Chapramari Wildlife Sanctuary (formerly Chapramari Wildlife Reserve, pron: ˌʧʌprəˈmɑ:rɪ or ˌʧæprəˈmɑ:rɪ) is close to the

Gorumara National Park Gorumara National Park (Pron: ˌgɔ:rʊˈmɑ:rə; ''Gorumara Jatio Uddan'') is a National Park in northern West Bengal, India. Located in the Dooars region of the Himalayan foothills, it is a medium-sized park with grasslands and forests. Goruma ...

. Chapramari is about 30 kilometres from Chalsa and

Lataguri Lataguri is a census town in the Mal CD block in the Malbazar subdivision of the Jalpaiguri district in the Indian state of West Bengal. Geography Location Lataguri is located outside the Gorumara National Park on National Highway No. 31. ...

in northern

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fou ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. The total coverage of the forest is 960 hectares.

History

In 1896, an imperial forest-service administrator D.H.E. Sander first sent a proposal to the-then English-dominated Government of India that Chapramari could be developed into a tourism centre. The area was declared a national reserve forest in 1895 under the Indian Forest Act. In 1939, the name ''Chapramari Wildlife Reserve'' came to be used, while the Government of India, in 1998, gave it the status of a national

wildlife sanctuary 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 ...

. The name of the region comes from 'Chapra', a variety of small fishes found in northern Bengal, and 'Mari', meaning 'abundance'. Chapramari receives waters from the

Teesta Teesta River is a long river that rises in the Pauhunri Mountain of eastern Himalayas, flows through the Indian states of Sikkim and West Bengal through Rangpur, and enters the Bay of Bengal. It drains an area of . In India, it flows through ...

, the Neora,

Jaldhaka Jaldhaka (also referred to as Jhalong) is a small town in the Gorubathan CD block in the Kalimpong Sadar subdivision of the Kalimpong district in the state of West Bengal, India. It lies on the bank of Jaldhaka River. Geography Location J ...

and the

Murti In the Hindu tradition, a ''murti'' ( sa, मूर्ति, mūrti, ) is a devotional image such as a statue, or "idol" (a common and non-pejorative term in Indian English), of a deity or saint. In Hindu temples, it is a symbolic icon. T ...

Wildlife

A large variety of

flora and fauna In biology, an organism () is any living system that functions as an individual entity. All organisms are composed of cells (cell theory). Organisms are classified by taxonomy into groups such as multicellular animals, plants, and fungi ...

are found in the

forests A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

. Chapramari is known for its

elephant Elephants are the largest existing land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant. They are the only surviving members of the family Elephantidae ...

population.

Gaur The gaur (''Bos gaurus''; ), also known as the Indian bison, is a bovine native to South Asia and Southeast Asia, and has been listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 1986. The global population was estimated at a maximum of 21,000 m ...

(commonly known as Indian bison) are not uncommon in the Chapramari region.

Rhinoceros A rhinoceros (; ; ), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. (It can also refer to a member of any of the extinct species ...

Deer Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the re ...

boars The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The species is n ...

, and

leopards 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 ...

are also found here. However unlike Gorumara, Royal Bengal Tigers are not found here. The place is popular with bird watchers, with

parakeets A parakeet is any one of many small to medium-sized species of parrot, in multiple genera, that generally has long tail feathers. Etymology and naming The name ''parakeet'' is derived from the French wor''perroquet'' which is reflected in ...

kingfishers Kingfishers are a family, the Alcedinidae, of small to medium-sized, brightly colored birds in the order Coraciiformes. They have a cosmopolitan distribution, with most species found in the tropical regions of Africa, Asia, and Oceania, ...

, and

green pigeon ''Treron'' is a genus of bird in the pigeon family Columbidae. Its members are commonly called green pigeons. The genus is distributed across Asia and Africa. This genus contains 30 species, remarkable for their green coloration, hence the common ...

s found in abundance. In 2009, a marauding leopard was captured in

Dooars The Dooars or Duars ( as, দুৱাৰ, duar, rkt, দুৱাৰ, duar, bn, দুয়ার, duyar) () are the alluvial floodplains in eastern-northeastern India that lie south of the outer foothills of the Himalayas and north of the ...

and released into Chapramari.

