The Singchung Bugun Village Community Reserve in Arunachal Pradesh is the result of hard work of astronomer and avid birdwatcher Ramana Athreya and the Bugun tribe of the State.
The community reserve is now a perfect spot for bird watching and other beautiful varieties of flora and fauna.
The idea of the community reserve all started when Athreya had decided to visit the Eaglenest Widlife Sanctuary in 1995.
The astronomer, who was pursuing PhD at that time, was awestruck by finding a bird he hadn’t known about or seen before.
Moreover, the natural beauty of the place left him spellbound and he could see the potentiality of tourism there.
He decided to launch a community tourism project on the forest land which was mostly owned by the Bugun tribes.
However, when the idea of the potentiality of tourism in the land was explained to the Buguns, they were skeptical about it as they thought that they would have to lose their lands if they give it up for the creation of the community reserve.
Later, various officials of the Forest department and researchers helped convince the Buguns, collected wildlife data, mapped the area and drew up a plan to manage the reserve.
After a series of discussions, the villagers decided to make 17 square km of their land into a community reserve. “It is important for us to protect our water sources and forests.
The bird which had been sighted by Athreya had been named as Bugun liochila and today the Buguns are proud of this bird which had become a boon for their lives.
Many kinds of adventure activities and sightseeing activities are now carried out by the Bugun tribe and the place attracts a large number of tourists every year.