In the territory of Nanda Devi, the second highest peak in India, lies the Nanda Devi National Park. It is located in the upper Himalayan ranges of the Chamoli district in the Garhwal division in the state of Uttaranchal. The park is in the form of a cup with lush green meadows with cluttering white waterfalls, and rich wild flora and fauna. The park also has been revered for thousand of years as a manifestation of Lord Shiva's wife Parvati. It was in the year 1939 that the park was declared a sanctuary.

Treasure of Nanda Devi

Flora
The park is restricted largely by Rishi Gorge and the main vegetation in this forest is of fir,birch, rhododendron, and juniper. In the inner sanctuary, conditions are drier and near the Nanda Devi Glacier, there is almost no vegetation. From Ramani, the vegetation changes to alpine and only juniper scrubs are the dominating vegetation. The Juniper scrubs gradually give way to grasses, prone mosses, and lichens. In total, 312 floral species have been found here of which around 17 are considered rare.

Fauna
Animal population of species like bharal, Himalayan tahr, serow, goral, snow leopard, Himalayan black bear, brown bear, leopard, common langur, Himalayan musk deer, and brown beer dominate the park area.

There are nearly 80 species of birds in this area. Warblers, gresbreaks, rose finches and ruby throat are commonly seen here.

Year Of Kudos

The Nanda Devi National Park was inscribed as on the World Heritage Site list in the year 1988 under the Natural Criteria iii and iv.

Peppery Bulletin

• W.W Garden was the first person to reach the region of this park in 1883. But his expedition failed to create any impact.
• In 1936, Tilman and N.E Odell scaled the Nanda Devi and opened new vistas for others to follow.
• The Region of Nanda Devi was declared a National Park in the year 1982 and was later given the special status of a Biosphere Reserve.1974-82, the Sanctuary was opened to mountaineering but later on was closed.
• The park was established as Sanjay Gandhi National Park but was later renamed Nanda Devi National Park.
• In 1982 access to trekkers in to the Nanda Devi National Park was banned to protect its biodiversity.
• The park has been partially opened recently for restricted number of tourists.
• Sir Edmund Hillary, in his autobiography, has described that the 'Nanda Devi Sanctuary is God God - gifted wilderness-India's training ground for adventure.
• Nanda Devi was earmarked as one of several protected areas for inclusion under the Government of India's Project Snow Leopard, but this project has not materialized to date.

Go For..........

If you are there in the park during summers then you can enjoy trekking through the park. If you can brave the cold then October and November are the best months to watch the wildlife.