One national park in Arunachal Pradesh holds all four of the world’s big cats, in a single stretch of forest. Nowhere else on Earth does.
Timeline
- 1972: The area was first declared a Wildlife Sanctuary, in Changlang district, Arunachal Pradesh.
- 1983: It was declared both a National Park and a Tiger Reserve, the same year. It became India’s 15th reserve under Project Tiger.
- 8 February 2023: Camera traps confirmed an adult tiger near Deban, ending an eight-year gap since the last confirmed sighting, in 2015.
- 2025-26: A tiger estimation exercise began in Namdapha, as part of the 6th cycle of the All India Tiger Estimation (AITE).
Must Know
- Namdapha National Park is located in Changlang district, Arunachal Pradesh, near Miao town and the international border with Myanmar.
- It covers 1,985 sq km, made up of a 1,808 sq km core zone and a 177 sq km buffer. This makes it the fourth-largest national park in India.
- The area was declared a Wildlife Sanctuary in 1972. It became both a National Park and a Tiger Reserve in 1983, as India’s 15th reserve under Project Tiger.
- Its elevation ranges from just 200 metres to 4,571 metres, one of the widest spans of any protected area in India.
- The Noa Dihing River, a tributary of the Brahmaputra, crosses the park from east to west. It originates at the Chaukan Pass, on the Indo-Myanmar border.
- Namdapha is the only protected area in the world confirmed to hold all four Panthera-family big cats together: tiger, leopard, snow leopard, and clouded leopard.
- It holds over 1,000 plant species and roughly 1,400 animal species, as part of the Eastern Himalaya biodiversity hotspot.
Good to Know
- The name “Namdapha” combines two Singpho words: “nam” (water) and “dapha” (origin).
- Namdapha holds the world’s northernmost lowland evergreen tropical rainforest, at 27°N latitude. Most tropical rainforests sit much closer to the equator.
- It was declared an Eco-Sensitive Zone in 2024, adding a regulated buffer around the park’s official boundary.
- Namdapha’s Project Tiger status connects it to a nationwide conservation programme. See EnvEco0038 — Project Tiger and NTCA for how that programme, and its governing authority, actually work.
Test Yourself
Great to Know
- The Namdapha flying squirrel (Biswamoyopterus biswasi) was first described from specimens collected in this park. It is critically endangered, and hasn’t been reliably recorded since 1981.
- For years, with no confirmed tiger sighting since 2015, people informally called Namdapha “a tiger reserve without tigers.” That changed on 8 February 2023, when camera traps near Deban confirmed an adult tiger was still there.
- A similar story unfolded with elephants. Namdapha’s historic elephant migration route to Myanmar was blocked by encroachment starting in 1996. In early 2025, an elephant was camera-trapped in the park again, after a 12-year gap.
- Both stories point to the same underlying fact. Some of Namdapha’s iconic wildlife survives in the park, even when it goes unconfirmed by direct observation for years at a time.
Current Affairs
- On 6 August 2024, camera traps in Namdapha recorded another tiger, confirmed by the reserve’s field director, Vinit Kumar Jawal. (Source: Arunachal Observer)
- A tiger estimation exercise, part of the 6th All India Tiger Estimation (AITE) cycle for 2025-26, is underway in Namdapha, assessing large-carnivore population trends across its varied terrain. (Source: SPM IAS Academy)
- In early 2025, an elephant was camera-trapped in the park for the first time in 12 years, offering a hopeful sign for a migration route long disrupted by encroachment. (Source: The Arunachal Times)
Leave a Reply