Habitat of the rare western hoolock gibbon, the famed hornbill and the ‘not-seen-in-years’ clouded leopard, Intanki is now home to 14 encroaching groups. In the free passage of Intanki they indulge in poaching of rare fauna including migratory birds, clearing forests for cultivation and commercial timber felling.

Photographs and Captions by: Sayantan Bera

According to Liangsi Niumai, an environment activist, ‘the encroachers have a lot of political clout and most are rich government officials with teak plantations around the park area. They employ the poor and landless as mere caretakers of the encroached land.’

Photographs and Captions by: Sayantan Bera

60-year-old Khamcha Sumi came to Intanki with his fellow tribesmen way back in 1994, from Dimapur. The proximity of Intanki to the commercial town of Dimapur and the greed for more cultivable land in a state with agriculture as its mainstay has played a role behind the series of encroachments.

Photographs and Captions by: Sayantan Bera

Children carry water to their homes inside the Intanki national park.

Photographs and Captions by: Sayantan Bera

Little Gigi and his brother would visit the zoo in Dimapur soon to see the rare gibbons and the clouded leopard. That zoo was once the Rangapahar Reserve forest, over 90 percent of which was lost to encroachment. A fate which now seems imminent for the Intanki National Park.

Photographs and Captions by: Sayantan Bera