Kalimpong Flora and Fauna to be on film

Kalimpong: The flora and fauna of the Kalimpong hills will soon be captured on film.

From tomorrow, the wildlife division II of the forest department will start the visual documentation of the Neora Valley National Park, spread over 88 sqkm in the upper reaches of the Kalimpong subdivision, an exercise to be conducted for the first time.

The national park is situated over one of the oldest reserve forests in the country, with its northern boundary running contiguous to the forests of Sikkim and Bhutan.

The documentation team, headed by Tapas Das, the divisional forest officer (DFO), wildlife division II, includes a group of photographers from Calcutta. “Given the difficult terrain, the exercise will take us around seven days. This, of course, will be the first phase. We will again conduct a similar activity in winter,” Das told The Telegraph.

The densely vegetated Neora valley is home to some of the rarest animals and birds in the world. However, the forest department has never visually documented them, primarily due to the topography of the area, which is not easily accessible.

“The motorable stretch of the valley has been photographed, but this will be the first time that the inside of the sanctuary will be documented visually,” said Das, who has conducted a similar activity at the Gorumara sanctuary. “The photographs are important not only for validation, but also for the conservation of the flora and fauna. They can be used to educate people about the flowers and animals of the region.”

Source: The Telegraph