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PROJECT : EAST HIMALAYA
BIRDING PROGRAMME
(Project undertaken by :
Association for Conservation & Tourism)
Project Proceedings First
Phase
In the first phase of the
project survey of the region has been done with the help of the advisory
board members and experts of the bird watching field. Most of the places
which have been covered are a part of the Community Tourism Network which
has been initiated by Help Tourism and has been handed over to act
(association for conservation & tourism) for nurturing and development. This
exercise has helped to explore the viability of these Community Tourism
Destinations as bird watching sites.
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21 November 2002: Alpana, Bikram, Bill,
Mike and Sunita flew from Delhi to Bagdogra, Sujan from Kolkata, met by
Raj from Help Tourism and Sumit who had taken the overnight train from
Kolkata. After lunch at airport, drove to Gorumara Jungle Camp, birding
nearby in the late afternoon. Stayed at Jungle Camp.
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22 November: Morning in Gorumara National
Park, afternoon at nearby Chapramari Wildlife Sanctuary. Stayed at
Jungle Camp.
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23 November: Morning birding near the
Mahakal Trail, Gorumara; then drive to Lulagaon, birding en-route and at
Lulagaon late afternoon. Stayed at Lulagaon.
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24 November: Morning birding same area at
Lulagaon, afternoon spent at Rishyap. Stayed at Rishyap.
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25 November: Whole day spent at Neora
Valley National Park, morning birding the upper trails and afternoon the
lower. Stayed at Rishyap.
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26 November: Morning birding from road
near Lava. Drove to Darjeeling, afternoon spent at Darjeeling Zoo.
Stayed at Cedar Inn, Darjeeling.
The brief of the trip reports made by
Mike Prince are as follows: India: Birding North Bengal (21 - 30 November
2002)
This is a report on a birding trip to North
Bengal. The participants were Delhi-based Alpana Khare, Bikram Grewal, Bill
Harvey, Mike Prince and Sunita Chaudhry, plus Kolkata-based Sujan Chatterjee
and Sumit Sen. We spent nine days there in total, our itinerary involving
three main areas: the lowland Gorumara National Park and nearby Chapramari
Wildlife Sanctuary, the hill areas of Lulagaon, Lava, Rishyap and Neora
Valley National Park, and the Sandakphu trek (Singalila National Park) on
the Nepal border. Logistics regarding sites visited, travel and
accommodation were organised largely by Sujan and Sumit in conjunction with
Raj from Help Tourism, and we are all very grateful to them for a superb job
done.
ITINERARY
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27 November: Morning drove to Manebhanjang
where transferred to two jeeps. Then drove Sandakphu trek to summit,
birding at various stops along the way. Afternoon birding near summit.
Stayed at Sandakphu.
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28 November: Early morning birding around
summit, (and enjoying sunrise over Everest and Kanchenjunga), then drove
down to Gairibans, stopping frequently, for late morning birding.
Afternoon continued driving and birding down to Tunling. Stayed at
Tunling.
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29 November: Early morning birding at
Tunling, then drove to Bagdogra airport, stopping occasionally where we
saw birds and passed spare time before flight at Bamunpokhri. Alpana,
Bikram, Bill, Mike and Sunita flew to Delhi, Sumit to Kolkata.
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30 November: Sujan birded at Phulbari
Barrage before taking train back to Kolkata.
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