It is located about 30kms from Bhalukpong (A town at Arunachal Pradesh-Assam boundary) on the Chariduar-Tawang highway. Nearest airport is Hollongi Airport, Itanagar which is around 185kms from the sanctuary and nearest railway station is at Bhalukpong. Private and public bus transport facility is also available from Guwahati, Tezpur, and Bhalukpong. The sanctuary stretches over an area of 100 square kilometer at an altitude ranging from 1100–1800m MSL.
In India there are about 12000 species of Orchids known to occur, out of which as many as 610 species and found in Arunachal Pradesh alone. Realizing the potential of orchids in floriculture and endangered status of number of ornamental species an Orchid Sanctuary was established in the year 1979 to study/conserve and propagate large number of Orchids in their natural habitat. The area explored till date is shown in the map. These explorations have yielded 183 species in 55 genera. Of these, 144 are epiphytes and 39 terrestrials including 6 saprophytic. It is estimated that the sanctuary harbors more than 236 species of orchids of sub-tropical types comprising the genera like Dendrobium, Bulbophyllum, Coelogyne, Eria, Phaius, Liparis etc. The sanctuary is unique in the country in having six new species of orchids and seven species of saprophytic orchids. The nursery comprises representatives’ specimen of various orchid species of the sanctuary and a demonstration farm of Cymbidium hybrids for cut-flower production.
The Sessa Orchid Sanctuary is supported with Orchids Research and Development Centre, Tipi located at about 25kms from the Sanctuary near Bhalukpong. It has state of the art facilities for research on orchids of the Arunachal Pradesh which includes Species House, Natural Orchidaria, Orchid Herbarium, Tissue Culture Laboratory, Orchid Museum, Hardening Unit.
eMail ID: dfobhalukpong[at]gmail[dot]com
