Andhra Pradesh's only Asian elephant reserve, reborn through migration after two centuries
Koundinya Wildlife Sanctuary
Koundinya Wildlife Sanctuary is a protected wildlife area and the official elephant reserve of Andhra Pradesh, located in the Chittoor district of southern India. It lies in a rugged, hilly landscape where the eastern edge of the Kolar Plateau drops toward the plains of Tamil Nadu, giving the sanctuary a terrain of steep valleys, dry forests, and seasonal streams. The reserve holds special significance as the only sanctuary in Andhra Pradesh that supports a population of Asian elephants, after a herd migrated there for the first time in roughly two centuries.
The sanctuary's identity is closely tied to this natural recolonization. Between 1983 and 1986, elephants made long movements from the forests of Anekal-Hosur in Tamil Nadu and Bannerghatta in Karnataka, eventually settling in a region that had historically been without elephants. In response, the Andhra Pradesh government established the sanctuary in December 1990, creating a formal protected home for these animals. Today, the reserve covers roughly 357 square kilometers of dry deciduous and thorn forest, and it remains an important refugium for elephants and a range of associated dryland species.
Beyond elephants, Koundinya also supports rich dryland flora, several notable mammals such as sloth bears and panthers, and birdlife that includes the vulnerable yellow-throated bulbul. The landscape features waterfalls like Kalyana Revu and Kaigal, which are part of the same broader hill ecosystem that makes the sanctuary attractive for both wildlife and limited nature-based tourism.
