Glorious Moments

It is jubilant moment of proud for us  to get enlisted as one of 8 affordable Stays in North east India vide an article by Sarita Santoshini. We express our sincere gratitude on this recognition. Also we are thankful to our guests, visitors as well as stuffs without whom we remain halved soul. Please see the link below for the article


http://www.natgeotraveller.in/web-exclusive/web-exclusive-month/budget-homestays-north-east/#

Butterfly Watching Tours at TPETC

Dehing Patkai Wild Life Sanctuary

The Realm of the Butterfly

Forests have their own brand of beauty and the real magic of nature is awakened when we are on a safari in the depths of a rainforest. With its four different layers of vegetation and characterized by high rainfall, a rainforest can be home to 40% to 75% of biotic species. It is well said that rainforests are earth’s oldest living ecosystem. Maybe this is the reason why forests have always fascinated mankind. Trekking in a rainforest had been a dream for me and my heart leaped when I got the chance to roam through the jewel of North East India-Dehing Patkai Wild Life Sanctuary, the biggest living patch of rainforest of North East India.

Situated on the south bank of the mighty Brahmaputra, the Dehing Patkai Wild Life Sanctuary has been a source of endless enchanted natural beauties, which the districts of Tinsukia and Dibrugarh of Assam may proudly announce as their own. Being one of the 17 wildlife sanctuaries of Assam, this jewel of North East India is a treasure trove of amazing species of flora and fauna including many a number of endangered species of fauna, avifauna, and flora, a major portion of which is still yet unexplored.

The Dehing Patkai rainforest is a portion of the total 800 sq. kms area of three combined rainforests namely Joypure, Upper Dehing and Dirak. There is no other forest bigger than this. On 13th June, 2004, 111.19 sq. kms of this area had been declared as a protected area - the Dehing Patkai Wild Life Sanctuary. It was a mighty dream envisioned by the environmental activist group of North East India “Nature’s Beckon” led by eminent environmentalist cum Ashoka fellow Soumyadeep Datta. In the late 90’s this part of North East India was brought into the global limelight by Nature’s Beckon. An important cause rose at that time due to the heavy deforestation which occurred due to the setting up of industries, cultivation by the ever increasing population and as well as smuggling of endangered species.


Though rarely studied with respect to other orders of fauna the order Lepidoptera of the animal kingdom has many species of butterflies and moths including various endangered species and subspecies at Dehing Patkai rainforest. From time immemorial butterflies have been attracting human attention with their amazing colours and structure. Butterflies, being an important part of the ecosystem can be regarded as the best biotic indicators for forecasting climatic change and also for species richness monitoring system of an ecosystem for, the healthy presence of butterflies indicates the healthy status of an ecosystem. These amazing colourful jewels of the Lepidoptera order have been attracting me since childhood and this strong affinity results in my frequent visits to the Dehing Patkai Wild Life Sanctuary which is a heaven for butterflies due to its diversity of host plant species and geographical localition. Being a tropical rainforest, the Dehing Patkai Wild Life Sanctuary has four layers of vegetation, each with different plants and animals adapted to life in that particular area, viz., Emergent, Canopy, Understorey and Forest floor. Each of the layers with its individual height of flora host a particular set of butterflies which are responsible for the pollination process and gene flow activities of that particular layer. The diverse fauna and the occurrence of the longest monsoon make this part of North East India a heaven for 50% of the total butterfly species of India.


There are about 18,000 species of butterflies found in different parts of the world. These butterflies are broadly classified into two superfamilies- Hesperioidea which includes all the skippers and Papilionoidea which includes all the rest. The Papilionoidea are said to be true butterflies and they include four families – Papilionidea, Pieridae, Nymphalidae, and Lycaenidae.


I have been to the Dehing Patkai Wild Life Sanctuary several times and each time I had the privilege of enjoying warm Phakial hospitality offered by Tai Phakey Ecotourism Camp situated at Tipam Phakey village, a village of the Tai Phakey community of Assam. The Tai Phakey is a small but well cultured community which is believed to be originated from Myanmar. On the bank of Burhidehing river there is a beautiful village named Tipam Phakey. There is an age old beautiful Buddhist monastery at Tipam Phakey village which is worth visiting. A number of young boys from this village were actively associated with the rainforest conservation movement of Assam initiated by Nature’s Beckon. Tai Phakey Eco tourism is a venture of these young activists of this rainforest conservation movement which has been formed in order to enhance ecotourism in North East India as well as inspire people to learn about the importance of rainforest and its conservation. Built in ethnic Phakial style, Tai Phakey Ecotourism has four beautiful Chang Ghar type cottages which are made using eco friendly materials where one can enjoy the full experience of the Tai Phakey lifestyle. The best part of this Ecotourism camp is its adventurous trekking tour into the depths of the rainforest guided by eminent rainforest conservation activists followed by bird watching, butterfly watching, wildlife photography etc. To me, there is no better choice than Tai Phakey Ecotourism camp where I get everything for my butterfly watching in the depths of Dehing Patkai Wild Life Sanctuary.

Basking is an important activity of butterflies to regulate the body temperature and thus to fasten up their physiological processes in the warm sunlight and as such butterflies are active during the day. Therefore the best time and period to observe butterfly is in sunny weather usually an hour after sunrise from just after the rainy season till November –December because during this time, the growth of host plants for butterflies is abundant. Besides this, there is another butterfly season from March to May during which plants grow new leaves.

