Primate hotspot

This blink-and-you-miss-it sanctuary might be one of the smallest in the country — a minuscule 21 sq. km — but it’s also one of the most unique. This evergreen forest near Jorhat is home to India’s only ape: the western hoolock gibbon (Hoolock hoolock). A highly endangered primate — numbers are said to have dropped from 1,00,000 to less than 5,000 in the last forty years — this beautiful animal can only be found here. But Hoollongapar has other marvellous mammals as well.

The stump-tailed macaque, the pig-tailed macaque and the slow loris all make their home here, making it something of a primate hotspot. The forest also houses the Malayan giant squirrel as well as clouded leopards, leopard cats, pythons, king cobras and over two hundred bird species. Quite simply, it’s a bio-diversity paradise. But it’s a threatened one, with large tea estates and human habitation encroaching upon this tiny sanctuary.

Location The sanctuary is 22km from Jorhat and all travel within the sanctuary has to be done with permission from the office of the Divisional Forest Officer, Jorhat Division (0376-232008).

Where to stay At the comfortable Prashaanti Tourist Lodge in Jorhat (Rs 935 AC doubles; 0376-2321579).