Sonitpur West Forest Development Agency

For a truly memorable wild adventure, Assam is one of the best destinations where one can encounter a great variety of wildlife. It forms part of a global bio-diversity ‘hot-spot’. A wide variety of habitat exists in the state ranging from low lying swamps, marshes and wet Savannah grassland to subtropical broadleaf forests, tropical wet evergreen rain forest and tropical deciduous forest. The five national parks (Out of which two are World Heritage Sites) fifteen wildlife sanctuaries and three bird sanctuaries are the treasure house where a large number of rare flora and fauna could be seen. About 180 species of mammals are found in Assam which includes globally threatened species such as Golden Langur, Hoolock Gibbon, Pigmy Hog, Hispid hare, white-winged Wood-duck, Tiger, Clouded Leopard, Elephant, Swamp Deer Gangetic Dolphin etc. More than 800 species of birds and about 195 species of reptiles are found in Assam.
There are five national Parks (Out of which two are World Heritage Sites) and eighteen Wildlife Sanctuaries and three bird sanctuaries covering an area of about 0.4 million ha and constituting 4.98% of the total geographic area of the state. Kaziranga, Manas and Nameri hold the distinction of being important Tiger Reserves too. Manas and Kaziranga are the two World Heritage Sites and Manas and Dibru- Saikhowa are the two Biosphere Reserves in the State. In addition there are five Elephant Reserves (Ripu-Chirang, Sonitpur, Dehing-Patkai, Kaziranga-Karbi Anglong and Dhansiri-Lumding), one Ramsar site (Dipar beel) and forty-six Important Bird Areas.

TOURISM POTENTIALITY OF TEZPUR AND ADJOINING AREAS :
Tezpur, the district head Quarter of Sonitpur District is famous for its scenic beauty with exquisite archaeological ruins . View of Snow-capped peaks of Himalaya on the north and mighty river on the south with undulating terrain makes it’s a unique place for tourist. The lush green tea garden with magnificent archaeological ruins makes it more beautiful. The district as a whole Is known for its mythology, folklore and legend. Tezpur is also considered as the cultural capital of the state.
The ancient temples, magnificent archaeological ruins and one National park and two Wild life sanctuary situated in the midst of tea garden make Tezpur and its surrounding places a great destination for the tourist . The Nameri National park is also under “Project-Tiger” harbours Tiger, White wood winged duck and other animals. The water rafting on Jia-Bharali river gives opportunity for viewing various birds and pleasure of adventure to the visitors. Another important tourist place is the Bhalukpung which is 15 Kms away from the project site.