Which of the following Protected Areas are located in the Cauvery basin?

Answer: (c) 1, 3 and 4 only

Nagarhole, Sathyamangalam and Wayanad all drain to the Cauvery. Only Papikonda is outside.

Statement by statement

1. ✓ YES — Cauvery basin Kodagu–Mysuru, Karnataka. Its streams drain into the Kabini, a major tributary of the Cauvery.

2. ✗ NO — Godavari basin In Andhra Pradesh, on the Papikonda hills where the Godavari cuts through the Eastern Ghats. Nowhere near the Cauvery.

3. ✓ YES — Cauvery basin Erode, Tamil Nadu — where the Western and Eastern Ghats meet. Drained by the Moyar and Bhavani, both Cauvery tributaries.

4. ✓ YES — Cauvery basin Kerala, touching Nagarhole and Bandipur. Kerala’s rivers mostly flow west — but Wayanad is on the east-flowing Kabini side.

The idea

A park belongs to the basin of the river its streams finally join. Do not go by the State. Follow the water: which tributary drains the park, and which big river does that tributary meet?

Nagarhole and Wayanad → Kabini → Cauvery → Sathyamangalam → Moyar and Bhavani → Cauvery → Papikonda → Godavari

Why the others are wrong

(a) Includes Papikonda (Godavari) and misses Sathyamangalam and Wayanad.

(b) Right two, but leaves out Nagarhole — the textbook Kabini park.

(d) Papikonda is on the Godavari, so “all four” cannot be right.

The trap

Wayanad is in Kerala, and Kerala’s rivers mostly run west to the Arabian Sea — so many students drop it. Wayanad sits on the Kabini, which flows EAST into the Cauvery.

Also know

The Cauvery rises at Talakaveri in the Brahmagiri hills of Karnataka and reaches the Bay of Bengal. Hemavati, Shimsha and Amaravati are other tributaries. The Periyar Tiger Reserve belongs to a different river basin in Kerala. A watershed is the high ground separating drainage basins; State borders need not follow it.