This is the project in which Naresh Swami is currently working on. The project is to re-document all the orchid species described by Sir. George King and Robert Pantling, in their monumental work, "The Orchids of the Sikkim-Himalayas", published in the year 1898. The re-documentation work of Naresh Swami is of a unique nature and the first of its kind in history. For the monumental work, "The Orchids of the Sikkim-Himalayas", published in the year 1898, the authors fanned out trained Lepcha (an indigenous community of the region) collectors all over the area to collect and bring down orchids for studying and illustrating. What Naresh Swami is doing is totally different; finding, studying and documenting each orchid species of the region from its own natural habitats. In this regard according to the datas available with Naresh Swami, he had till now, travelled more than 27,000 km on foot and several more thousands of kilometers on other means.
When the monumental publication got 449 species described and illustrated from the region, Naresh Swami's current work already crossed 530 species from the region. This is an all time record for the number of species found and studied by a single person from the region.
For the documentation process, Naresh Swami is using the latest digital photography techniques like latest digital cameras and micro lenses. He has also developed micro multiple flash lightnings to enhance the quality and detail capturing, which will help further research on orchids. From the photographs on the page accompanying, you will understand the depth of his unique research.
Naresh Swami's work on orchids covered the whole of Sikkim-Himalayan region, from the hot tropical valleys of Teeta river in the plains to the high snow-capped mountains of North Sikkim, which includes the smallest and the largest, the tallest, the highest growing, the most elusive orchids etc. Interestingly, Naresh Swami's adventurous work has produced more documentary evidences and informations than all other combined works on orchids of the region.