Pin Valley National Park is a
National park of India
National parks in India are International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) category II protected areas. India's first national park was established in 1936, now known as Jim Corbett National Park, in Uttarakhand. In 1970, India had onl ...
located in the
Spiti Valley
Spiti (pronounced as piti in Bhoti language) is a high-altitude region of the Himalayas, located in the north-eastern part of the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. The name "Spiti" means "The middle land", i.e. the land between Tib ...
of
Lahaul and Spiti district
The Lahaul and Spiti district is a high-altitude district in Himachal Pradesh, north India. This entirely mountainous district consists of two geographically distinct as well as formerly separate political-administrative units, called Lahaul ( ...
and
Bhaba Valley of
Kinnaur district, in the
state
State most commonly refers to:
* State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory
**Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country
**Nation state, a ...
of
Himachal Pradesh
Himachal Pradesh (; Sanskrit: ''himācāl prādes;'' "Snow-laden Mountain Province") is a States and union territories of India, state in the northern part of India. Situated in the Western Himalayas, it is one of the thirteen Indian Himalayan ...
. It is located in far northern
India
India, officially the Republic of India, 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 by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
. It is part of
Cold Desert (biosphere reserve).
History
Steeped in historical and present day
Buddhist
Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...
Tibetan culture
Tibet developed a distinct culture due to its geographic and climatic conditions. While influenced by neighboring cultures from China, India, and Nepal, the Himalayas, Himalayan region's remoteness and inaccessibility have preserved distinct ...
, the area has many
Tibetan Buddhist
Tibetan Buddhism is a form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet, Bhutan and Mongolia. It also has a sizable number of adherents in the areas surrounding the Himalayas, including the Indian regions of Ladakh, Darjeeling, Sikkim, and Arunachal Prades ...
influences, evident architecturally in
monasteries
A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone ( hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which m ...
and
stupa
In Buddhism, a stupa (, ) is a domed hemispherical structure containing several types of sacred relics, including images, statues, metals, and '' śarīra''—the remains of Buddhist monks or nuns. It is used as a place of pilgrimage and m ...
s, and in the daily living of its residents and
lama
Lama () is a title bestowed to a realized practitioner of the Dharma in Tibetan Buddhism. Not all monks are lamas, while nuns and female practitioners can be recognized and entitled as lamas. The Tibetan word ''la-ma'' means "high mother", ...
s.
Pin Valley National Park, with an area of was established by India in 1987.
Geography
The park is located in the desert habitat of the
Spiti Valley
Spiti (pronounced as piti in Bhoti language) is a high-altitude region of the Himalayas, located in the north-eastern part of the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. The name "Spiti" means "The middle land", i.e. the land between Tib ...
, within the
Cold Desert Biosphere Reserve, in the
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 Earth's highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest. More than list of h ...
region.
[Tourism, Lahaul & Spiti District, Himachal Pradesh, India](_blank)
/ref> Spreading south of Dhankar Gompa near the Tibet
Tibet (; ''Böd''; ), or Greater Tibet, is a region in the western part of East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are other ethnic groups s ...
an border to Bhaba Valley of Kinnaur, the park marks the border between the formerly separate districts of Lahaul and Spiti and Kinnaur. The elevation of the park ranges from about near Ka Dogri to more than at its highest point.
Ecology
With its snow laden unexplored higher reaches and slopes, the Park forms a natural habitat for a number of endangered animals including the Snow Leopards Siberian ibex
The Siberian ibex (''Capra sibirica''), also known using regionalized names including Altai ibex, Asian ibex, Central Asian ibex, Gobi ibex, Himalayan ibex, Mongolian ibex or Tian Shan ibex, is a polytypic species of ibex, a wild relative of goa ...
, Bharal (Himalayan blue sheep), Red Fox, Weasel, Marten, Pika and others.
Flora and fauna
Because of the park's high altitude and extreme temperatures, the vegetation density is sparse, consisting mostly of alpine tree
In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, e.g., including only woody plants with secondary growth, only ...
s and groves of Himalayan cedar (''Cedrus deodara''). In summer, birds such as the Himalayan snowcock
The Himalayan snowcock (''Tetraogallus himalayensis'') is a snowcock in the pheasant family Phasianidae found across the Himalayan ranges and parts of the adjoining Pamir range of Asia. It is found on alpine pastures and on steep rocky cliffs w ...
, chukar partridge
The chukar partridge (''Alectoris chukar''), or simply chukar, is a Palearctic upland Upland game, gamebird in the pheasant family Phasianidae. It has been considered to form a superspecies complex along with the rock partridge, Philby's partrid ...
, snow partridge, finch
The true finches are small to medium-sized passerine birds in the family Fringillidae. Finches generally have stout conical bills adapted for eating seeds and nuts and often have colourful plumage. They occupy a great range of habitats where the ...
es and chough
A chough ( ) is any of two species of passerine birds that constitute the genus ''Pyrrhocorax'' of the Corvidae (crow) family. These are the red-billed chough (''Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax'') and the Alpine chough (or yellow-billed chough) (''Pyr ...
s flourish in the park.
Medicinal Plants
Some plants within the park's alpine habitat
In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...
s have significant medicinal properties. Twenty-two rare and endangered medicinal plant species, have been discovered in and around Pin Valley National Park, which are distributed over 10 different habitat types. Aconitum rotundifolium, Arnebia euchroma, Ephedra gerardiana, Ferula jaeschkeana, Hyoscymus niger are the threatened but medicinally important plants occur in this national park.[Kala, Chandra Prakash 2005; Indigenous uses, population density, and conservation of threatened medicinal plants in protected areas of the India. Conservation Biology, 19 (2): 368-378.]
See also
*National parks in Himachal Pradesh
Forests in the state of Himachal Pradesh (northern India) currently cover an area of nearly , which is about 68.16% of the total land area of the state. The forests were once considered to be the main source of income of the state and most of th ...
* Mud village, Spiti
References
External links
himachaltourism.nic.in
{{Authority control
National parks in Himachal Pradesh
Geography of Lahaul and Spiti district
Protected areas established in 1958
1958 establishments in Himachal Pradesh