Access

Malbazar Rail Station is the closest rail hub. Chapramari is located around two hours' drive from

Siliguri Siliguri, ) is a major tier-II city in West Bengal. It forms "Twin Cities" with the neighboring district capital of Jalpaiguri. The city spans areas of the Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri districts in the Indian state of West Bengal. Known as the ' ...

, the principal city in northern Bengal. The access from

Jalpaiguri Jalpaiguri is a city in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the headquarters of the Jalpaiguri district as well as of the Jalpaiguri division of West Bengal, covering the jurisdiction of the five districts of North Bengal. The city is loca ...

passes through the dense forests of Batabari range. Due to complications caused by

monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal osci ...

s, the wildlife sanctuary remains closed each year from mid-July to mid-September. West Bengal Forest Development Corporation Limitedhttps://www.wbfdc.com/ operates a Chapramari camp.

Threat to elephants from railway

The wildlife sanctuary is crossed by the New Jalpaiguri–Alipurduar–Samuktala Road Railway Line between

and

Malbazar Malbazar, also known as Mal, is a town and a municipality in Jalpaiguri district in the state of West Bengal, India. It is the headquarters of the Malbazar subdivision. It lies about 65 km from Jalpaiguri and 55 km from Siliguri. It li ...

. Elephants have been killed by trains in several incidents. On 2002 February 8, a

Alipurduar Alipurduar is a city and a municipality in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the headquarters of the Alipurduar district. Situated on the east bank of Kaljani River on the foothills of the Himalayas, the city is a gateway to Bhutan and ...

train killed one female elephant and injured two tuskers. An accident which killed seven elephants in 2010 led to a guideline speed of for trains being set by Indian Railways.

2013 train accident

At approximately 17:40 on 13 November 2013, an

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

-bound passenger train travelling through Chapramari Wildlife Sanctuary,

Jaipur Jaipur (; Hindi: ''Jayapura''), formerly Jeypore, is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Rajasthan. , the city had a population of 3.1 million, making it the tenth most populous city in the country. Jaipur is also known ...

- Kamakhya

Kavi Guru Express The Kavi Guru Express series of trains were introduced by Indian Railways in 2011 for the 1st time together with the Rajya Rani Express. They were introduced by the then Railway Minister of India Ms. Mamata Banerjee in honour of Rabindranath Ta ...

(19709), approached the

Jaldhaka River The Jaldhaka River (Pron:/ˌdʒælˈdɑːkə/) ( bn, জলঢাকা নদী), also known as Dichu, a tributary of Brahmaputra is a trans-boundary river flowing through India, Bhutan and Bangladesh with a length of 233 kilometres. It ori ...

Bridge at approximately and collided with a herd of 40–50 Indian elephants, killing five adults, two calves, and injuring ten others. Surviving elephants initially fled but soon returned to the scene of the accident and remained there until being dispersed by officials. The accident has been described as the worst in recent history. Officials plan to launch an investigation into its cause. The train's speed at the time of the collision, which was double that of the maximum specified by relevant guidelines, has been noted as one possible contributing factor. Minister of State for Railways

Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury (born 2 April 1956) is an Indian politician serving as the leader of the Indian National Congress in the 17th Lok Sabha and the Member of Parliament from Berhampore. He is also the current president of West Bengal Prades ...

stated that the accident "happened outside the area which has been earmarked as elephant corridor" and that it "is the responsibility of the state government to protect the wildlife ecauserailway officials cannot".

Photo gallery

File:Gaur chapramari.JPG,

File:Golden fronted leafbird.jpeg,

Golden-fronted leafbird The golden-fronted leafbird (''Chloropsis aurifrons'') is a species of leafbird. It is found from the Indian subcontinent and south-western China, to south-east Asia and Sumatra. It builds its nest in a tree, laying 2-3 eggs. This species eats i ...

File:Elephas maximus chapramari.jpg,

Elephas maximus ''Elephas'' is one of two surviving genera in the family of elephants, Elephantidae, with one surviving species, the Asian elephant, ''Elephas maximus''. Several extinct species have been identified as belonging to the genus, extending back t ...

References

External links

West Bengal Forest Development Corporation Limited
the operator of Chapramari's camp * * {{Protected areas of West Bengal, state=expanded Wildlife sanctuaries in West Bengal Dooars Tourist attractions in Jalpaiguri district 1998 establishments in West Bengal Protected areas established in 1988