The Geography That Made an Island Without Water
A Shola forest patch rarely exceeds a few hectares. It sits in a valley crease between rolling montane grasslands in the upper Western Ghats, places like Munnar, Kodaikanal, and the Nilgiris, tucked low enough to catch moisture but surrounded on all sides by open terrain that most of its species cannot cross. The grassland is not a degraded forest. It is a distinct, ancient habitat maintained by frost, fire, and the specific hydrology of high-altitude plateaus. The forest patches and the grassland exist in a locked relationship: neither is the other's future state.
