Pakke Paga Hornbill Festival

The 9th edition of the Pakke Paga Hornbill Festival (PPHF), a state festival of Arunachal Pradesh, will take place at Seijosa in the Pakke Kessang district from January 18-20, 2024.

Pakke Paga Hornbill Festival

• The first-ever PPHF was held in 2015.
• The aim was to recognise the role played by the Nyishi tribal group in conserving hornbills in Pakke Tiger Reserve (PTR).
• Other objectives were to raise alternative sources of income for the region and to create awareness in the rest of India about the wonders of PTR and its surrounding areas.
• This year, the festival’s theme is Domutoh Domutoh, Paga hum Domutoh. It translates to ‘Let Our Hornbills Remain’ in the Nyishi language.
• This year’s festival aims to underscore the critical need for preserving these iconic birds.

Pakke Tiger Reserve

• It is located in the East Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh.
• It is surrounded by the Tenga Reserve Forest to the North, Doimara Reserve Forest on the West, Nameri National Park and Tiger Reserve (Assam) on the South.
• The landscape has high species diversity and endemicity as it forms the transition zone between the Indian and Malayan eco-regions.
• It is situated North of the river Brahmaputra in the transition zone between the Assam plains and the hilly forests of Arunachal Pradesh.
• Vegetation: It consists of tropical evergreen and semi-evergreen forest.
• Flora: Polyalthia simiarum, Pterospermum acerifolium, Sterculia alata, Stereospermum chelonioides, Ailanthus grandis and Duabanga grandiflor. About eight species of bamboo occur in the area.
• Fauna: Tiger, Elephant, predators like Leopard and Clouded leopard etc.

Nyishi tribal people?

They are people of eastern Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh, a mountainous state in northeastern India. They speak the Tibeto-Burman language of the Sino-Tibetan family. The Nyishi support themselves with slash-and-burn agriculture and with hunting and fishing.