National Parks of Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh is home to some of the amazing National Parks comprising of wide variety of flora and fauna. Some of them are :
1. Kasu Brahmananda Reddy National Park : It is situated in Jubilee hill, Hyderabad which is spread over an area of 156.30 meters. The KBR National Park was established in the year 1994 to protect the biodiversity and richness of the are it is on. The park is named after Late Kasu Brahmananda Reddy, former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. The park is often desicribed as "a jungle amidst the concrete jungle" which lies in the center of Hyderabad.

The park has a rich variety of flora and fauna in its vicinity and is plentiful with more than 500 kinds of flora, 130 species of birds, 20 different kinds of mammal, 20 varieties of reptiles and numerous invertebrates. 

The common species at KBR national park are the jungle cats, palm civets, wild boars, hares, mongooses, monitor lizards, peafowls, patridges, qualis, pythons, cobras and other snakes, although not large mammals are seen here. The park is covered by southern tropical deciduous forests, with a dense and varied vegetation of more than 600 species of trees, shrubs, climbers, herbs, grasses, besides several bryophytes, pteriodophytes and xerophytes.

2. Mahavir Harina Vanasthali National Park is located at Vanasthalipuram, at a distance of 15 kms from the city. Initially the area was under the Nizam and later named after Lord Mahavira and was established as a National Park in 1975, to commemorate his 2500 birth anniversary.

The main species of fauna found here is the endangered black buck, the state animal of Andhra Pradesh. There are over 400 black bucks, 500 cheetals and large herds of boar. Common animals seen here are monitor lizards, mongooses, porcupines besides variety of snakes. It is also home to a hundred species of birds like Patridges, Qualis, Peacocks, Doves, pond herons, egrets, kingfishers, cormorants. A variety of migratory birds of over 80 species can also be seen round the year. Short-toed Eagle is one of the rare species nesting in this area. 

3. Mrugavani National Park is situated in Chilkur in Moinabad mandal, 25 km from Hyderabad and covers an area of 3.6 sq km (700 acres). It was identified as a National Park in 1994. The forest has over 600 plant species including herbs, shrubs, climbers and trees like Teak, Rosewood, Sandalwood, Neem, Bamboo etc. The fauna of Mrugavani National Park has over 20 species of mammals, reptiles and invertebrates like the sambar, wild boar, hare, snakes and butterflies apart from 115 species of birds. 

4. Sri Venkateswara National Park extends over two districts of Chittoor and Cuddapah of Andhra Pradesh in an area of 353.62 sq.km. The park established in October 1989, is named after Lord Venkateshwara of Tirupati. It is located in Rajampet of Cuddapah district and Chandragiri and Bailapadu of Chittoor district. The hilly terrain bounded by Seshachalam and Tirumala hills is rugged and beautiful with gorges, steep slopes, plateaus and valleys. The park is also famous for its beautiful waterfalls like Talakona, Gundalakona and Gunjana.

The fauna found here are tiger, panther, spotted deer, Sambar, black buck, bison, ibex, sloth bear, pig, bear, Bonnet monkey, mongoose, wild dogs, jackal, fox, wolf, civet cat, jungle cat, rare and endangered golden gecko, Indian giant squirrel, tree shrew, lizards etc and birds like partridges, quail, peacock, jungle fowl etc. There are more than 100 species of birds in Sri Venkateswaram including Crested Serpant Eagle, Ashy Crowned Finch Lark, Indian Roller, Kingfishers, White bellied Woodpecker etc.