The state of Meghalaya, one of the seven states of the northeastern region, is one of the biodiversity-rich areas in India. Nokrek National Park is the only biosphere reserve in the state and falls under the jurisdiction of East and West Garo Hills Districts. Nokrek is the highest peak in the park, rising to 1,412 m in the Garo Hills and is the second highest peak in the state. Nokrek consists of mainly ridges and some areas along the ridges. The ridges are also the source of many river systems such as the Simsang, Gaon, Bugi, Dareng, Didari, Mbandel, Rombong, Kam, Sobok, Nabok, Chibe, etc. This area is unique in Garo Hills with virgin forest land in relation to the flora and fauna. It is the only representative area of the primary forest found in the higher land in this part of the state and contains a vast diversity of flora and fauna. It received conservation status in 1988 and covers an area of 47.48 km~2. The area also forms parts of the Nokrek Biosphere Reserve that includes all areas surrounding the present national park area. The park is covered with eastern sub-montane semi-evergreen forest (sub type 2B/~c1b) grouped under tropical semi-evergreen forests. Mixed with the evergreen forest are some deciduous species. There have been sporadic reports on primates (Bertrands, 1969; Biswas and Diengdoh; Alfred & Sati, 1990; Alfred, 1992) of the Garo Hills; however, there are no detailed reports on the primate species of the Nokrek biosphere reserve-cum-national park.
展开▼