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The Definitive Wildlife Holiday Guide to Sikkim
The red panda, the state animal of Sikkim, can be found on the coat of arms of the Sikkim Forest Department,
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The dense forests, hills and mountains of Sikkim are home to a huge variety of animal species from musk deer and red panda, to bharal or blue sheep, the Himalayan black bear and the elusive snow leopard. 09 Min Read
Due to encroachments, and climate change, many of the species found in Sikkim are endangered or threatened. The lowland forests of Sikkim are home to Sikkim’s largest reptile Burmese python, house geckos, the Himalayan crestless porcupine, the Chinese pangolin, and barking deer.
Urban sacred groves in Sikkim store more carbon than natural forest mongabay.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from mongabay.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
updated: Apr 15 2021, 12:19 ist
I had only seen cherry blossoms in Japanese and Korean movies and heard of their symbolism in poetry. I found them precious, beautiful and foreign. As a botanist, I try to steer away from comparing the beauty of flowers. Cherry blossoms, however, made me helplessly fall for them back in 2018, when I witnessed them for the first time. No, I didn’t make an overseas trip to Korea or Japan; I found my very own cherry blossom paradise in the small Himalayan state of Sikkim.
In the first week of November 2018, as I was travelling from Gangtok to Mangan in North Sikkim, I saw lines of cherry blossoms; their luscious pink petals were a stark contrast to the clear blue skies, turning the landscape into Japanese fairy-tale.
Day 1 (Kolkata to Gangtok, 15 hours, 700 km)
Three cars met at the Dankuni toll at 4 pm on 1st April. The date being the 1st April, I was relieved to see that the rest of the cars were waiting and the trip was actually on!
It was smooth sailing through Burdwan, SH7 and we reached Moregram BP by 8 pm. We took a tea break for about an hour, since having dinner by 8 pm would have been too early.
So we decided to have dinner at the Pardesi Dhaba, in Malda. Reached the Pardesi Dhaba by 10-45 pm and their piping hot Chicken Biriyani managed our hunger.