Berijam Lake is a reservoir near Kodaikanal town in Dindigul district of Tamil Nadu, South India.

[2] Berijam is located at the end of Pillar Rocks Road (old SR-18), 21 km (13.0 mi) southwest of Kodaikanal Lake.

[3] The Tamil Nadu Forest Department has restricted entry into the Berijam Lake area to between 9.30 a.m. and 3 p.m. for the general public.

There is a forest rest house with limited accommodations which serves as an overnight base camp for Forestry Department staff, researchers and trekkers.

[7] The previous existence here of a large lake, evidence of which was visible nearby, was first recorded in 1864 by Colonel Douglas Hamilton of the 21st Regiment of the Madras Native Infantry.

It was apparently formed by the side of a hill slipping down into a valley which slopes northwards, and damming up the stream which ran to the Amaravati River at the bottom of it.

[8] In 1864, Colonel Hamilton submitted a report stating that the Berijam Lake area was the best site in the Palani Hills for a military cantonment or Sanatorium.

[8] Berijam lake was artificially created in 1867, when Sir Vere Levigne, Collector of Madurai, donated part of his personal retirement funds for building the dam.

[7] Berijam has a 100-year-old 2-story brick building, partly damaged and blackened over the years, with a bright yellow painted name reading "Britisher's Transit Camp".

[13] The lake is formed below the Palani hill ranges at the origin of the Varahanadhi (Varaha River) which is used for purposes of water supply and irrigation.

[16] Berijam is rich in flora and fauna (some are pictured in the gallery) and has a few original eco–initiatives to its credit, namely, South India's first field–oriented eco-education centre set up by the Forest Department, an exclusive medicinal plants demonstration garden[17] spread over 1.0 ha (2.5 acres) and a model swamp observation area created to educate the public.

[4] The catchment of the Berijam Lake in the Palani hills falls under the once extensive shola grassland ecosystem, also called the "cloud forest".

These grasslands constitute a complex and highly diverse plant community which in turn supports a wide range of fauna from insects to large mammals.

and Mentha is an active programme launched by the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University through the 40 hectares (99 acres) research centre of the Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (CIMAP) near Berijam.

[3] The Upper Palni Shola forest reserve surrounding Berijam lake has a rich faunal population comprising the following.

Forest Department officials are studying survey data to estimate the local tiger population based on indirect evidence like pug marks, scats and scratches.

[18] Studies by the Sálim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History, Coimbatore, undertaken in 2006 in many areas of the Palani hills including Berijam, indicate that the population of the grey-breasted laughingthrush, a near threatened endemic bird species of the Western Ghats, has been affected by the degradation of its habitat.

[29] In 1902, important bauxite deposits were discovered in the hills north and south of Berijam Lake[30] which The Geological Survey of India investigated during 1964–65.

The Vatakanal Conservation Trust, a non-governmental organization in association with the Tamil Nadu Forest Department has initiated efforts to restore the shola system.