The Red Panda, one of the most endangered species of the East Himalaya and is distributed from Nepal, into Sikkim, Darjeeling Hills, Bhutan, and Arunachal Pradesh. The distribution further extends into Northern Myanmar and a few provinces in China. They are the least aggressive and quite animals to have survived in the wild because of its inaccessible terrain dominated by bamboo forests.
The Darjeeling Zoo or the Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park, which houses only the animals of the East Himalaya, boasts of the most successful Red Panda breeding and release in the wild project. It has about twenty, genetically healthy population of Red Pandas. The wild population around Darjeeling is at the Barshey Rhododendron Sanctuary, Neora Valley National Park and the Singalila National park. The most vital fact about these protected areas that they share borders nationally and internationally, i.e. Barshey has international borders with Nepal and is extended to Darjeeling district of West Bengal, Neora Valley has its international border with Bhutan and extends its border nationally with the East district of Sikkim, and Singalila internationally shares its border with Nepal and extended border with the West district of Sikkim.
To confirm conservation of this species and their habitat, Help Tourism and ACT has been working with fringe communities to achieve sustainable development in the adjoining areas and ensure protection by the local people. Several initiatives have been taken in different directions and in collaboration with several organizations to create an atmosphere in the right direction as mentioned hereunder.
- Help Tourism at Darjeeling in the Swiss Hotel proposes to adopt two Red Pandas at the Darjeeling Zoo.
- Help Tourism and ACT has collaborated with local youth forces at Hee Bermiock and Singling, adjoining to Barshey Rhododendron Sanctuary and have been developing and running ecotourism projects.
- There is also a proposal by ACT to develop a community reserve in the Hee Patal area, mainly for preservation of birds and en extension of the sanctuary.
- There is a similar proposal in the Meghma village adjoining to Singalila National Park. This village falls in route of the world famous Sandakphu trek.
- The ecotourism initiative by Help Tourism and ACT is developing in full swing in Kolakham, the village adjoining to Neora Valley National Park.
- ACT is working on a Neora Valley Conservation Reserve with the local community of the area.
- Help Tourism is organizing a hospitality training course at the Swiss Hotel in Darjeeling for the participants from the three protected areas.
ACT’s role here would be mainly to support and nurture the creation of community or conservation reserves as extension of the mentioned protected areas. Develop capacities for protection in the local youths and ask for support from conservation organizations to fund the process.
Help Tourism, on the other hand is already moving with the ecotourism development in the mentioned areas. Developing infrastructure and local manpower to run tourism in the areas is the immediate progress. Networking with special interest groups for volunteering, conservation, birding, nature based and adventure tourism has already begun.
The ultimate aim of this project is sustainable development of the communities living in the fringes of the protected areas, help them to extend the protected area and confirm protection by local communities.
Learn more about the Red Panda
