Dachigam National Park is a national park located, from Srinagar city in Srinagar district of

Jammu and Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir may refer to: * Kashmir, the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent * Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), a region administered by India as a union territory * Jammu and Kashmir (state), a region administered ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

on the east side of

Dal Lake Dal is a lake in Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir. It is an urban lake, the second largest lake in Jammu and Kashmir, and the most visited place in Srinagar by tourists and locals. It is integral to tourism and recreation in t ...

. It covers an area of 161, 62.16(updated recently) by hgtian student SIJ. The name of the park literally stands for "ten villages" which is in the memory of the ten villages that were relocated for its formation. These ten villages were living in this region before the

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

in the beginning of 20th century. The main gate entrance is very close to the

New Theed New Theed is a notified area in Srinagar city known for its historical significance and natural surroundings. Location It is located about 20km from Srinagar city center. It is a well-known tourist attraction within the city. The gateway t ...

general bus stand on the either side of Darul Uloom Kousaria. The park has been a protected area since 1910, first under the care of the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir and later under the observation of the concerned government authorities. It was initially created to ensure a supply of clean drinking water for Srinagar. It was upgraded and declared a

National Park A national park is a natural park in use for conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual ...

in 1981.

Topography

Dachigam National park is located in the Zabarwan Range of the western

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 10 ...

. The variation in altitude is vast, ranging from 5500 ft to 14000 ft above mean sea level. Due to this vast variation, the park is demarcated into an uneven region. The terrain ranges from gently sloping grasslands to sharp rocky outcrops and cliffs. 321

Flora

The mountain sides below the tree line are wooded. Most of this

coniferous forest Conifers are a group of cone-bearing seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single extant class, Pinopsida. All exta ...

consists of broad leaf species. Interspersed between these are alpine pastures, meadows, waterfalls and scrub vegetation with deep gullies, locally known as Nars, running down the mountain face. Most of the grasslands and meadows, except in the harsh winters, are covered with coloured flowers. Located high among its interiors is the Marsar lake from which flows the Dagwan river. This river flows all the way down to, and past, the lower region where it runs along the only proper road in the park and is also known for its fish population, the

trout Trout are species of freshwater fish belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', '' Salmo'' and '' Salvelinus'', all of the subfamily Salmoninae of the family Salmonidae. The word ''trout'' is also used as part of the name of some non-salm ...

Fauna

The main animal species that Dachigam is known for is the

hangul The Korean alphabet, known as Hangul, . Hangul may also be written as following South Korea's standard Romanization. ( ) in South Korea and Chosŏn'gŭl in North Korea, is the modern official writing system for the Korean language. The l ...

, or the Kashmir stag. Other species include: *

Musk deer Musk deer can refer to any one, or all seven, of the species that make up ''Moschus'', the only extant genus of the family Moschidae. Despite being commonly called deer, they are not true deer belonging to the family Cervidae, but rather their f ...

(roose kat) *

Snow Leopard The snow leopard (''Panthera uncia''), also known as the ounce, is a felid in the genus '' Panthera'' native to the mountain ranges of Central and South Asia. It is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List because the global population is es ...

Himalayan serow The Himalayan serow (''Capricornis sumatraensis thar''), also known as the thar ( , ), is a subspecies of the mainland serow native to the Himalayas. It was previously considered its own species, as ''Capricornis thar''. It is the official state ...

Kashmir grey langur The Kashmir gray langur (''Semnopithecus ajax'') is an Old World monkey, one of the langur species. It is a leaf-eating monkey. It has been reported from Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh in northwestern India but evidence indicates it only ...

* Kashmir stag (

) *

Leopard cat The leopard cat (''Prionailurus bengalensis'') is a small wild cat native to continental South, Southeast, and East Asia. Since 2002 it has been listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List as it is widely distributed although threatened by hab ...

(nt) *

Himalayan black bear The Himalayan black bear (''Ursus thibetanus laniger'') is a subspecies of the Asian black bear found in the Himalayas of India, Bhutan, Nepal, China, and Pakistan. Description It is distinguished from '' U. t. thibetanus'' by its longer, thicke ...

(vu) *

Himalayan brown bear The Himalayan brown bear (''Ursus arctos isabellinus''), also known as the Himalayan red bear, isabelline bear or Dzu-Teh, is a subspecies of the brown bear and is known from northern Afghanistan, northern Pakistan, northern India, west China an ...

Jackal Jackals are medium-sized canids native to Africa and Eurasia. While the word "jackal" has historically been used for many canines of the subtribe canina, in modern use it most commonly refers to three species: the closely related black-backed ...

Hill fox The red fox (''Vulpes vulpes'') is the largest of the true foxes and one of the most widely distributed members of the order Carnivora, being present across the entire Northern Hemisphere including most of North America, Europe and Asia, plus ...

