Namdapha, the tiger reserve named after a river and crowned by Daphabum

Background

This is the protected-area background to the hydropower and highway projects now being sanctioned across Arunachal Pradesh.
Namdapha was a Wildlife Sanctuary from 1972.
It was declared both a National Park and a Tiger Reserve in 1983, under Project Tiger.
In 1986, 177.425 sq. km of reserved forest was added to the Tiger Reserve.
The reserve is named after the Namdapha River, which rises from Daphabum, its highest peak.
More than 60 per cent of the protected area is unexplored, and the reserve records the tiger, leopard, clouded leopard, snow leopard, Hoolock gibbon, red panda, Mishmi takin, the Namdapha flying squirrel and the Namdapha shortwing.