Nameri National Park

From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
Jump to: navigation, search
Nameri National Park
IUCN category II (national park)
Ibisbill3.jpg
Nameri National Park
Map showing the location of Nameri National Park
Map showing the location of Nameri National Park
Location Sonitpur Assam India
Nearest city Tezpur, India
Coordinates Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Area Lua error in Module:Convert at line 1851: attempt to index local 'en_value' (a nil value).
Established 1978
Governing body Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India

Nameri National Park is a national park in the foothills of the eastern Himalayas in the Sonitpur District of Assam, India, about 35 km from Tezpur. Nameri is about 9 km from Chariduar, the nearest village.[1]

Nameri shares its northern boundary with the Pakhui Wildlife Sanctuary of Arunachal Pradesh. Together they constitute an area of over 1000 km2 of which Nameri has a total area of 200  km2.[2]

Etymology

The park was declared a reserve forest on 17 October 1978. It was set up as a Nameri Sanctuary on 18 September 1985 with an area of137 km2 as a part of Naduar Forest Reserve. Until then the Nameri National Park was heavily used for logging. Another 75  km2 was added on 15 November 1998 when it was officially established as a National Park.

The Jia Bhoroli river of Assam was famous since the time of British for the Golden Mahseer Angling.[3]

Ibisbill in Nameri National Park

Flora

The vegetation type of nameri is of semi-evergreen, moist deciduous forests with cane and bamboo brakes and narrow strips of open grassland along rivers. The forests are rich in epiphytes, lianas, and creepers and clump-forming bamboo.[2]

This forest has over 600 species. Some notable species are Gmelina arborea, Michelia champaca, Amari, Chukrasia tabularis, Ajar, Urium poma, Bhelou, Agaru, Rudraksha, Bonjolokia, Hatipolia akhakan, Terminalia myriocarpa, Mesua ferrca. It is home for orchids like Dendrobium, Cymbidium and Cypripedioideae.[3]

File:Nameri.jpg
Nameri National Park-Kangkan Hazarika

Fauna

This is excellent elephant country and was considered to be an elephant reserve. It is an ideal habitat for a host of other animals including the tiger, leopard, sambar, dhole (the Asiatic wild dog), pygmy hog, Indian Wild Bison, Clouded Leopard, Leopard Cat, muntjac, gaur, wild boar, sloth bear, Himalayan black bear, capped langur and Indian giant squirrel.

Nameri is a birdwatcher's paradise with over 300 species. The white winged wood duck, great pied hornbill, wreathed hornbill, rufous necked hornbill, black stork, ibisbill, blue-bearded bee-eaters, babblers, plovers and many other birds make Nameri their home.[4]

Conflicts and threats

Nameri faces two threats: One is due to continued official logging in the area of Sonitpur.

The major threat for Nameri is human/animal conflict due to around 3000 cattle grazing the forest.[4] The other human/animal conflict is due to the vast group of elephants in Nameri. There were several cases of elephant deaths. In 2001 there were 18 elephant deaths.[5]

Nameri National Park, photo by Vikramjit Kakati

Tourism attractions

  • Angling at Nameri: This park is full of rivers. Fishing is the famous activity which is held by forest department. Golden Masheer Fish is famous in these region where they grown to 3-9 feet. They are known as "Tigers of the Himalayan Rivers." Angling has been suspended by local park authority under the Wildlife Protection Act as this habitat is now a Save the Tiger Project site.[citation needed]
  • Nameri River Rafting is held at southeast of the park on river Jia Bharali. The rafting is up to 13 km around 3 hours.
  • Nameri Wildlife Trekking is an amazing experience in these park. An armed forest department worker guides the trekking.

References

  1. Tourism.webindia123.com
  2. 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. 3.0 3.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. 4.0 4.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links