Kaas – Maharashtra’s own Valley of flowers A World Natural Heritage site of UNESCO Slider Kaas is an exceptionally stunning plateau speckled with dynamic tones of colours of wild flowers. Kaas is a hot-spot of biodiversity due to its unique eco-system and high degree of endemism. It contains important natural habitats that sustain biological diversity of outstanding universal value. Most species seen here need high humidity and abundant water for survival and therefore depend on the monsoon. Just after the first monsoon showers the plants break out of their dormancy and the dry grass plateau turns lush green, and soon spreads out a beautiful carpet of vivid flowers all across. It is a lateritic plateau at height of around 1213 meter above mean sea level. It is spread over about 1800 hectors of land. More than 600 species of wild flowers bloom in and after monsoon season. This area has been attracting the attention of tourists, botanists and environmentalists over last decade. It is a sensitive hotspot of biodiversity due to its varieties of unique endemic herbs, shrubs and other flora and fauna.