Corbett National Park

Geography

Corbett national Park located in the state of Uttaranchal is named after Jim Corbett, the renowned wildlife author, photographer and conservationist who was the main force behind setting up the park. In fact Corbett National Park was the first such sanctuary where 'Project Tiger' was launched in 1973.
Spread over an area of 1200 square km, the park lies amid dense Sal forests and hilly ravines. Approximately 110 species of trees can be found here. Corbett National Park is most famous for its Tigers, but it also has a wide variety of other wildlife including Leopards, Jungle Cats, Sloth Bears, Himalayan Black Bear, Jackals, Deer, Himalayan Palm Civet, Black napped Hare, Elephants, Langurs and Wild Boar. Along the banks of the Ramganga river lives the Gharial and the Mugger Crocodile.

History

Prior to the years 1815-20 of the British Rule, the forests of the Jim Corbett National Park were the private property of the local rulers. Though the ownership had passed into the British hands, the government paid little or no attention to the upkeep of the park. The sole aim was to exploit the natural resources and extract as much profit as possible from the jungle.

Flora & Fauna

The flora in Corbett National Park includes many different varieties of grasses, shrubs, herbs, woody climbers, epiphytes and orchids, bamboo, non-flowering plants and wetland vegetation. The varieties of plants provide the herbivores in the park with nutrition and the carnivorous forms of indian wildlife, such as tigers in the park, with the source of their prey base.
There are also several non-native plant species that have been brought here by the park management, to beautify the areas around the forest rest houses. Some exotic weeds can also be seen among the flora in Corbett National Park.

Main Fauna (Corbett National Park):
Mammals: Tiger leopard, elephant, chital, sambar, hog deer, barking deer, wild boar, langur, Wild pig, rhesus monkey, sambar and jackal.
Birds: Peacock, Jungle Fowl, partridge, Kaleej Pheasant, crow, vulture, parakeet, Laughing Thrush, oriole, kingfisher, drongo, dove, woodpecker, duck, teal, stork, cormorant and seagull.
Reptile: Indian marsh crocodile, gharial, King cobra, common krait, cobra, Russels viper, python and monitor lizard.
Fish: Mahaseer, kalimuchi, kalabasu, chilwa and goonch.

Corbett National Park Climate

Temperature in winter's can go down to 4 degrees centigrade at night and the entire jungle is extremely dry in the summer months as the temperatures reach as high as 44 degrees centigrade. Rainfall: 1400mm-2800mm.

How To Reach Corbett National Park

Flight : Phoolbagh, Pantnagar at a distance of 50 km is the nearest airport. Delhi at a distance of 300 km is the nearest international airport.

Train : Ramnagar is on the broad gauge track from where the road transport options have to be availed to reach the park.

Road : Dhikala is 300 km from Delhi, 145 km from Lucknow and 51 km from Ramnagar. The route from Delhi spans Hapur-Murababad-Ramnagar. The turn off is some 7 km beyond Muradabad to the left, marked by a small board. The route from Lucknow spans Bareilly. Kichha. Rudrapur. Doraha. Kashipur.