Dachigam National Park

Jo Jo 23 months ago

Such a lovely place it is. It is next to Shalimar garden, and it is easily accessible by both private and public transportation. The ticket fee is 24 ₹only, which is quite great especially for a group of children on a school tour. The only issue is that we were told that we could find wild animals in the open area , more further. But it is a restricted area for the public. You could only spot the rescued and animals undergoing containment period. There is no one who is willing to help you there, and you have to explore the limited area on your own. Be careful while roaming....! Otherwise a lovely and beautiful natural habitat. Must go, but if you are planning to see many animals, then you might get disappointed. Trout fishing is the main attraction here.

Anil Singh 22 months ago

Dachigam forest reserve had been out of bounds for the general public and was the playing ground of the chosen few since forever. Recently a part of it has been thrown open for the general public and tourists.

We had booked our slot (of 4 hours duration) from the wildlife departments website for a nominal fee of Rs.25 per person. Its hardly a half an hour run from Srinagar city.
We got a battery run golf cart at a nominal fee of Rs.1200 which included a guide to run it and to talk about the flora and fauna. We paid a visit to the wildlife enclosure where they had kept 3 black bear which had been rescued as cubs and were unable to survive in the wild plus a leopard which had turned maneater and had attacked villagers in Bandipore.

There was Dachigam stream running alongside the road and thanks to the 4 days of rains it was in full spate. We were not able to see any major wildlife besides a few monkeys and wild boars but had a nice time gorging on wild plum, mulberry and cherries.

The trip was worth it and on the way back we also went to see the rainbow trout breeding ground. There were separate tanks for different stages of trout.

A special word of praise for our guide Muzzafar who took special interest to cater to our queries, was knowledgeable about the park and as a bonus turned out to be an expert photographer to boot!

Mahuya Acharya 23 months ago

Dachigam National Park is located 22 kilometers from Srinagar, near Harwan sumo stoppage. I am staying there so it's a walkable distance for me. It covers an area of 141 km2. The name of the national park literally stands for "ten villages" which could be in memory of the ten villages that were relocated for its formation. These ten villages were living in this region before the World War I the beginning of the early 20th century.

The main attraction of this Nation park is 'Hangul' in kashmiri language which means the antelope. 3 leopards ( 2 male : raja and dhara and 1 female : Rakhi) from the nearby villages are captive where Dhara is a man eater so it's risky to set them on again in the jungle. 2 black bear ( Rosey and Julie) and a brown ???? shahib are also captive there. The black bears are rescued when they were 8 months old and now they are of 3 years. It was tried to set them free in the jungle but due to the lack of skill to arrange food and compete with others they wouldn't be able to survive and they came back in the captive.

There is trout fisheries farm inside the park.
Oak tree are present too which were planted by the Maharaja.