Visited Assam after a gap of 25 years. The first & the foremost objective was to see Golden Langurs in Chaprashilla WLS. The Chaprashilla WLS is spread over Dhubri & korajhaar districts of Assam in an area above 45sqkm. Initially declared a reserve forest in 1966 by Assam Govt., was finally declared a sanctuary in 1994. An NGO, Nature’s Beckon, headed by Saumyadeep Dutta had explored the existence of quite a few troupes of golden langurs and then the Birdlife International had emphasized that the sanctuary offers excellent breeding habitats to quite a few endangered birds.
The forests are classified as Broadleaf tropical moist deciduous with Teak & Sal being the dominant species besides jamun, Arjun, Terminalia and other associates of TMD broadleaf forests. Dheer beel & diplalai beels exist on either side of the sanctuary making the forests more vibrant. It is the second most protected habitat for Golden langurs after Bhutan. The sanctuary is located on the edge of eastern Himalayan biodiversity hotspot. Way back in 1992-93 the population of Golden langurs had dwindled to the level of extinction but the timely action by the good Samaritans as well as the quick action by Assam Govt. in declaring it a WLS, has now given a new life to the species. At present there are more than 20 troupes of Golden Langurs inhabiting the area despite heavy human interference.
Chinese Pangolin was high on my list but we couldn’t spot it during our short excursion there.
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