Nameri National Park is a national park in the foothills of the eastern Himalayas in the Sonitpur District of Assam, India, Nameri shares its northern boundary with the Pakhui Wildlife Sanctuary of Arunachal Pradesh. Together they constitute an area of over 1000 km2 of which Nameri has a total area of 200 km2. Nameri was declared as Tiger Reserve in the year 1999-2000, which is the 2nd Tiger reserve of Assam after Manas Tiger Reserve. It has 2 core areas: Nameri National Park & Sonai- Rupai Wildlife Sanctuary (Satellite Core of the Nameri Tiger Reserve).
The main rivers of the park that criss-cross it are Jia- Bhoroli and Bor Dikorai and are abundant with numerous varieties of fish making angling a good option for visiting tourist. The river Jia- Bhoroli is the lifeline of Nameri, which flows along the Southern boundary of the park from North- West to South- East. In the eastern side, the river Bor- Dikorai flows along the southern boundary from North- East to South- West which is the tributary of river Jia- Bhoroli. This forest of Nameri has over 600 species of plants mostly of semi-evergreen, moist deciduous variety with cane and bamboo brakes in abundance and narrow strips of open grassland along rivers.
The forests are rich in epiphytes, lianas, and creepers and clump-forming bamboo. Nameri is an ideal habitat for variety of animals including elephant, tiger, wild pigs, leopard, Hog Deer, sambar, Asiatic wild dog, Gaur, clouded leopard, leopard cat, Barking deer and much more. The park is a birdwatcher’s paradise with over 300 species of birds found here including white winged wood duck, great pied hornbill, wreathed hornbill, rufous necked hornbill, and many more.
Nameri is the best sighting spot of the endangered bird White- winged Duck which is also the state bird of Assam. The park is also home to numerous vriety of reptiles including turtles, snakes and monitor lizard. The inaccessibility and continuity with the neibouring forest areas have helped the wildlife of Nameri to flourish with availability of a good prey base for Tiger, clouded leapords, wild dogs, and Leopards. Nameri and Sonai-Rupai are the only Protected Areas in the North Bank of the Brahmaputra in Sonitpur. Well connected by rail, road and air with Rest of India through Tezpur, Nameri has several hotels, resorts and eco camps in the vicinity that provide comfortable and easy living conditions for tourist at reasonable prices.
The park provides wide variety of adventurous water sports option to tourist like forest trekking, river rafting and angling. The park’s camp canteen provides basic food while the restaurants serve wide range of food from Indian to continental. The best time to visit Nameri national park is from October to June. Anyone seeking a tranquil holiday surrounded by nature must visit Nameri.
