Corbett Park

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Corbett National Park and Tiger Reserve was set up in 1936 as the first National Park in India . The enormously successful Project Tiger , to protect this beautiful but endangered species , was inaugurated here in 1937 . This 520 Sq. Km. National Park is essentially the valley of Ram Ganga River with a ridge running through it and watered by many subsidiary streams and wetlands . In this protected environment , the hardwood trees of Sal predominate and there are also interesting stretches of the curry leaf which is a popular ingredient in the cuisine of southern India . Mixed dry decidious forests spread in the gravel or bhabar flats with bamboo on the margins of the ravines and streams . An interesting feature are the enormous stretches of grasslands called chaurs . These were , originally , the fields and farms of the forest dwellers who were relocated when the National Park was born . Famed Anglo - Indian hunter , Jim Corbett was responsible for configuration of the park and it has been named in his honour .

Elephants at Corbett Park

Corbett ensured that the Park held a wide range of terrain providing natural habitats for a large and varied amount of wildlife . Thw animals approved . Today they seem so assured of their safety that , even while driving in from the Dhangarhi Gate to the Dhikala Visitors Complex , you are likely to see elephant, spotted deer, sambar, the shy barking deer, jackal, hog deer, wild boar and a number of birds from your vehicle . The sanctuary is also home to the rhesus and langur monkeys, tiger, leopard, jungle cat, leopard cat, fishing cat and crocodiles .

Deer at Corbett Park

Visitors opt to stay in Dhikala becasue it has running water and electricity, except when wild elephants push down the power lines . Here, too, you can improve your chances of spoting animals if you look across the river vally at dawn . Softened by the mist, glowing it the first light of the rising sun, herds of deer and more massive herds of elephants drift across these wetlands . A two hour elephant ride through this valley and into the judges will offer close encounters of the wild kind including a tiger (If one is lucky) . One can see large number of animals during elephant ride instead of on a jeep or car ride.

Corbett park is CLOSED FROM 16th June to 14th November .

For more information, please contact :-

Field Director,

Corbett Tiger Reserve Uttarakhand,

Ramnagar (Nainital) . PIN-244715.

Tel. : 05947-253977 Reception : 251489

Fax : 251489,253977,251376