On my way to the Dehing Patkai Wild Life Sanctuary during the period of Mid of July- December, I observed several butterflies near Tipam Nala or by the Namsang river. My early morning treks into the rainforest resulted in the observation of many a species of butterflies and moths. The record list prepared by me includes common butterflies such as the Grey Pansy (Junonia atlitis) to very rare butterflies like Silver Royal (Ancema blanka minturna). This shows the wide butterfly diversity in Dehing Patkai Wild Life Sanctuary.

Butterflies like the Silver Royal (Ancema Blanka Minturna), Dark archduke (Lexias dirtea khasiana), Great Duffer (Discophora timora) etc. are reported to be seen very rarely in the Indian subcontinent. Though diverse in species, butterflies are seldom studied in North East India. The threat of the extinction of many unidentified species can't be ignored. With growing human population and industrialization, forests are continuously losing land and this has had a devastating impact on forest ecology. Destruction of forests is leading to the extinction of many flora and dependent fauna which includes species of these angelic flying creatures. Keeping in view their importance in the pollination process, it has become our primary responsibility to conserve the tropical rainforests of North East India which has been a great habitat for the butterflies. The Dehing Patkai Wild Life Sanctuary is a small part of the patch of the rainforest stretching over parts of Upper Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. Only an area of 111.19 sq. kms has been declared as a sanctuary as a result of the strong rainforest conservation movement initiated by Nature’s Beckon and my survey was done within this range which will continue for the next few years. I can only guess at the presence of more exotic and rare species of angelic butterflies in the remaining part of the rainforest area of North East India. These rainforests are biodiversity hot-spots which need to be conserved so that we can leave behind a green earth with such majestic species for our descendants in the future.

DEOBORIA ADDA@ Tai-Phaky Ecotourism Camp

Assam's leading infotainment channel News Live's next  "DEOBORIA ADDA" is going to be held at Tai-Phakey Ecotourism Camp, Tipam on 24th July, 2011 at 10.30-11.30 a.m. All friends are cordially invited to join this occasion and share thoughts on Rainforest and ethnic communities of North East India.

"Axomor Sorai Porjyobekhonor Haatputhi ( A Handbook for birdwatching of birds found in Assam)"

"Axomor Sorai Porjyobekhonor Haatputhi ( A Handbook for birdwatching of birds found in Assam)" is a latest publication from the Natures Beckon family, written by eminent environmentalist and conversationalist Soumyadeep Datta. Being the first ever bird watching handbook in Assamese language it is going to be a all time needed wonderful guide detailing on most of the required birdwatching techniques with examples of more than 300 Asian birds. The colored photographs and inside scatches are another positive points fopr readers to approach the techniques. 

A must read for all nature lovers.

Rainforest: An Idea

 What is Rainforest? 

  A rainforest can be described as a tall, dense jungle. The reason it is called "rain" forest is because of the high amount of rainfall it gets per year. The climate of the rainforest is very hot and humid and therefore, the animals and plants that exists there must learn to adapt to this climate. About two-third of the World's plant species, including many exotic species and beautiful flowers grow in Rainforest.

    Rainforest has four layers:

 1. EMERGENT LAYER: 

The tallest trees are emergent, towering as much as 200 feet above the forest floor with trunks that measures up to 16 feet around. Most of these trees are broad leaved, hardwood, evergreen. Sunlight is plenty up here.

 Animals found here are eagles, monkey, bats and butterflies.

2. CANOPY LAYER:

This is the primary layer of the forest and forms a roof over the two remaining layers. Most canopy trees have smooth, oval leaves that comes to a point. Its a maze of leaves and branches. since food is abandent many animals are found here.

3.UNDERSTORY LAYER:

In this area little amount of sunlight reaches and because of this reason plants grows larger leaves so as to reach the sunlight. Plants in this area seldom grow to 12 feet. Many animals lives here. A large concentration of insects are found in this layer.

4. FOREST FLOOR:

Its very dark, down here. Almost no plants grow in this area. Since hardly any sunlight reaches the forest floor the things upon it starts decaying quickly. A leaf that may take 1 year to decompose in regular climate will decay in 6 weeks here.

Mission statement

We belong to the north east part of India, a country with diverse beauty in every aspect, may it be nature or culture or heritage.

Our state Assam along with rest of the seven sisters’ states became part of India in 1828 when the British invaded. It has a total area of 78,438 km² (30,285 sq mi) and its population is 26,655,528. Assam is situated at 90-96 degree East longitude and 24-28 degree North latitude, bordered in the North and East by the Kingdom of Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh. Along the south lies Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram. Meghalaya lies to her South-West, Bengal and Bangladesh to her West.

Being a proud owner of 5 national parks and 15 wildlife sanctuaries, Assam has more than 35% of its land area as forest. A major portion of it belongs under the category " Rainforest" which contains many of endangered species of flora n fauna. In order to conserve these endangered species as well as to make the people around the world familiar with our rainforest we welcome nature lovers from all over the world to have some moment with it. The mission of this blog to give our visitor a preliminary idea on the places of visit and facilities regarding fooding and lodging.