Pakhui Wildlife Sanctuary: The Reserve With Two Names

Pakke Tiger Reserve lies in the foothills of the Eastern Himalaya in Arunachal Pradesh. Older papers call it Pakhui. The two names mean the same place.

Which district is it in?

The National Tiger Conservation Authority places it in East Kameng district. The reserve’s own site now says Pakke Kessang district. Write East Kameng if a question uses older material.

Which name is official now?

The authority’s list says Pakke Tiger Reserve. Its report and brief note say the same. The reserve’s site says it is also called Pakhui.

What does the number 26 mean?

Pakke is number 26 in the authority’s main list of tiger reserves. That number is just the row, not the order of becoming a tiger reserve. The list is sorted by the year the protected area was first notified. It gives 2012 as Pakke’s tiger reserve year.

The history has several steps. Sources do not agree on every year. Know which source says what.

What happened in 1966 and 1977?

A forest area was constituted as a reserve forest in 1966. The reserve’s site says 1 July 1966. Ministry material says the Kameng and Pakke rivers gave the area its name that year.

It became a wildlife sanctuary in 1977. The authority’s report says Pakke was declared a sanctuary in 1977. The reserve’s site says a game reserve on 28 March 1977.

What happened in 2001?

The reserve’s site says the Governor of Arunachal Pradesh renamed Pakhui Wildlife Sanctuary as Pakke Wildlife Sanctuary Division on 19 April 2001. Treat it as the reserve’s own account.

When did it become a tiger reserve?

The sources differ. This is the main trap.

• The Ministry backgrounder says it joined Project Tiger on 18 February 2002.
• The reserve’s site says it became a tiger reserve on 23 April 2002.
• The authority’s report says “later as a Tiger Reserve in 1999”.
• The authority’s list shows 2012 as the tiger reserve notification year.

Use this exam rule:

• If the question says “as per the NTCA list”, answer 2012.
• If the question follows older books or the Ministry, answer 2002.
• Do not use the list number 26 to decide the order of tiger reserves.

Older material gives 862 square kilometres. The NTCA brief note gives 861.95 as core and 1,276.95 as total.

What are the area figures?

The authority’s brief note gives 861.95 square kilometres as core, or Critical Tiger Habitat. Buffer is 515.00. The total is 1,276.95.

The authority’s list shows a different set: core 683.45 and total 1,198.45. The two authority pages disagree. The PIB release gives 862 as the size of the whole reserve.

Which rivers bound it?

The Bhareli, also called the Kameng, bounds it on the west and north. The Pakke river bounds it on the east.

What does the forest look like?

It lies in the foothills of the Eastern Himalaya.

Which other animals live here?

• The authority’s note calls the elephant and the tiger the charismatic mammals here.
• Co-predators include the leopard, the clouded leopard and the wild dog.
• The note records around 59 mammal species, of which 16 are threatened.

Its tiger numbers are small. The sources do not describe a rising or breeding population.

How many tigers were photographed?

The 2022 report used 135 camera stations over 8,755 trap nights. They photographed 6 individual tigers. Two of the six were also photographed in Nameri Tiger Reserve in Assam.

How does that compare with Arunachal?

The report counted 9 tigers photographed across Arunachal. It says Pakke reportedly has the highest tiger population in the state.

Is the trend good?

No. The report says the tiger numbers in Pakke and one other reserve have been low and almost steady for three cycles. It says they fell from 2014.

Pakke is a haven for hornbills in the North-east. It holds four of India’s nine hornbill species.

How many species are there?

The Nature Conservation Foundation says four of India’s nine hornbill species live here. They are the Great, Wreathed, Oriental Pied and Rufous-necked hornbills.

Who protects the nests?

The Foundation began a nest adoption programme in 2011 with the Ghora-Aabhe Society. As of 2025 it employs ten Nyishi villagers from ten villages. They find, watch and protect nests and roosts. They are paid a salary.

When did it start, and what did it win?

The Foundation says the programme began in 2011. The reserve’s own site says the reserve won the India Biodiversity Award 2016 for its nest adoption programme.

The Nyishi are the main community around Pakke. Their headgear uses a hornbill beak. Conservation work led to a change.

What is the headgear?

It is called a pudum, or podum. It is a sign of manhood and tribal identity.

What changed?

The Wildlife Trust of India says it began campaigning in 2001 to replace real beaks with fibreglass ones. A news feature dates the idea to 2000. It credits a forest officer named Chukhu Loma.

Did it work?

One conservationist wrote that at the 2023 Pakke Paga festival he saw no Nyishi wearing a real beak. That is one person’s account. The festival started in 2015. Its ninth edition began on 18 January 2024.

Older Ministry material says Pakhui. The authority uses Pakke. The reserve’s site is titled Pakke and says it is also known as Pakhui.

Which spelling does each source use?

• The authority’s list, report and brief note use Pakke.
• The 2009 Ministry backgrounder uses both Pakke and Pakhui.
• The reserve’s site is titled Pakke and says it is also called Pakhui.

What should you do?

Learn both names for one place. If a question gives Pakhui, answer for Pakke.

Check the official key when you practise past questions on this reserve.

What was UPSC CSP 2018, question 94?

The official 2018 key gives (A) for question 94 in Series A.

Which facts should you hold?

• Arunachal Pradesh, East Kameng district, now Pakke Kessang.
• NTCA brief note: core 861.95, total 1,276.95 square kilometres. The NTCA list differs: 683.45 and 1,198.45.
• Sanctuary in 1977. Project Tiger status in 2002 in older material.
• Bounded by the Bhareli (Kameng) and Pakke rivers.
• Four of India’s nine hornbill species. The Nyishi live around it.