THE GREAT HIMALAYAN NATIONAL PARK
(WORLD HERITAGEE PARK)
(District Kullu, altitude 1500 meters to 5805 meters). The Great Himalayan National park consists of the upper catchment areas of the Tirthan,Sainj and Jiwa rivers, which flow westwards and feed the Beas River. Though “large scale fellings in easily accessible areas” were carried out during the second World War, the area is one of the least disturbed in the state. It, there-fore, consists of relatively good forests and meadows, which support an extremely diverse wild life population. This includes the largest remaining population of Himalayan ‘’tahr’ in Himachal Pradesh. The park is also one of the only two places in India, were anything more than a remnant population of ‘western tragopan’ is known to survive.
Total area occupied by the Great Himalayan National Park is 62,000 hectares (620 sq. km). Part of the present area (8,396 hectares) was declared sanctuary (Tirthan) on 17th June 1976. On 1st March 1984, The Great Himalayan National Park was set up. In 1999, the government of India gave it the status of National Park formally. Besides the Tirthan sanctuary (8,396 hectares) which is the part of National Park, it is also bordered by Pin valley National Park on the North East, Kanawar sanctuary on the North-West and RupiBhaba Sanctuary to the east; all these together constitute Himachal Pradesh’s largest protected will life region. In 2013 Sainj and Tirthan sanctuaries were merged with this park and so its area went upto 906 sq.km. At present (2014) the total area of the park is 1171 sq.km.
FAUNA :- Mammals – Himalayan Black Bear, Brown Bear, Jungle Cat, Leopard Cat, Himalayan Palm Civet, Barking Deer, Musk Deer, Red Fox, Goral, Ibex, Jackal, Langur common or Hanuman, Leopard, Snow Leopard, Rhesus Macaque Himalayan yellow throated Marten, House Mouse, Himalayan Mouse-hare, Serow, Blue Sheep, Grey Shrew, Himalayan Water, Shrew, Squirrel Kashmiri Flying and Common Giant Flying. Himalayan Tahr, Royle’s vole, Himalayan Weasel and Wolf. There are about 354varieties of birds, insects, animals and other living being in this park.
REPTILES :-Viper and Himalayan Pit.
Locally threatened species-Snow Leopard, Musk Deer, Serow, Blue Sheep, Blue Sheep, Ibex, Wolf, Leopard, Western Tragopan and Chir Pheasant.
FLORA :-Forest types include-Ban-Oak, Moist deodar, mixed coniferous. Montane Bamboo Brakes and Temperate Pastures.
On 23rd June 2014 The Great Himalayan National Park was declared world natural heritage by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) at its 38th session held at Doha (Capital City of Qutar). In 2013, at Cambodia it was nominated by the Indian Government for the world heritage status. This is the 11th Natural site of India to get the status of world Natural heritage. In total uptill now 38 Indian locations have goot the status of world heritage. The park has 805 kinds of plants, trees and wild life, 209 species of birds, 230 species of butterfly, 250 species of herbs, 125 species of insects and 35 species of other wild life.
The main benefits of being declared world natural heritage would be-
FAMOUS PLACE TO VISIT IN KULLU
Raghunath Temple, Bijli Mahadev Temple, The Great Himalayan National Park, Jagannathi Temple, Kullu Valley, Rupi Palace, DhakpoShedrupling Monastery, MahadeviTirth, Nature Park (Mohal), Mata Vaishno MahaDaviTirth Temple Kullu, Adi Brahma Temple.