The Kyongnosla Alpine Sanctuary is a National Park of India, located in East Sikkim

East Sikkim

East Sikkim is one of the four administrative districts of the Indian state of Sikkim. Geographically, East Sikkim occupies the south-east corner of the state. The capital of East Sikkim is Gangtok, which is also the state capital...

. It is situated around the area adjoining the Tsomgo (Changu) lake along the Nathula Road. Located about 31 km (19.3 mi) east of Gangtok

Gangtok

Gangtok is the capital and largest town of the Indian state of Sikkim. Gangtok is located in the Shivalik Hills of the eastern Himalayan range, at an altitude of . The town, with a population of thirty thousand belonging to different ethnicities such as Nepalis, Lepchas and Bhutia, is administered...

, the capital of Sikkim, this sanctuary covers an area of about 31 square kilometre, and extends from ‘15 Mile’ Police check post up to and along the ridges bordering RongChu and Tsomgo Lake.

This Sanctuary is rich in both flora and fauna. Rare, endangered ground orchids and rhododendron

Rhododendron

Rhododendron is a genus of over 1 000 species of woody plants in the heath family, most with showy flowers...

s interspersed among tall juniper

Juniper

Junipers are coniferous plants in the genus Juniperus of the cypress family Cupressaceae. Depending on taxonomic viewpoint, there are between 50-67 species of juniper, widely distributed throughout the northern hemisphere, from the Arctic, south to tropical Africa in the Old World, and to the...

s and taller silver fir

Silver Fir

Abies alba, commonly known as the European silver fir, is a fir native to the mountains of Europe, from the Pyrenees north to Normandy, east to the Alps and the Carpathians, and south to southern Italy and northern Serbia.-Description:...

s are among the important plants present. Rhododendron Nevium (the State Tree of Sikkim) and Cypripedium tibeticum

Cypripedium tibeticum

Cypripedium tibeticum is a species of orchid....

(the ground slipper orchid) which is on the verge of extinction, have also been introduced here.