Adventure & Wildlife Magazine - Vol 1|Issue 5-6| Nov 16 - Jan 17 Vol 2 | Issue 1 | Mar - May 2017 | Page 64

ADVENTURE & WILDLIFE
Nameri National Park
Birdwatcher’s Paradise
photo credit: india.com
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.
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.
The Scenic Nameri national park stretches along
the banks of Jia Bhoroli River. The park offers a
unforgettable visual spectacle to the traveler with This forest has over 600 species. Some notable
species are Gmelina arborea, Michelia champaca, Amari,
glorious views of pristine forests and the river bank.
Chukrasia tabularis, Ajar, Urium poma, Bhelou,
Nameri shares its northern boundary with the Pakhui Agaru, Rudraksha, Bonjolokia, Hatipolia akhakan,
Wildlife Sanctuary of Arunachal Pradesh. Together they hollock, Nahor. It is home for orchids like Dendrobium,
constitute an area of over 1000 km2 of which Nameri Cymbidium and Cypripedioideae.
has a total area of 200 km2.
Fauna
This is excellent elephant country and was considered to
History
The park was declared a reserve forest on be an elephant reserve. It is an ideal habitat for a host of
17 October 1978. It was set up as a Nameri Sanctuary on other animals including the tiger, leopard, sambar, dhole
18 September 1985 with an area of137 km2 as a part (the Asiatic wild dog), pygmy hog, Indian wild bison,
of Naduar Forest Reserve. Until then the Nameri clouded leopard, leopard cat, muntjac, gaur, wild boar,
National Park was heavily used for logging. Another 75 km2 sloth bear, Himalayan black bear, capped langur and
was added on 15 November 1998 when it was officially Indian giant squirrel.
established as a National Park.
Nameri is a birdwatcher’s paradise with over 300
The Jia Bhoroli river of Assam was famous since the time species. The white winged wood duck, great pied
of British for the golden mahseer angling.
hornbill, wreathed hornbill, rufous necked hornbill,
black stork, ibisbill, blue-bearded bee-eaters, babblers,
plovers and many other birds make Nameri their home.
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Vol 2|Issue 1|Mar - May 2017