About Corbett Tiger Reserve

About Corbett Tiger Reserve

Jim Corbett National Park

Jim Corbett National Park is one of the most celebrated wildlife reserve in India. This park is spread in Nanital, Pauri and Almora district. Corbett National Park is an amazing blend of high hills, swamp, River side belts and green meadows covering an area of 522 kilometres at the foot hills of the great himalayas and this makes the park a heaven for wildlife adventures lovers. This park is famous for variety of rare flora, wild animals, reptiles and birds species. A pathway adorn with mango orchards leads one into a complete different world housing a record number of 488 different species of plants and 580 birds type. Moreover a plethora of 25 reptile species and 50 species of mammals are reasons enough to go personal with this wonderland. Visitors are allowed May to June to visit Corbett National Park.
Today after addition of areas into the originally declared National Park, the total area of Tiger Reserve extends 1288.31 sq. kms spreading over three districts of Uttarakhand viz., Pauri, Nainital and Almora. Corbett National Park covers an area of 521 sq. km and together with the neighbouring Sonanadi Wildlife Sanctuary and Reserve Forest areas, forms the Corbett Tiger Reserve. Geographically it is located between the Shiwalik Himalayas and the terai. The streams, rivers and ridges criss-crossing the terrain, present Corbett with a remarkable variety of landscapes. This vivid mosaic of habitats wet and dry, plain and mountainous, gentle and rugged, forests and grasslands supports numerous plant and animal species, representing Himalayan as well as plains ecosystem.
The park was then named as the ‘Hailey National Park’ and was later renamed as ‘Corbett National Park’ after James Edward Corbett the noted hunter turned conservationist of the area. The area came under ‘Project Tiger’ in 1971 when Gov. of India launched this ambitious conservation project. Jim Corbett National Park, which is a part of the larger Corbett Tiger Reserve, a Project Tiger Reserve lies in the Nainital district of Uttarakhand. The magical landscape of Corbett is well known and fabled for its tiger richness. Established in the year 1936 as Hailey National Park, Corbett has the glory of being India’s oldest and most prestigious National Park. It is also being honoured as the place where Project Tiger was first launched in 1973. This unique tiger territory is best known as the father who gave birth of the Project Tiger in India to protect the most endangered species and the Royal of India called Tigers.

The Tourist Zones:

In order to promote tourism in the region Corbett National Park has been divided into five different zones. These are the marked buffer or core area of the park where visitors can be part of wildlife safari and can enjoy the intriguing behavior of the animals with bare eyes at proximity.

Bijrani Safari Zone :

Bijrani Zone is very popular tourist’s hub because of its abundant natural beauty and open grasslands. The entry gate of the zone is located at only 01 Km from Ramnagar city.

Jhirna Safari Zone :

Jhirna is another important tourist zone in the Jim Corbett National park that is open for tourist round the year. Jhirna Gate is located at 16 km from Ramnagar city.

Dhela Safari Zone :

Dhela is a new eco tourism zone in Corbett National Park included in tiger reserve zone in November 2014. This is the only area in the reserve’s buffer zone open to tourists in CTR. The zone is retaining the attention of large number of tourist because of its wealthy flora and fauna, open throughout the year, located at an approximate distance of 13 Km from Ramnagar City.

Dhikala Zone :

Being the largest and most varied zone in Corbett, Dhikala is famous for its abundant natural beauty as well as offering the best sight for exotic fauna. The entry gate is 18 km away from Ramnagar city. Night stay inside the Dhikala Tourism Zone is highly recommended for the hard core wildlife enthusiasts.

Durga Devi Zone :

Corbett Landscape (Sitabani) Zone :

Corbett Landscape (Sitabani) Zone doesn’t fall under the Corbett Tiger Reserve area. If you are fond of serene ambiance of the natural beauty, must visit Sitabani area.

How to Reach

Ramnagar is perhaps the best approach to the Corbett National Park which forms the headquarters of CTR. This small city is well connected by road and rail network with major cities of India like Delhi, Moradabad, Nainital and Bareilly. Once you reach Ramnagar, then it takes only half an hour to reach Corbett National Park. The park is around 15 Kms from Ramnagar railway station.

By Road:

Ramnagar has a very good network of road that connects the different cities. The Corbett National Park is situated at an approximate surface distance of 260 Kilometer from India’s national capital Delhi. The state government of Uttarakhand plies buses at a short interval of time from Delhi, Moradabad, Haldawani, and Nainital that reaches Corbett directly.

