Suppose you pressure north from Nainital, past a bend in the street, the air shifts. The scent of pine fills your lungs, the earth feels damp underfoot, and you pay attention to the silence. You have stepped into Naina Devi Himalayan Bird Conservation Reserve (नैना देवी हिमालयन बर्ड कोन्सरवेशन रिज़र्व). It doesn’t make sense like a park with boundaries. It looks like entering a hidden world wherein birds deliver the voice of the forest.
A Place Born of Quiet
Spread over more than 110 square kilometres, this reserve is a huge stretch of woodland and hills. S A Tucked into the Kumaon Himalaya. Though officially opened to traffic in 2015, the woodland had been blanketed for years before that. Walking alongside the road that connects Kilbury and Pangot, you realise why it is really worth retaining. Tall oak (बाँज), rhododendron (बुरांश), and pine (चीड़) trees stand layered like partitions of an ancient house.
Every now and then, a small hamlet seems. Stone cottages with smoke curling from chimneys. Names like Kilbury, Vinayak, and Barapathar are whispered through locals; however, to a visitor, they sound like locations 1/2-swallowed by the forest. Tiny streams tumble down rocks, giving life to both trees and the winged residents above them.
A Chorus of Wings
The real owners of the reserve are not the humans. There are hundreds of birds that treat these trees as their home. It is said that more than 200 species live here, and on some guided walks, people have counted nearly seventy kinds in a single day. That tells you how alive this forest is.
On one turn, you may see the Himalayan Monal, flashing its impossible colours in the undergrowth. A little further, a Cheer Pheasant scurries out from behind a bush. Small sunbirds flicker between branches, catching light like sparks. Sometimes a Goldcrest crosses the path with a speed that leaves only a blur.
High above, the bigger birds rule. Golden eagles waft lazily on currents. Himalayan griffons circle in the huge sky. And in case you are very fortunate, you might capture the instantly winged flight of a bearded vulture, additionally called the lammergeier. Even in silence, the wings speak.
Footsteps of History
This reserve turned into one of the first bird sanctuaries declared in Uttarakhand. It consists of the call of the goddess Naina Devi, linking the divine with the wild. The concept turned into no longer just to shield birds, but to maintain a balance wherein faith and woodland may live side by side.
Even today, regulations are strict. No honking of horns is permitted on the stretch that passes through. Tourists are asked to live quietly, to avoid startling the birds or disturbing the natural rhythm. Some even say that trying to mimic fowl calls is discouraged here, due to the fact that this is an area in which people are supposed to listen, not interfere.
The Forest Rest House
At Kunjkharak, a forest rest house waits at nearly 2 metres above sea level. It stands plain and unadorned, with mist striking over its roof in the mornings. If you step out right here at dawn, the primary sound you hear is not human. It may be the whistle of a thrush, the surprising squawk of a warbler, or the pointy cry of a pheasant echoing through the valley.
Guides frequently lead traffic to ridges in which the land falls away into folds of inexperienced, cloud-accumulating within the hollows. It is here that the reserve feels endless, like an ocean made not of water but of trees. The air feels thinner, but also fresher.
Fragments That Stay
- Ask anyone who has walked here what they remember, and it is rarely a fact or a number. It is pieces, glimpses that refuse to fade.
- The flash of a Cheer Pheasant as it kicked through fallen leaves.
- The sticky feel of pine resin on fingertips after brushing a branch.
- The sudden shadow of a griffon slides across the ground.
- A village steps glowing with the light of a single lantern, no sound but crickets.
- The sharp, cool air seemed to whisper “चलते रहो” (keep walking).
- These are not souvenirs you can carry in a bag. They are memories that take root quietly.
Life Beyond Birds
Though called a bird reserve, the forest shelters much more. Tigers sometimes move through nearby areas. Barking deer slip across paths and vanish before you blink. Himalayan goral hold their stability on steep ridges. Even martens and leopards have been known to go here, reminders that this is nevertheless a wild space, not a lawn.
The reserve is alive in every experience. The calls of birds are handy in one layer. Behind them are the moves of animals, the rustle of bushes, and the regular movement of clouds and wind.
Why It Matters
In a world in which so much wasteland is shrinking, locations like Naina Devi Bird Conservation Reserve (नैना देवी पक्षी अभयारण्य) carry more weight than they seem to. It is not primarily shielding uncommon species. It is about allowing silence to exist. Allowing humans to step back, to walk slower, to listen more.
You don’t come here for spectacle. You come here for stillness. For the way the forest accepts you without notice, the way a bird call can pull your eyes to the sky, the way the air tastes of pine and distance.
Leaving but Not Leaving
Driving back from the reserve, the noise of the outside world comes slowly. First, a jeep honks in the distance, then the clatter of a market somewhere down the slope. But inside your ears, the forest does not go away. The shrill cry of a thrush or the echo of a pheasant still rings.
Later, even in the city, you find yourself pausing at the call of a crow or a sparrow. Ordinary birds, but their voices remind you of that hidden reserve. That is the gift of Naina Devi Himalayan Bird Conservation Reserve (नैना देवी हिमालयन बर्ड कोन्सरवेशन रिज़र्व). You carry its silence, its calls, and its fragments back with you.
