Namdapha first came to international prominence in the Second World War for reasons unrelated to its rich biodiversity. During the latter half of the War, allied transport planes regularly flew risky supply missions from Chabua in Assam to Kunming, China to provision Chiang Kai Shek’s nationalist army, which was cut-off from the sea after the fall of Myanmar (then Burma) and the capture of Chinese ports by the Japanese. During these ‘runs’ pilots had to fly over Namdapha and the surrounding mountains, which quickly became notorious due to the severe air turbulence over the area. The route was dubbed the ‘hump’, and several American pilots of the 12th Air Force lost their lives to crashes in these hills. Local people have known of these crash-sites for years, and the metal alloy is often cannibalised to craft machete blades and communal cooking vessels and ladles.

The Assam Rifles, an Indian paramilitary force, conducted the first systematic reconnaissance of the Vijaynagar area in 1961. An expedition led by Major General A.S. Guraya led to the opening up of an Assam Rifles post and an airstrip in Vijaynagar, a small town beyond the eastern border of Namdapha, surrounded by Myanmar on three sides. Today, the Vijaynagar area forms an administrative unit of the district of Changlang. Officers of the Assam Rifles are said to have resettled the Lisu residing in scattered settlements in Gandhigram (Lisu name: Shidi), which is today the largest Lisu village.

Namdapha was established as a wildlife sanctuary in 1972. The international border with Myanmar was demarcated in the same year. The 157 km Miao-Vijaynagar road (M-V Road) that runs through the park was also built in 1972. The road was partially motorable till sometime in the 1980s and has been mostly defunct since the mid 1990s. Namdapha was declared a Tiger Reserve and National Park in 1983. The Lisu people had opposed the demarcation of the eastern park boundary close to their villages as they were dependent on the forests.

Of all the resident ethnic groups, the Lisu (or Yobin) have been most closely associated with the park. The Lisu migrated across the Patkai range from Myanmar into the present-day Vijaynagar area in India in the early part of the last century (1930s-40s), settling in several locations along the Noa-dihing River. The border between India and Myanmar had not been demarcated then, and the area was no man’s land with dense forests and rugged terrain. They now practice settled wet-rice cultivation in community forests and reside mainly in four villages near the eastern border of the park. They have had the longest history with Namdapha, and know the forests extremely well. Most Lisu have retained an impressive knowledge of the jungle and jungle survival. Having had extensive contact with American missionaries in the 1930s and ‘40s, they now practice Christianity.

The Buddhist Singpho (known as the Jing Paw or Kachin in Myanmar) reside near the western edge of Namdapha. They were closely allied with British army units in Myanmar during the Second World War, when they fought for the allies as the Northern Kachin Levies.

The most populous tribe in this district are the Tangsa, a heterogeneous group of over thirty sub-tribes. The sub-tribes that inhabit forests close to Namdapha are the Tikhak, Mossang, and Muglum. Their villages are located mainly in community and reserve forests to the south-western boundary of the park. Other ethnic groups in the Miao area are the Nocte and Wancho (originally from neighbouring Tirap district) more recent settlers who are closely allied to the Naga tribes. There are also Buddhist Lama settlers who migrated from Bhutan in 1964. Villages of the Miju Mishmi tribe lie in Lohit district at the northwestern park boundary.

Nepali ex-servicemen were settled by the government in the Gandhigram-Vijaynagar area in the early 1960s, and their families reside in nine villages near the Myanmar border. The Chakma, refugees from Bangladesh, are relatively recent immigrants to the area, having been settled by the Indian government in the 1960s in the areas between the town of Miao and the western edge of Namdapha.

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