Place · Himalayan national parks · India
Nanda Devi & Valley of Flowers
The two linked high-Himalayan parks around the 7,816m Nanda Devi peak in Chamoli district, Uttarakhand — Nanda Devi National Park (624 sq km) within the Sanctuary ring, and the Valley of Flowers National Park (87 sq km) on the Pushpawati river. The Nanda Devi Sanctuary has been closed to climbers since 1983 after the two-year expedition to recover a lost CIA-ISRO nuclear-powered monitoring device (placed 1965, lost 1966) failed. Nanda Devi is sacred as the goddess who returns to her mountain home every twelve years in the Nanda Devi Raj Jat yatra. The Valley of Flowers, discovered by Frank Smythe in 1931 and documented in his book, holds over 500 species of alpine flowers in bloom July-August. UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1988/2005.
- Date
- 1988
- Function
- Archaeology & heritage
- Confidence
- Established / referenced
- Location
- 30.420, 79.970
Connections (1)
- Shared sacred geographyKhangchendzonga National Park
Khangchendzonga is inscribed as a mixed property partly for its sacred status, and Nanda Devi is the focus of the Nanda Raj Jat procession and was closed to climbers in 1982. Both peaks are worshipped and neither may be climbed from the Indian side. The two properties together are the clearest instance of Indian natural heritage being simultaneously religious geography.
On these journeys
Sources
List of World Heritage Sites in India — Wikipedia
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