Neora Valley National Park

Neora Valley National Park is situated in the Kalimpong district, West Bengal, India and was established in 1986. It spreads over an area of 88 km² and is one of the richest biological zones in the entire Eastern India. It is the land of the elegant red panda in the pristine undisturbed natural habitat with rugged inaccessible hilly terrain and rich diverse flora and fauna making this park an important wilderness zone.GeographyThe park is spread over 159.89 km². The forest in Neora Valley has such luxurious growth that even sunlight finds it difficult to touch the ground. Much of the park is still inaccessible, making it an adventurous place for the nature lovers/trekkers who can take the challenge to explore the still-unknown terrain in the Kalimpong hills. Virgin natural forests, dense bamboo groves, colourful canopy of Rhododendron trees, lush green valley, meandering rivers and streams with snowcapped mountains in the backdrop form a picturesque landscape.The park reaches up to an elevation of 10600 ft at Rachela Danda(रचेला डाँड़ा), the highest point of Neora Valley National Park, which borders Sikkim and Bhutan. The Neora River is the major water source for Kalimpong town.BiodiversityAvian fauna listed from this park are of A1, A2 and A3 categories with IBA site code IN-WB-06.Natural historyBiomesInside this wildlife sanctuary, the primary biomes corresponding to the ecozone are: Sino-Himalayan Temperate Forest of the Eastern Himalayan broadleaf forests Biome 7 Sino-Himalayan Subtropical Forest of the Himalayan subtropical broadleaf forests Biome 8 Indo-Chinese Tropical Moist Forest of the Himalayan subtropical pine forests Biome 9 All of these are typical forest type of foothills of the Bhutan - Nepal - India hilly region between altitudinal range 1000 m to 3,600 m.