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Arunachal’s extensive mountainous forests are one of the last truly wild places of India. Large swathes still remain unexplored and unsurveyed, and Arunachal is one of the few places in the world where large animals are still being discovered. In 2004, a team of scientists from the Nature Conservation Foundation found the Arunachal macaque (Macaca munzala), the first macaque to be described worldwide since 1903. The very next year saw the discovery of a bird species, the Bugun Liocichla (Liocichla bugunorum), by Ramana Athreya. The last bird species to be described from mainland India was the Mishmi Wren-babbler (Spelaeornis baedigularis) in 1948, also from Arunachal Pradesh. It is safe to say that much more new wildlife is waiting to be discovered in Arunachal.
Arunachal Pradesh is covered in forests. Almost eighty per cent of Arunachal’s land area is forest of some kind, the highest proportion for any state in India. Sixty-two per cent of these forests are under community ownership which are also designated as unclassed state forests. However, most of this is under jhum or shifting cultivation and is secondary forest. Arunachal has over thirty reserve forests and scores of community forests, where use by local people is permitted to varying degrees. Including Namdapha, eleven wildlife sanctuaries and two national parks are under legal protection, cumulatively covering an area of about 9500 sq. km., and spanning an altitudinal range from a mere 50 m to a lofty 5300 m above sea level. However, only about 12% of the state is under the protected area network; the bulk of the forests are community-owned. A orchid at the Sessa Wildlife Sanctuary Eaglenest in the west has shot to fame after the discovery of the Bugun Liocichla, and is one of the top bird watching destinations worldwide. Tawang, with a proposed biosphere reserve, is home to high Himalayan and Tibetan plateau species. Sessa’s humid, wet valleys are home to over 200 orchid species, including five endemics. The ruggedness of Mouling has meant that most of the park has never been explored first-hand. In the Mishmi hills in eastern Arunachal, you might come across the takin Budorcas taxicolor, a strange, elusive goat-antelope, or the Mishmi Wren-babbler, found nowhere else in the world. Many other unique places such as Tale Valley are hardly known or visited.
This section briefly introduces the other national parks and wildlife sanctuaries of Arunachal Pradesh as well as other important wildlife areas. Habitats and species of interest are highlighted, and travel information to these areas is provided.
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more wild places
