It’s a Warfare of Dutch and Native Himalayan Tulips in Uttarakhand’s Kumaon Hills

Turning the wasteland in the upper swathes of the Munsiyari region of Uttarakhand into an alluring spectacle of colorful flowers, foresters in Himalayan town have triumphantly developed one of the world’s largest Tulip Gardens after Kashmir.

Around 30-hectare bit of land in the ecologically rich Munsiyari region of Kumaon hills in Pithoragarh district was destitute of any vegetation owing to the overgrazing and erosion.

Determined to revive the piece of land which was turning into a repository of animal cadavers, Scientists and Foresters undertook a pilot project to develop an area of 1,200 square meters into a Tulip garden. In pursuit of making it a successful project, around 7,000 tulip bulbs were brought from Holland and all of them budded forth.

According to the Munsiyari Eco-Development Committee, the forest department had spent Rs 4.5 crore to restore the land with the objective of exercising the same kind of project a few years back but it flunked as the land was infested with weeds and harsh climate conditions didn’t allow the tree saplings to survive.

This time the land was cleared, the soil enriched and 36 species of native bulbous flowers were introduced along with some Holland Tulips. These were winter flowers, being planted for summer. It was a long shot but it worked blazingly well as flowers broke the dormancy and the wasteland is now a riot of colours.

In order to promote tourism, another park is being developed as a part of “Munsyari Nature Education and Eco Park Centre” in the vicinity of the tulip garden though it is different from the tulip garden developed in Pithoragarh. There are tents, apart from huts, in the park where people can stay and feast on the sheer majesty of nature.