Spectrum Tours » National parks in india » Namdhapha national park

Want to get an insight of the rich wilderness of eastern India, then visit Namdapha National Park, tucked away in the northern most state of Arunachal Pradesh. The inaccessibility of the greater part the park has helped to keep the forests in their pristine state and keeping intact the divers habitats as well as the flora and fauna that are typical to this area. The dark evergreen forests of Namdapha Tiger Reserve in Arunachal Pradesh are a maze of enormous trees, lavish epiphytes and ferns, and serpent-like creepers. A land of rich biodiversity, it rings with the cry of the Hoolock, the only ape in India, and the clamour of countless birds.

The altitudinal range of the reserve is immense, from a low of 200 in to the 4,598 m Dapha Bum peak in the north, and embraces a prodigious mix of habitats - moist bamboo forests, dense, wet evergreen jungles, moist temperate and alpine scrublands. More than 90 per cent of the 1,985 sq kin tiger reserve has been retained as a core zone.

Much of Namdapha remains wild and unspoiled. Only one road passes through the reserve's southern half and then through the buffer area, in the western-central part, to connect Miao to the nearby Myanmar border. This road, often routed close by the Noa-Dehing River, was largely constructed long before Namdapha was declared a tiger reserve.

Lying in the Noa-Dehing catchment area that opens westward into the Upper Brahmaputra Valley, Namdapha is mostly snow-free. A national park had been suggested in the 1940s, the area then a part of the North East Frontier Agency (NEFA), but the reserve came into being only under the Assam Forest Regulation of 1970. It was later accorded the status of a wildlife sanctuary, and upgraded to a national park in 1983, when it was also included in Project Tiger.

Some of India's most elusive wildlife, the thick-set goat-antelope called the Mishmi Takin, the Binturong or Bear-cat, the Red Panda, known also as the Cat-bear, the Golden Cat and the Marbled Cat, all live in this reserve.

Namdapha is unusual in that it hosts four species of large cats Tiger, Clouded Leopard, Leopard and Snow Leopard. There is a wealth of other mammals (at least 70 species), which includes several of the lesser cats, plenty of squirrels and primates such as the Hoolock or White-browed Gibbon.

As for birds, this is one of the richest areas in India, with over 400 species of mostly woodland varieties. Forest trails offer good sightings. The several natural lakes (or bils) and smaller pools attract winter migratory birds as well as resident waterbirds, a category that includes the endangered White-winged Duck. Little is known of the thousands of other life-forms that inhabit this tropical paradise. In view of its unique importance, Namdapha deserves special attention before the juggernaut of development takes over one of India's last wild frontiers.

Wildlife Attraction :
The Mammals found are Tiger, Clouded Leopard, Snow Leopard (Ounce), Binturong, Leopard-cat, Marbled Cat, Golden Cat, Mishmi Takin, Wild Dog (Dhole), Red Panda (above), Large Indian Civet, Himalayan Palm Civet, Gaur (Indian Bison), Goral, Musk Deer, Slow Loris, Serow, Hoolock Gibbon, Assamese Macaque, Capped Langur, Himalayan Weasel, Hog Badger, Sambar

The sanctuary is home to many species of birds like Lesser Fish Eagle, Mountain Hawk Eagle, Rufous-bellied Eagle, Pied Falconet, Oriental Hobby, Crested Serpent Eagle, Crested Goshawk