By Train

The railway station in Ramnagar receives trains from different major cities of India like Delhi, Moradabad and Bareilly. A direct train to Ramnagar runs from Delhi. You can check out for Ranikhet Express, Corbett Link Express and Kathgodam Express that takes you directly to Ramnagar.

By Air

Jim Corbett National Park doesn't have an airport. If one wants to go by air, Phoolbagh in Pantnagar is the nearest airport. It is located 78 km away from Jim Corbett. Pantnagar airport is well connected with major cities in India, so one can easily reach there. Delhi which is 300 km away is the nearest international airport for the people travelling from abroad. Flights from Lucknow and New Delhi travel to Pantnagar twice a week, so one can arrange accordingly. One can easily find taxi from Pantnagar to Jim Corbett.

Flora & Fauna

Flora

The different habitat types of Corbett i.e. mountains, sal forests, chaurs, khair-sissoo forests, and rivers have their distinct assemblage of plants. More than 600 species of trees, shrubs, herbs, bamboos, grasses, climbers and ferns have been identified in the Park.

Trees

The most visible trees found in Corbett are sal, khair and sissoo (see Habitats and Ecosystems). Many other species that contribute to the diversity, are found scattered throughout the park.

Chir pine (Pinus roxburghi)

is the only conifer of the Park and is found on ridge-tops like Chir Choti but comes quite low in Gajar Sot. The upper reaches near Kanda have Banj Oak (Quercus leucotrichophora) growing which is essentially a Himalayan species.

Palms

include Khajur or Date-palm (Phoenix sp.) that occurs in open areas. Wallachia densiflora is a rare palm characteristic of Eastern Himalayas but is found in Corbett near Sultan.

Flowering trees

lend colour to the forests in Corbett. The main ones are Kachnaar (Bauhinia variegata) with pink to white flowers, Semal (Bombax ceiba) with big red blooms, Dhak or Flame-of-the-forest (Butea monosperma) with bright orange flowers, Madaar or Indian Coral (Erythrinia indica) with scarlet red flowers and Amaltas (Cassia fistula) with bright yellow chandelier like blooms.

Grasses

They include Kansi (Saccharum sp.), Themeda arundinacea, Baib or Bhabar (Eulaliopsis binata), Narkul (Arundo donax), Tiger Grass (Thysanolaena maxima), Khus Khus (Vetiveria zizanioides), Cymbopogon flexuosus (a tufted grass with pleasant aromatic leaves), Aristida cyanantha (found amidst boulders), Neyraudia arundinacea (with light brown inflorescence) and Heteropagon contortus (Spear Grass with conspicuous sharp blades that adhere to clothes and penetrates skin).

Fauna

Tiger

Corbett has one of the highest densities of tigeINR The tiger (Panthera tigris) is perhaps the most celebrated of the wild animals of India. It is symbolises the power of Nature and finds an important place in our culture, mythology and legends. It has been worshiped as the guardian and ruler of the forest.
Tigers are believed to have evolved in East Asia (China) about 2 million years ago. They then dispersed to other parts of Asia. There existed eight subspecies of tiger, out of which three have gone extinct. Today this perfect carnivore is a critically endangered species, though once it roamed freely in most of Asia. India is home to the largest population of wild tigers in the world. There are estimated to be only 5000 to 7500 tigers surviving in the world. Out of these, the subspecies found in the Indian subcontinent, the Bengal tiger has 3000 to 4500 surviving members, more than three-fourths of which are in India.

The Asian Elephant

The elephant, largest of the land mammals, has been an integral part of the history, mythology, tradition, culture and religion of India. There are three surviving species of elephants in the world, one in Asia and two in Africa. The Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) is distributed in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. Unlike the African species, Asian elephants have been domesticated for thousands of years and have been used in medieval warfare, for temples, and as a working animal.

Other mammals

The Leopard (Panthera pardus) is the other large cat found in Corbett. Compared to the tiger leopards are smaller, more graceful and have a long agile body that has rosettes instead of stripes. It also has the ability to limb trees. Leopards are quite versatile, adaptable to a variety of terrains as well as to a broad range of prey that includes everything from insects and rodents up to large ungulates. Leopards mostly hunt during twilight hours and at night. They also ambush their prey by jumping down from trees.