Northeast India: Birding & Mammals of the Himalayas

This part of India, which sits way out east of the rest of the country in the Himalayas, and was long known to hold an elite selection of rare and local bird species, was long forgotten, indeed forbidden to foreign tourists until the early 2000s. Since that time, birders have been visiting with zeal, enjoying the superb birding within plentiful habitat that is packed with some of the most-wanted birds in all of Asia. This has led to two particular significant events; the discovery of the extremely local Bugun Liocichla, completely new to science in 2006, and the rediscovery of a “lost bird”, the Mishmi (Rusty-throated) Wren-Babbler, lost to science since its discovery as a specimen in 1947, until the first field sightings in 2004 and regularly since then. The main tour gives a reasonable chance at finding the Liocichla, still only known from a tiny area in the vast Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary, while the extension yet further east allows a good chance at finding the latter species, which is now known from a number of spots albeit within a very narrow band of elevation in the pristine forests of the Mishmi Hills.

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This tour is also underappreciated for the mammals that are on offer too, with more than twenty species not out of the realm of possibility. Kaziranga alone offers 10+ mammal days, with plentiful rhinos, elephants, deer and buffalo to observe and photograph. It would be a travesty not to mention the jaw-droppingly pristine nature of the habitat in places like the protected area of Eaglenest, which make for some of the most fantastic and heart-warming landscapes on any Asian tour. While this tour is indeed “off the beaten track”, and the remoteness of the region for the most part requires the traveler to be adventurous with regards to accommodations, and to spend some nights under canvas for example, these camps (while not luxurious like an African tented camp) are well organized and specifically cater for birders, and are located in some of the most impressive tracts of forests in all of the Himalayas. Simply put, this tour is about seeing very special birds in very special places, which have only become accessible in the last decade or so.