The Sharavathi Rainforest Centre

The Sharavathi Rainforest Centre

The Space

This Centre is located within the pristine rainforest in the Sharavathi Valley, in Shivamoga District of Karnataka. This area has many endangered species of frogs, snakes, trees and other flora and fauna.

Facilities at SRERC

The current infrastructure at the Sharavathi Rainforest Education and Research Centre is mostly made up of laterite stone and tiles that have been locally sourced and includes:

  • An 80 year old mud farm house which serves as our work station and living quarters for the steward of the centre. It also includes a kitchen facility that is equipped with a smokeless chulha. The creation of a library space is a work in progress.
  • An old cow shed that has been converted into an open space for group meetings and discussions.
  • A two-storey structure that serves as accommodation for our field staff.
  • A bathing zone having a few additional toilets and a boiler system to ensure efficient water heating.
  • A two-storey structure with a large hall and a few small bedrooms with attached washrooms. It serves as a dormitory for small groups, a meeting space as well as accommodation for short-term and long-term research scientists and educators.
  • While the current electricity supply is from the Karnataka Electricity Board, solar lighting will eventually be introduced in the space.

While the buildings occupy only a small area of the land, there are plans to revive the remaining part of the land:

  • To establish a vegetable garden and herbal garden that will meet the daily needs of the people living on the land.
  • To establish a food forest among the arecanut plantation having a multiple diversity of spices, fruiting trees and tuber crops.
  • To establish an arboretum reflecting the great diversity of trees found in surrounding forests of the Western Ghats.

Call to action

The SRERC invites researchers, scientists, conservationists and interns who would be interested in short-term and long-term studies related to the surrounding forests of the Sharavathi Wildlife Sanctuary.

We further invite educators and school students to the space to seek greater possibilities of bridging the gap between nature education and school curriculum.