Raimona National Park:
Raimona National Park covering 422 km² area falls under Gossigaon Sub-Division of Kokrajhar district of Bodoland Territorial Region, Assam. The park is a major chunk of Ripu Reserve Forest with a history of one of the oldest and best scientifically managed forests in the country. Hemilton (1940) had reported in “An Account of Assam” (1807-1814) that the area under Ripu RF w
as a tributary named as Ripudwar with capital at ‘Raymana’ (Raimona). Therefore, the RAIMONA name has been given to the park. Conservation significance
Raimona National Park’ covering total 422 km² was declared on 5th June during the celebration of World Environment Day, 2021 by the Hon’ble Chief Minister, Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma and notified by the Govt. of Assam vide no FRW.02/2021/27 dated 9th June 2021. The park has contributed largely in fulfilling i) the UN vision of Ecosystem Restoration ii) an achievement towards the Greater Manas vision envisaged jointly by Forest Department, BTC and International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) and iii) the recommendations made by the UNESCO World Heritage Site committee in the decision report vide WHC-11/35.COM/20, p. 22 dt 21st June 2011 has encouraged the state party to consider the extension of the Manas World Heritage site property in three stages. Flora and Fauna
A baseline survey was conducted by Forest Department jointly with Wildlife Trust of India. The study could document 239 floral species in the park, 29 mammalian species out of which 7 belong to Schedule-I, WPA, 1972, 177 species of birds and 150 species of butterfly. The clouded leopard rehabilitation programmed was done in 2012 by the Forest Department and WTI was firs of its kind conservation actions that got international coverage. There are more scope of further study to document more species during other seasons. The Park is one of the best suitable habitats for Golden Langur in the world. The Park is connected to Phipsoo WLS of Bhutan having the scope at transboundary level conservation initiative. Past history
The Park is the major chunk of Ripu Reserve Forest having a rich history of management system. The tramline was introduced in 1901, ride and parrel introduced in 1903 were some of the major management initiatives in the past. The kings of Cooch Behar with the British High Officials used to go out for hunt and shoot animals like rhinoceros, swamp deer, wild buffalos, India gaur, tiger, leopard and such other species during the period 1871 to 1907.
