you recently got a chance to visit a hill station you were mesmerised by the beauty of nature. Describe the place you visited.
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Answer:
The Kaas Plateau, also known as the Kaas Pathar, is a plateau situated 25 kilometres west from Satara city in Maharashtra, India.[1] It falls under the Sahyadri Sub Cluster of the Western Ghats, and it became a part of a UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site in 2012.[2][3]
It is a biodiversity hotspot known for various types of seasonal wild flowers bloom and numerous species of endemic butterflies annually in the months of August and September.[3] The plateau is situated at an altitude of 1200 metres and is approximately 10 square kilometers in area. Kaas has more than 850 different species of flowering plants.These include orchids, shrubs such as the Karvy, and carnivorous plants such as Drosera Indica. Kaas Pathar is a plateau made from volcanic rocks in the Satara district of Maharashtra, and comes under the biosphere of the Western Ghats. The flora of kaas i.e the entire flowering plants and their related plants are typically restricted to that particular locality only.This is because the plateau is largely formed of basalt which is directly exposed to atmosphere.The basalt is almost covered entirely by a thin cover of soil formed due to erosion and has accumulated a layer of not more than a inch or so.
Cynotis tuberosa
Murdannia lanuginosa
Ceropegia vincaefolia (local known as Kandilpushpa/Kandil kharchudi)
About
Kaas plateau is a plateau located near Satara. It is situated high hill plateaus and grasslands turns into a 'valley of flowers' during monsoon season, particularly from August to early October. Kaas Plateau has more than 150 or more types of flowers, shrubs and grasses. The orchids bloom here for a period of 3–4 weeks during this season. Kaas plateau is a World Natural Heritage site, part of the Sahyadri Sub-cluster.[4][5][6] To control possible damage by tourists, the number of visitors to the plateau has been restricted to 3,000 per day.[4][7] In September, some of the most common flowering plants are Eriocaulon spp., Utricularia spp., Pogostemon deccanensis, Senecio grahamii, Impatiens lawii and Dipcadi montanum.[8]
The plateau experiences a natural cycle of extreme conditions, with wet water-logged cool monsoons, very dry hot summer (45 °C) and dry winter (5 °C). The soil is acidic only a thin layer on top of laterite rock underneath. Extreme seasonality influences the ecology of the site.
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