Nameri National Park

Nameri National Park
IUCN category II (national park)

Nameri National Park
Map showing the location of Nameri National Park
Location Sonitpur Assam India
Nearest city Tezpur, India
Coordinates 27°0′36″N 92°47′24″E / 27.01000°N 92.79000°E / 27.01000; 92.79000Coordinates: 27°0′36″N 92°47′24″E / 27.01000°N 92.79000°E / 27.01000; 92.79000
Area 200 km2 (77.2 sq mi)
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]

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.

Wild Elephant at nameri National Park

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

Tourism attractions

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nameri National Park.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/19/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.