Makalu-Barun-Nationalpark
The Makalu Barun National Park - located in eastern Nepal in the districts of Solukhumbu and Sankhuwasabha and was founded in 1992 as an eastern extension of the Sagarmatha National Park, Makalu Barun under the name National Park. It covers an area of 1500 km ² and is the only nature reserve around the world with a height difference of more than 8000 m, which includes both tropical forest and icy peaks.
The northern border of the national park is also the border with the Tibet Autonomous Region. The buffer zone Makalu Barun Conservation Area ( Makalu Barun Conservation Area ) connects with an area of 830 square kilometers on the southern and south-eastern border.
In the national park are the summit of Makalu, with 8463 m the fifth highest mountain in the world, Chamlang ( 7319 m) , Baruntse ( 7129 m) and Mera ( 6654 m). The expansion of the protected area of West (27 ° 38 '3 " N, 86 ° 46' 48" E ) to east (27 ° 46 '46 "N, 87 ° 27 ' E) amounts to about 66 km, by north (27 ° 57 ' 25 "N, 87 ° 01' 03" O) to south (27 ° 33 ' 19 " N, 87 ° 06' 55" E ) at about 45 km. The height difference between the summit of Makalu and the valley of the River Arun in the south west ( 438 m above sea level ) is about 8,025 m.
History
The creation of the Makalu Barun National Park - was given officially known as early as 1991. At its founding in 1992, he was the sixth national park in Nepal. When the buffer zone was declared in 1999, was the National Park, the first, which is surrounded by a residential conservation area. There live more than 32,000 people of different ethnicities: Sherpa, Rai, Gurung, Tamang, Magar, Newar, Brahmin and Chhetri.
Managed the entire area of the nature conservation authority Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation. An innovative conservation model to be implemented, according to which the local citizens participate in communities and villages, in preserving their rich cultural tradition, protected forests and the natural resources on which they depend here.
The inaccessible valleys of the Barun, a tributary of the Arun, and its tributary Saldima are in the most unspoiled area of the national park, which is therefore the Strict Nature Reserve ( Strict Nature Reserve ) has been appointed - the first in Nepal. Here natural ecosystems are protected in a pristine state for scientific study and conservation of genetic resources.
Climate
The area lies in the eastern climatic zone of the Himalayas, where monsoon starts in June and declines only in late September. During these months falls 70 % of the annual rainfall of up to 4000 mm. The first signs of the monsoon reach the area in April.
Temperatures vary greatly because of the enormous difference in height. The lower elevations are temperate throughout the winter; in the months of April and May, but it is already hot and humid.
Vegetation
The typical for the Eastern Himalayas diverse forests within the Makalu Barun National Park, ranging from nearly tropical monsoon forest with wings fruit plants to 400 m up to subalpine coniferous trees on 4000 m height. The appearance of the forest is dependent on the height of different variables determined as seasonal moisture supply, temperature, and snow cover. The forest areas extend over five bioclimatic zones height:
- Tropical zone: below 1000 m with stocks of Sal;
- Subtropical zone: 1000-2000 m with stocks of Schima and apparent chestnut;
- Lower and upper temperate zone: 2000-3000 m with predominantly broad-leaved evergreen species such as oak and laurel family, but also broad-leaved deciduous trees such as maples and magnolias;
- Subalpine zone: 3000-4000 m with herds of Himalayan birch and Himalayan pines.
The forest areas below 2000 m are heavily burdened by subsistence agriculture, so that there remain only a few ecologically important holdings. Above 2000 m, the forest areas are very extensive, because the cool, damp climate allows agricultural use there not to. The subalpine stocks along the outer southern slopes to the inner valleys consist almost exclusively of conifers, mainly juniper and fir trees. The alpine zone above 4000 m is covered with juniper and rhododendron and consists of pasture land.
More than 3100 species of flowering plants are established, including Rhododendron ( 25 species ), primroses (48 species), orchids (47 species), bamboo (19 species), trees ( 15 species ), 86 species of fodder trees and 67 species of medically valuable plant.
Fauna
The area is habitat for a large variety of animal species. Ornithologists have 440 bird species identified, of which at least 16 are extremely rare. Furthermore, there are 315 kinds of butterflies, 78 kinds of fish, 43 species reptiles, 25 species of mammals and 16 species amphibians.
Among the living in the national park mammals include the snow leopard, Indian leopard, clouded leopard, red pandas, Fleckenlinsang, Asiatic black bears, jackals, Himalayan wolves, Indian langurs, Assam macaque, Himalayan tahr, barking deer, musk deer, Himalayan serow, wild boar, flying squirrel, marmots and otters. In May 2009, zoologists been achieved by using a camera trap for the first time a recording of a Asiatic golden cat to over 2500 m.
Tourism
The best times are from October to November and March to April, when the paths and passes are free of snow. From Kathmandu from there in these months daily flights to Tumlingtar, from where the National Park is within walking distance.