Red Pandas!

Come with me to the Himalayan fastness of Singalila National Park, high along the border of India and Nepal, and home to the superlative Red Panda.

Red Panda, Singalila National Park (All photos by Narca)

Recently I joined an India tour run by Naturalist Journeys and Vana Safaris. A major focus of the trip was to seek out special mammals––Red Pandas, Greater One-Horned Rhinos and Tigers––and, of course, any of the region's amazing birds that came within binocular range.

Let's start at 10,000 feet, in the Nepali village of Tumling. Avijit Sarkhel of Vana Safaris had found lodging for us in a simple homestay in Tumling, run by extremely welcoming hosts. 

Homestay in Tumling, Nepal

Some expeditions require effort above and beyond the norm. Avi brought his own team of 11 people to help with group logistics. Think 10,000 feet in the Himalayas in January: yep, it was cold. To help the situation, Avijit brought propane heaters for each of our rooms, extra blankets, and hot water bottles for the beds at night. Hot water in a bucket was available each evening for face-washing, so it would theoretically have been possible to take a sponge bath, but no one did! It was much too cold, and we forewent our customary showers (anticipating our return to the showers of the Holiday Inn in Kolkata). On a couple of mornings, we woke to ice on the inside of our windows and frozen water pipes. Birders––and panda watchers––are tough!

Patio and dining room of the homestay

As breakfast was readied, we would gather on the patio of the homestay, overlooking the garden and the hills beyond. Our hostess has taken on the project of reforesting the nearby hillside with native rhododendrons, visible in the distance in the photo above. The new trees appear to be thriving.

Blue-throated Redstart

Blue-throated Redstarts certainly approved of the garden habitat; they foraged here throughout the day, joined occasionally by Yellow-billed Blue Magpies, Black-faced Laughingthrushes, Rufous-breasted Accentors, and Dark-breasted Rosefinches. One big flock of Plain Mountain Finches swirled around the hillsides, in a manner very reminiscent of North American rosy-finches.

Kachenjunga, India's highest mountain

From the main road through Tumling, we could see Kachenjunga––a fabled mountain, and India's highest at 28,169 feet. Kachenjunga! I grew up absorbing my mother's love of high mountains and hearing tales of her friend Donna's frequent treks in the Himalayas. Kachenjunga was a household name, and here it was!

 Main road winding through Tumling, at the border of Nepal and India

Prayer flags festoon the ridge above Tumling

 An adult Himalayan Griffon, soaring over Tumling

 Our first two mornings were dedicated to Red Pandas. We lingered, birding, on the main road at the village, while we waited for word to reach Avijit from the Red Panda scouts. Once they located a panda, we hopped in jeeps and traversed the rocky road to the Red Panda reserve.

Now, the road we traversed was not the one normally traveled. Recent snow had closed the good road, so we came and went on an exceedingly rocky, snow-free road, which required an hour to go 6 kilometers. But the journey was well worth the jarring!

Forest in Singalila National Park

Once we arrived, Avi's team helped us up and down the steep hillside to the mossy tree favored that day by a Red Panda. The pandas were quite aware of us, but were inclined to stay in their lofty perches, yawning, stretching and staring at us. Because the terrain was so steep, we could look directly across to each panda. What fine encounters with a remarkable creature!

Red Pandas in Singalila National Park

The main conservation group working to conserve endangered Red Pandas and their habitat is the Red Panda Network in Nepal. They sponsor trained forest guardians to monitor and protect the pandas and their habitat, thus employing local people in remote villages. Deforestation is the primary threat.

Red Pandas are not closely related to Giant Pandas, and, indeed, are in their own family of mammals, the Ailuridae. Red Pandas are part of a superfamily that includes raccoons and skunks; Giant Pandas sprang from the bear lineage. 

Even though bamboo is a primary part of their diet, Red Pandas also eat eggs, insects, birds and fruits. Their diet is less restricted than that of a Giant Panda's. 

Flocks of mountain birds enlivened the Red Panda's environs, many of them foraging on fruit.

A Stripe-throated Yuhina feeding on fruit

Male White-collared Thrush, a relative of our American Robin, 

also feeding on fruit