KASHMIR WILDLIFE

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Kashmir Tourism in India offers a perfect tour package filled with all inclusive travel interests along with the wildlife trip in Kashmir. Travel to Kashmir in India and explore some of the highest terrains of the world to come across some of the rarest species of the world. Trip to Kashmir, India and make your wildlife tour to Kashmir very pleasing and satisfying. Trek to the highest lands and deepest valleys of Kashmir with rare to find yaks, blue sheeps, haguls, Kashmiri stags, pheasants and lots more. Wildlife tourism in Kashmir is complete with wildlife stocks of India.

Dachigam National Park: amidst forests of silver birch and conifer roams the hangul. Rare and on the verge of extinction till a few years ago, the national park at Dachigam contains the last viable hangul population in the world. Related to the red deer of Europe, this breed is characterized by its white rump patch and impressive spread of antlers. At one time the exclusive hunting pre-serve of the Maharaja of Kashmir, it was declared a national park in 1951, and owing to a strictly enforced conservation programme, the hangul population, once 150, now stands at over 400 animals.

Dachigam, spread over an area of 141 sq km, is the home of 20 mammal species including the leopard and over 150 species of avifauna. Open throughout the year, there is no prime viewing season, as the visitor will find something of interest all through the year.

The Hemis High Altitude National Park: includes the catchments of two valleys which drain into the River Indus. It is named after the famous monastery - Hemis, and sprawls over 600 sq km. approachable by road from Leh. This national park contains several camping sites. The area is barren and rocky, covered only sparsely with vegetation. Most of the ten species of mammal here are extremely rare - shapu, bharal, great Tibetan sheep, ibex and snow leopard.

Overa Wildlife Sanctuary: located 76 km from Srinagar, near Pahalgam, it has an area of 32 sq km, and is famed for its many species of pheasants. It sustains 13 species of mammals and over 80 species of birds.

Overa-Aru Biosphere Reserve: located 76 km from Srinagar, near Pahalgam, it has an area of 32 sq km. Several species of birds as wed as fauna are found here - musk deer, brown bear, leopard to name a few. The altitudinal range varies from 3,000 to 5,425 metros above sea level.

Gulmarg Biosphere Reserve: 48 km from Srinagar, the reserve has an area of lS0 so km. and an altitudinal range of 2,400 - 4,300 meters above sea level. Fauna includes Himalayan musk deer, red fox, brown and black bear.

Ramnagar Wildlife Sanctuary: situated only 6 km away from Jammu city, this sanctuary occupies an area of 31 km. The area sustains 8 mammal species including nilgai and barking deer, and 15 species of birds.
Other sanctuaries near Jammu are:
Nandni Wildlife Sanctuary: (26 km) the sanctuary has an area of 33 sq km.

Surinsar Mansar Wildlife Sanctuary: named for the two lakes on each corner of it, this sanctuary comprises an area of 98 sq km, and supports a mammal population of 8 species, and up to 15 species of birds.

Jasrota Wildlife Sanctuary: spread over an area of 10 sq km, the sanctuary houses an appreciable variety of bird and animal life, most notably cheetal or axis deer.

Kishtwar High Altitude National Park: in Jammu is interesting for the marked variations in topography and vegetation that occur here. Spread over an area of 400 sq km, the park contains 15 mammal species including the musk deer, and Himalayan black and brown bear. There are 50 species of birds. Prime mammal viewing season is from March to May.