Valley hosts Butterfly Watching Meet’2014

Ziro, Aug 28: Talle Wildlife Sanctuary in Lower Subansiri district of Arunachal Pradesh, considered to be one of the best biodiversity hotspots was proved once again when a rare species of butterfly, Kaiser-e Hind, was photographed for the first time in India during the 1st ever Butterfly Watching Meet.
The two days programme was organized by Ngunu Ziro, an NGO on August 23-24 to augment the tourism activities at Ziro. Its purpose was to promote eco-tourism and to aware the people on preservation and protection of flora and fauna.
The participants gathered at Manipolyang and trekked to Pange, covering 8 Km on foot. An impressive power-point presentation on butterfly was given by Monsoon Jyoti Gogoi, PhD scholar on butterfly. Later, a moth counting event was organized in the night at Pange where around 200 species of moth were photograph in a single night.
During the two days event, the butterfly enthusiasts have photographed 47 species of butterfly braving the inclement weather. “It was one of delighted moments to have come closer to the most beautiful creature of this universe,” says one of the participants, Gaurav Kalita from Assam.
All the participants enjoyed the photograph of various butterflies of varied colours. The rare butterflies called yellow owl was also found. Earlier, the Bhutan Glory, a butterfly considered to be extinct from the state was first photographed in Tale Valley Wildlife Sanctuary.
The participants were from various professional backgrounds. An award was also announced amongst the participants in 3 categories. The best photograph was given to Tater Mize, District Tourism Officer. Palash Goswami, an NGO representative from Assam bagged the award for highest collection of varieties and Hage Habung, local tour guide bagged the award for unique collection of butterflies species.
Earlier, the District Tourism Officer, while addressing the participants thanked the local NGO for taking keen interest in promoting tourism in the valley. He said that the district is doing very well in rural tourism especially in Home stay concept. The district began to receive tourists in bird watching and the butterfly watching meet will add another milestone in the field of tourism. (DIPRO)