Phawngpui National Park or Phawngpui Blue Mountain National Park is one of the two

national parks of India National parks in India are IUCN (International Union of Conservation of Nature) category II protected areas. India's first national park was established in 1936, now known as Jim Corbett National Park, in Uttarakhand. By 1970, India only had ...

Mizoram Mizoram () is a state in Northeast India, with Aizawl as its seat of government and capital city. The name of the state is derived from "Mizo people, Mizo", the endonym, self-described name of the native inhabitants, and "Ram", which in the Mizo ...

, the other and the larger being

Murlen National Park Murlen National Park is a national park located in the Champhai district Mizoram in India. The size of the park area is . The park is situated about 245 km east of Aizawl, and is close to the Chin Hills. It lies north of Lengteng Wildlife ...

. It is about 300 km from the main city

Aizawl Aizawl (; Mizo: ) is the capital of the state of Mizoram in India. Aizawl was officially established on 25 February 1890. With a population of 293,416, it is the largest city in the state. It is also the centre of administration containing all ...

, located in the

Lawngtlai district Lawngtlai district is one of the eleven districts of Mizoram state in India. The district is bounded on the north by Lunglei district, on the west by Bangladesh, on the south by Myanmar and on the east by Saiha district. The district occupies a ...

, towards the southeast of Mizoram and relatively close to

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

. It bears the name of the mountain

Phawngpui Phawngpui (Pron: /ˌpʰɔ:ŋˈpʊɪ/), also known as Blue Mountain, is the highest mountain peak in the Mizo Hills (Lushai Hills) and in the state of Mizoram, India, with an elevation of 2157 m. It is in Lawngtlai district, in the southeastern ...

, often called the Blue Mountain of Mizoram, which is the highest mountain peak in the state, reaching 2,157 m

asl American Sign Language (ASL) is a natural language that serves as the predominant sign language of Deaf communities in the United States of America and most of Anglophone Canada. ASL is a complete and organized visual language that is express ...

. The national park covers the entire mountain along with the surrounding

reserve forest A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or o ...

Geography

The mountain area of Phawngpui is at most times covered by a thin stretch of clouds, which makes it blue in appearance from a distance, hence the name Blue Mountain. The temperature therefore is mild throughout the year ranging from 11-29 °C, with an average rainfall of 3,000 cm. It overlooks the major river

Chhimtuipui The Chhimtuipui river, also known as the Chhimmtuipi Lui or Kaladan river, is a river of Mizoram, northeastern India. It flows in a southerly direction through Myanmar. Geography The river is the biggest river in Mizoram by volume. It originate ...

flowing towards Burma. The edges of the mountains are all very steep and mostly of sharp precipices, and the most spectacular is a semi-circular beautiful

cliff In geography and geology, a cliff is an area of rock which has a general angle defined by the vertical, or nearly vertical. Cliffs are formed by the processes of weathering and erosion, with the effect of gravity. Cliffs are common on co ...

on the western side called Thlazuang Khâm, which has a blunt and deep fall. The mountain ridge runs in a north-south direction covering about 10 km. The closest human settlement is Thaltlang village at the base and periphery of the park.

Flora and fauna

The Phawngpui National Park provides habitat for a range of birds including the rare

Blyth's tragopan Blyth's tragopan (''Tragopan blythii'') or the grey-bellied tragopan, is a pheasant that is a vulnerable species. The common name commemorates Edward Blyth (1810–1873), English zoologist and Curator of the Museum of the Asiatic Society of Benga ...

falcon Falcons () are birds of prey in the genus ''Falco'', which includes about 40 species. Falcons are widely distributed on all continents of the world except Antarctica, though closely related raptors did occur there in the Eocene. Adult falcons ...

sunbirds Sunbirds and spiderhunters make up the family Nectariniidae of passerine birds. They are small, slender passerines from the Old World, usually with downward-curved bills. Many are brightly coloured, often with iridescent feathers, particularly i ...

dark-rumped swift The dark-rumped swift (''Apus acuticauda'') is a species of swift in the family Apodidae. It is found in Bhutan and Northeast India and is a vagrant to Thailand. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. It is threaten ...

, and Mrs. Hume's pheasant, which is the Mizoram state bird, and also rare animals like the

mountain goat The mountain goat (''Oreamnos americanus''), also known as the Rocky Mountain goat, is a hoofed mammal endemic to mountainous areas of western North America. A subalpine to alpine species, it is a sure-footed climber commonly seen on cliffs and ...

slow loris Slow lorises are a group of several species of nocturnal strepsirrhine primates that make up the genus ''Nycticebus''. Found in Southeast Asia and bordering areas, they range from Bangladesh and Northeast India in the west to the Sulu Archipe ...

tiger The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is the largest living cat species and a member of the genus '' Panthera''. It is most recognisable for its dark vertical stripes on orange fur with a white underside. An apex predator, it primarily preys on u ...

leopard The leopard (''Panthera pardus'') is one of the five extant species in the genus '' Panthera'', a member of the cat family, Felidae. It occurs in a wide range in sub-Saharan Africa, in some parts of Western and Central Asia, Southern Russia, a ...

