The Bangus valley of North Kashmir is an unexplored region of district Kupwara. It is situated between 340 22′ 2 “N latitude and 740 3 ‘ 27″E longitude at an elevation of 3044 meters above sea level having an area of approximately 300 km2, with sloppy and beautiful topography. Bangus Valley is more than 100 km north of the capital city of Srinagar.
The valley starts from Pakistan and ends up in Kashmir and are divided into two parts–Bada Bangus (Large Bangus) and Chota Bangus (Small Bangus). The valley is surrounded by Shamusberry hills toward west and kazinag glacier towards East, towards North and are lush green coniferous forests. The Bangus valley receives a lot of snowfall from October to march. The soil texture of the region is sandy loam mostly black in color. The Bangus valley provides shelter to more than 20,000 livestock’s including horses, buffaloes, cows and sheep that also graze in the meadow.
The people are both tourists and Tribals. The population is non-permanent and stays in the Bangus Meadow only in the Grazing season. One can reach the Bangus valley through three routes. One route is from the main town Kupwara to Bangus via Chowkibal national highway. The other two routes are through Rajwar and Nowgam. Nowgam route is the main route to this beautiful destination. The Bangus valley has a lot of freshwater bodies and was in a healthy status till 2000 but after the exploration of this beautiful destination we observed a lot of destruction like air pollution by burning the wood for cooking and that sometimes lead to uncontrolled forest fires. Water pollution, solid waste pollution is alarming and are among the major challenges for the future.
The tourists not only pollute the valley but keep the wildlife at stake by habitat destruction and loss. We also observed that a lot of high-altitude medicinal plants are at the verge of extinction due to anthropogenic activities and pressure. The valley is rich in biodiversity including mainly the medicinal plants and wild animals. It is time to save their extinction by embracing eco-tourism, protection and conservation strategies.
Nice piece
Thankyou Doctor!! Need your support and time aswell in future