Indira Gandhi
VUFF-0034	Indravati
VUFF-0035	Intanki
VUFF-0036	Kalesar
VUFF-0037	Kanger Ghati
VUFF-0038	Kanha
VUFF-0039	Kasu Brahmananda Reddy
VUFF-0040	Kaziranga
VUFF-0041	Keibul Lamjao
VUFF-0042	Keoladeo
VUFF-0043	Khangchendzonga
VUFF-0044	Kishtwar
VUFF-0045	Kudremukh
VUFF-0046	Madhav
VUFF-0047	Mahavir Harina Vanasthali
VUFF-0048	Manas
VUFF-0049	Mathikettan Shola
VUFF-0050	Middle Button Island
VUFF-0051	Mouling
VUFF-0052	Mount Abu Wildlife Sanctuary
VUFF-0053	Mount Harriet Island
VUFF-0054	Mrugavani
VUFF-0055	Mudumalai
VUFF-0056	Mukurthi
VUFF-0057	Murlen
VUFF-0058	Nagarahole (Rajiv Gandhi)
VUFF-0059	Namdapha
VUFF-0060	Nameri
VUFF-0061	Nanda Devi
VUFF-0062	Navegaon
VUFF-0063	Neora Valley
VUFF-0064	Nokrek
VUFF-0065	North Button Island
VUFF-0066	North Simlipal
VUFF-0067	Orang
VUFF-0068	Palamau
VUFF-0069	Palani Hills
VUFF-0070	Panna
VUFF-0071	Pench
VUFF-0072	Pench
VUFF-0073	Periyar
VUFF-0074	Phawngpui Blue Mountain
VUFF-0075	Pin Valley
VUFF-0076	Rajaji
VUFF-0077	Rani Jhansi Marine
VUFF-0078	Ranthambore
VUFF-0079	Saddle Peak
VUFF-0080	Salim Ali
VUFF-0081	Sanjay
VUFF-0082	Sanjay Gandhi
VUFF-0083	Sariska
VUFF-0084	Satpura
VUFF-0085	Shri Venkataswara
VUFF-0086	Silent Valley
VUFF-0087	Singalila
VUFF-0088	Sirhi
VUFF-0089	South Button Island
VUFF-0090	Sultanpur
VUFF-0091	Sundarbans
VUFF-0092	Tadoba
VUFF-0093	Valley of Flowers
VUFF-0094	Valmiki
VUFF-0095	Van Vihar
VUFF-0096	Velavadar
VUFF-0097	Dakshin Gangotri Station
VUFF-0098	Indian Bay Camp
VUFF-0099	Maitri Station
VUFF-0100	BR Hills Sanctuary
VUFF-0101	Daroji Sloth Bear Sanctuary
VUFF-0102	The Black Buck Sanctuary
VUFF-0103	Lakshadweep Marine Biosphere Reserve