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 ...

serow The serows ( or ) are four species of medium-sized goat-like or antelope-like mammals of the genus ''Capricornis''. All four species of serow were until recently also classified under '' Naemorhedus'', which now only contains the gorals. Extant ...

goral The gorals are four species in the genus ''Naemorhedus''. They are small ungulates with a goat-like or antelope-like appearance. Until recently, this genus also contained the serow species (now in genus '' Capricornis''). Etymology The original ...

Asiatic black bear The Asian black bear (''Ursus thibetanus''), also known as the Asiatic black bear, moon bear and white-chested bear, is a medium-sized bear species native to Asia that is largely adapted to an arboreal lifestyle. It lives in the Himalayas, sou ...

stump-tailed macaque The stump-tailed macaque (''Macaca arctoides''), also called the bear macaque, is a species of macaque native to South Asia and Southeast Asia. In India, it occurs south of the Brahmaputra River, in the northeastern part of the country. Its range ...

and

capped langur The capped langur (''Trachypithecus pileatus'') is a species of primate in the family Cercopithecidae. It is native to Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, and Myanmar. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry forests. It is threatened by habita ...

. In 2000, rare bird species were recorded such as

mountain bamboo partridge The mountain bamboo partridge (''Bambusicola fytchii'') is a species of bird in the family Phasianidae. It is found in Bangladesh, Tibet, India, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam. The binomial commemorates Major-General Albert Fytche. Their ...

oriental pied hornbill The oriental pied hornbill (''Anthracoceros albirostris'') is an Indo-Malayan pied hornbill, a large canopy-dwelling bird belonging to the family Bucerotidae. Two other common names for this species are Sunda pied hornbill (''convexus'') and Mala ...

purple cochoa The purple cochoa (''Cochoa purpurea'') is a brightly coloured bird found in the temperate forests of Asia. It is a quiet and elusive bird species that has been considered to be related to the thrushes of family Turdidae or the related Muscicapi ...

striped laughingthrush The striped laughingthrush (''Trochalopteron virgatum'') is a species of bird in the family Leiothrichidae. It is found in the Patkai range, where its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montane forest Montane ecosystems are fo ...

, grey sibia,

black eagle The black eagle (''Ictinaetus malaiensis'') is a bird of prey. Like all eagles, it is in the family Accipitridae, and is the only member of the genus ''Ictinaetus''. They soar over forests in the hilly regions of tropical and subtropical South ...

and

large-billed crow The large-billed crow (''Corvus macrorhynchos''), formerly referred to widely as the jungle crow, is a widespread Asian species of crow. It is very adaptable and is able to survive on a wide range of food sources, making it capable of colonizing ...

. The

clouded leopard The clouded leopard (''Neofelis nebulosa''), also called the mainland clouded leopard, is a wild cat inhabiting dense forests from the foothills of the Himalayas through mainland Southeast Asia into South China. In the early 19th century, a cl ...

''(Neofelis nebulosa)'' was spotted and documented for the first time in 1997. The landscape is the natural habitat of various grasses (in fact is the origin of the name, ''phawng'' in Lai dialect means "meadow", and ''-pui'' is the suffix for "great"). The steep slopes are covered by

orchids Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowering ...

and

rhododendrons ''Rhododendron'' (; from Ancient Greek ''rhódon'' "rose" and ''déndron'' "tree") is a very large genus of about 1,024 species of woody plants in the heath family (Ericaceae). They can be either evergreen or deciduous. Most species are nati ...

, with areas of

bamboos Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, but ...

Tourism

The Government of Mizoram allows

ecofriendly Environment friendly processes, or environmental-friendly processes (also referred to as eco-friendly, nature-friendly, and green), are sustainability and marketing terms referring to goods and services, laws, guidelines and policies that marke ...

visit to the national park only during the dry season, i.e. permit is open for 6 months from November to the end of April. The rest of the season is left for natural development and rejuvenation. During the last opening season, there were 569 visitors including 52 foreigners.

References

External links

India SightThe Travel Well GuideIndia Travel GuideMobshare
{{National Parks of India National parks in Mizoram Tourism in Northeast India 1992 establishments in Mizoram Protected areas established in 1992

Geography

Flora and fauna

Tourism

See also

References

External links