Nanda Devi National Park

The Nanda Devi National Park is a national park situated around the peak of Nanda Devi, , in the state of Uttarakhand in northern India. It was established as national park in 1982. Along with the adjoining Valley of Flowers National Park to the northwest, it was inscribed a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1988. Both parks are encompassed in the Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve (223,674 ha) which is further surrounded by a buffer zone (5,148.57 km²). This Reserve is in the UNESCO World Network of Biosphere Reserves since 2004.

The park encompasses the Nanda Devi Sanctuary, a glacial basin surrounded by a ring of peaks between and high, and drained by the Rishi Ganga through the Rishi Ganga Gorge, a steep, almost impassable defile. The entire park lies at an elevation of more than above mean sea level.

Layout of the Sanctuary

The Sanctuary can be divided into two parts, Inner and Outer. Together, they are surrounded by the main Sanctuary Wall, which forms a roughly square outline, with high, continuous ridges on the north, east, and south sides. On the west side, less high but still imposing ridges drop from the north and south toward the Rishi Ganga Gorge, which drains the Sanctuary towards the west.Garhwal-Himalaya-Ost, 1:150,000 scale topographic map, prepared in 1992 by...
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