Location: Arunachal Pradesh Map
Area: 1985 km2
Namdapha National Park is natural biosphere reserve in a
Arunachal Pradesh state in India. Namdapha National Park covers
an area of 1985 km2 in the Eastern Himalayas. The best time to
visit Namdapha National Park is between October and March which
are driest, coolest months of the year. March and April as well
as June to October are wettest months of the year. In addition
to unfavorable weather condition these times of the year are
also frequent for mud slides and flash floods that are often
unpredictable and very deadly.
Namdapha National Park harbors over 450 species of birds, 430
species of insects, 96 mammals and many others. You have to keep
an eye on large carnivore animals including tigers, several
species of leopards, wolves Asiatic black bears as well as many
smaller creatures like red fox, red panda, otters. Entrance Fee
is required to enter the park. Additionally foreign tourists
require Restricted Area Permit (RAP). You can get it from a
Monistry of Home Affairs, Government of India (F-1, Lok Nayak
Bhavan, Khan Market, New Delhi - 110 001). Additionally you need
to get a 15 day Inner Line Permit for entry into Arunachal
Pradesh and a permit of a Field Director.
Namdapha National Park is located in Arunachal Pradesh in northeast
India. It covers 1,808 km² and a 245 km² buffer zone. The national park
takes its name from the Namdapha river of the same name, which has its
source here and flows through the park in a north-south direction. In
the north, the national park is bordered by the Kamlang Game Reserve,
and in the west the Noa Dihing River forms a natural border. In the
south and southeast of the park there are mountain ranges that extend
into Myanmar. The altitude of the reserve ranges from 200 m to 4571 m
above sea level. There are 27 villages in the park area, in which almost
10,000 people live. Among them, the Chakma form the majority.
The
national park is located at the 27th parallel and therefore in the
subtropics. However, due to the large differences in altitude, the local
climate varies considerably. The valleys have a subtropical climate and
the mountain peaks have an alpine climate. Four seasons can be
distinguished: the cold season in December and February, the pre-monsoon
period from March to May, the southwest monsoon period from June to
September and the post-monsoon period from October to November. The area
is extremely rainy with an annual rainfall of up to 6300 mm. About 75%
of annual precipitation occurs during the southwest monsoon season and
about 15% during the northeast monsoon period from December to March.
The area that later became a national park initially had the status of a protected forest area (reserve forest). On October 2, 1972, it was upgraded to a wildlife sanctuary and on May 12, 1983, it received national park status. A little later, it was also declared an official tiger reserve on March 15, 1983.
As the terrain rises from low altitudes to 4,500 meters above sea
level, the vegetation is very diverse, ranging from tropical and
subtropical rainforests at the foot of the mountains to temperate
deciduous forests at medium altitudes to alpine meadows and year-round
snowfields. The animal world is correspondingly rich, including species
from tropical Southeast Asia as well as species from the Himalayan
region. Namdapha offers habitat for Bengal tigers, Indian leopards,
clouded leopards and snow leopards. Other large predators include Asian
wild dogs, wolves and collared bears.
The large herbivores are
also richly represented and include, on the one hand, tropical species
such as elephants, gaurs, wild water buffaloes, sambar deer, hog deer,
Indian muntjacs and wild boars, but on the other hand also typical
mountain animals such as gorals, seraue, takins and blue sheep. The
monkey species are represented by seven species in the park; These
include the slow loris, hulock gibbon, rhesus macaque, bearded macaque,
Assam macaque and crested langur. Smaller predators are represented by
lesser pandas, binturongs and numerous cats and civet species. For some
of them, such as the Hulock gibbon, Namdapha represents one of the last
refuges. A study in the winter of 2006/2007 recorded 50 specimens of
this rare monkey species in the national park area.
The birdlife
is rich and represented, for example, by Nepal-crested eagles, gray
peacock-pheasants, masked owls and Nepalese hornbills.
In total,
the national park is home to 69 species of mammals and 233 species of
birds.
However, a recent study conducted using camera traps found
that the park's large animal populations are very low. The cause is
likely excessive poaching. No signs of tigers could be found in the
park. The only large carnivore that has been documented is the clouded
leopard. Leopards and wild dogs could only be detected indirectly,
through feces and tracks, and are probably still present in small
populations. The same applies to the Gaur and the Serau. Only a small
herd of elephants seems to still visit the park regularly. Populations
of sambar deer, wild boars, Indian muntjacs and numerous small carnivore
species have been reliably documented. However, a few years later, in
2012, a tiger was detected for the first time using a camera trap. In
addition, further photos of other large animals were taken, which proves
that the animal population in the park is better than initially feared.