Himalayan weasel The Siberian weasel or kolonok (''Mustela sibirica''), is a medium-sized weasel native to Asia, where it is widely distributed and inhabits various forest habitats and open areas. It is therefore listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. Desc ...

Yellow-throated marten The yellow-throated marten (''Martes flavigula'') is a marten species native to Asia. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List due to its wide distribution, evidently relatively stable population, occurrence in a number of protected are ...

Jungle cat The jungle cat (''Felis chaus''), also called reed cat, swamp cat and jungle lynx, is a medium-sized cat native to the Middle East, the Caucasus, South and Southeast Asia and southern China. It inhabits foremost wetlands like swamps, littoral ...

Long-tailed marmot The long-tailed marmot (''Marmota caudata'') or golden marmot is a marmot species in the family Sciuridae. It occurs in mountainous regions in the central parts of Asia where it lives in open or lightly wooded habitats, often among rocks where dw ...

Otter Otters are carnivorous mammals in the subfamily Lutrinae. The 13 extant otter species are all semiaquatic, aquatic, or marine, with diets based on fish and invertebrates. Lutrinae is a branch of the Mustelidae family, which also includes we ...

Birds

Cinnamon sparrow The russet sparrow (''Passer cinnamomeus''), also called the cinnamon or cinnamon tree sparrow, is a passerine bird of the sparrow family Passeridae. A chunky little seed-eating bird with a thick bill, it has a body length of . Its plumage is ...

* Black bulbul *

Himalayan monal The Himalayan monal (''Lophophorus impejanus''), also called Impeyan monal and Impeyan pheasant, is a pheasant native to Himalayan forests and shrublands at elevations of . It is part of the family Phasianidae and is listed as Least Concern on th ...

* Golden oriole * Minivet * Pygmy owlet *

Woodpecker Woodpeckers are part of the bird family Picidae, which also includes the piculets, wrynecks, and sapsuckers. Members of this family are found worldwide, except for Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand, Madagascar, and the extreme polar regions ...

Babbler Babbler may refer to: * Old World babbler, a large family of mostly Old World passerine birds * Australo-Papuan babbler, passerine birds endemic to Australia-New Guinea * Babbler (software), a French software company * Babbler (''Dungeons & Dr ...

Redstart {{Hatnote, For the ship, see USS Redstart (AM-378) Redstart is a name used for a number of songbirds that are not closely related to each other: Old world flycatcher family (Muscicapidae) * ''Phoenicurus'', 14 species found in Africa, Asia and E ...

* Wagtail *

Koklass pheasant The koklass pheasant (''Pucrasia macrolopha'') is a species of gamebird, being closely related to progenitive grouse that lived during the Miocene. They are distantly related to pheasants and are most closely related to grouse and turkeys. Ko ...

Chough There are two species of passerine birds commonly called chough ( ) that constitute the genus ''Pyrrhocorax'' of the Corvidae (crow) family of birds. These are the red-billed chough (''Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax''), and the Alpine chough (or yello ...

* Orange bullfinch *

Kashmir flycatcher The Kashmir flycatcher (''Ficedula subrubra'') is a small passerine bird in the flycatcher family Muscicapidae. At one time it was considered to be a subspecies of the red-breasted flycatcher, ''Ficedula parva''. This is an insectivorous speci ...

Tytler's leaf warbler Tytler's leaf warbler (''Phylloscopus tytleri'') is a songbird species. Like all leaf warblers, it was formerly placed in the "Old World warbler" assemblage, but now belongs to the new leaf-warbler family Phylloscopidae. It is found in Afghanista ...

Streaked laughingthrush The streaked laughingthrush (''Trochalopteron lineatum'') is a species of bird in the family Leiothrichidae. It is commonly found in the northern regions of the Indian subcontinent and some adjoining areas, ranging across Afghanistan, Bhutan, I ...

Himalayan rubythroat The Himalayan rubythroat (''Calliope pectoralis'') is a species of passerine bird in the family Muscicapidae. It is closely related to the Siberian rubythroat which however lacks the distinctive white tail-tips and white tail bases. It was also ...

Wallcreeper The wallcreeper (''Tichodroma muraria'') is a small passerine bird found throughout the high mountains of the Palearctic from southern Europe to central China. It is the only extant member of both the genus ''Tichodroma'' and the family Tichodr ...

* Black-and-yellow grosbeak * Himalayan griffon vulture *

Bearded vulture The bearded vulture (''Gypaetus barbatus''), also known as the lammergeier and ossifrage, is a very large bird of prey and the only member of the genus ''Gypaetus''. Traditionally considered an Old World vulture, it actually forms a separate mi ...

Red-billed blue magpie The red-billed blue magpie (''Urocissa erythroryncha'') is a species of bird in the crow family, Corvidae. It is about the same size as the Eurasian magpie, but has a much longer tail, one of the longest of any corvid. It is long and weighs . T ...

* Titmouse

References

External links