A recent Project Tiger report rated the parks colored yellow above as managed well with good tiger density. But a much more thorough 2008 report estimated the tiger population at each of the reserves. Status of Tigers, Co-Predators and Prey in India each park's estimated population and range, so I calculated the density in each.
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Corbett National Park - Uttarakhand (North, Near Nepal)
Corbett is India's oldest national park and where Project Tiger started in 1973. Bengal tigers here live in the Himalayan foothills. The park has roughly 150 tigers and the highest density of all India's 37 tiger preserves.
Tours sometimes include an elephant safari on stay at the lodge.
Bonus Species: Leopard, barking deer, elephant, various cats.
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Dudhwa National Park - - Uttar Pradesh (North, Near Nepal)
Dudhwa, way up on the border of Nepal, is not on the regular tourist circuit, even though it has a huge number of tigers and is one of the few places outside the northeast of India to see the vulnerable one-horned rhino. Only about 2,500 survive and 21 were counted here in 2007, the IUCN red list says.
A 2008 federal Indian report found that the park, which is near Nepal, has nearly 100 tigers and one of the highest concentrations in India.
Bonus species: hatal hare, elephant, tiger, ratel (honey badger), bee eater, stork, deer, barasinghas. |
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Ranthambore National Park - Rajastan (north)
Ranthambore National Park used to be where the Maharaja of Jaipur would hunt tigers. Now it's a national park and one of India's 37 tiger reserves. It has 32 tigers on 344 sq. km. The tigers here are know for being a bit showy and comfortable with visitors. The park gets crowded.
Bonus species: leopard, sambal, wild pig, gaur
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Kazaringa National Park, Assam (northeast)
Kazaringa National Park in Assam, India, has the world's largest populations of one-horned rhinos and a UNESCO World Heritage site. The park has been hit by poachers going after rhino horn to send to China, but it also sends rhinos to other parks in India. Kazaringa, recently featured in National Geographic, is off the tourist track because it's in the remote eastern province of Assam. You ride on elephant on safari to see wild elephants, tigers,barasinghs (swamp deer), sambas, panther, civet, baur, wild buffalo, sloth bear. |
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Pench National Park, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra (Central)
Central India's Pench National Park has about 50 tigers and borders the states of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. It's near Nagpur and Kanha National Park. (The larger Madhya Pradesh side had more.) Preservation here started in the mid-1800s and it became a national park in 1982.
Bonus species: dhole, jackal, leopard, sloth bear, wild pig, barking deer, chital, Gaur / Indian Bison |
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Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve, Madhya Pradesh (Central)
Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve has about 50 tigers on 1600 square km. It's rated as well managed with a good tiger density by federal authorities. The national park is home many lodges and the White Tiger of Rewa (which is stuffed). It also has leopard, dhole (wild dog), chital (deer) and caracal (cat) and buffalo.
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Gir National Park, Gujarat (West, on the Arabian Sea)
Gir National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary is the last holdout of the Asiatic lion because they've been protected here since 1947.
ResponsibleTravel has tours that visit. You will need a special permit to visit the park, except for the 4 km fenced Gir Interpretation Area, which has lions.
Bonus species: leopards, antelope, deer, jackals, hyenas, and marsh crocodiles |
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Kanha National Park, Madhya Pradesh (Central)
Kanha National Park is one of the 12 of India's 37 tiger reserves considered to have a decent number of tigers. By a 2008 census, it had 89, the most of any in Madhya Pradesh. But it's a huge park, so they're not that dense. The park also has wild dog, leopard and was where Jungle Book was set. |
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Nagarhole National Park, Karnataka, (south)
Nagarhole National Park in Karnataka, (southern) India has nearly 250 tigers and is rated as well-managed by the federal government (only about one-third of the tiger reserves are). Near Mysore, the park is also called Rajiv Gandhi National Park. |
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Bandipur National Park, Karnataka, (south)
Bandipur National Park is supposed to have one of the highest concentrations of tigers in India.
The area also has elephants, leopards, the freaky-looking mouse deer and is one of the very few places to have dholes, Indian wild dogs. A local lodge Dhole's Den dedicates itself to watching wild dogs and Indian breeds. |
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Panna National Park, Madhya Pradesh (Central)
Panna National Park, once famous for its tigers, became infamous in 2009 because all the tigers were gone, killed by poachers. A quick effort was made to move in some breeding cats.
India has 1,400 tigers, 300 of which live in Madhya Pradesh, known as the "tiger state of India."
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Kumbalgarh Widllife Sanctuary (North)
Only a few thousand Indian wolves (Canis lupus pallipes) are left. Kumbalgarh Wildlife Sanctuarymay be one of the best places to see them. Udaipur tourist officials claim they're easy to spot: "This sanctuary inhabits more than forty wolves in number. In the summers, one can easily find pack of wolves strolling around water sources in the sanctuary."
Wolf.org has an incredible paper describing the difference among three sub-species and map of where they live. (The main group is mainly in western India and Pakistan. A Himalayan subspecies is up by Nepal and Tibet. A wolf-dog version is in and around Kasmir.) |
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Keoladeo Bird Sanctuary, near Agra
Keoladeo Bird Sanctuary, near Agra and the Taj Mahal, is India's most famous birding spot. Since it's in the Golden Triangle, it's popular with tourists. 370 bird species and four crane species visit here, many on winter migrations. It gets songbirds, parakeets and everything else--though a big drought cut down the visitors to the UNESCO World Heritage Site. |
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Chikla Lake
Chilka Lake is a huge migratory bird stop and one of the few places the critically endangered Irrawaddy Dolphin (Orcaella brevirostris) lives. The local tourist board says the dolphin boat tours support about 500 families and are 95% successful. The lake includes the Nalbana Bird Sanctuary, where greater flamingos, sea eagles, storks, pelicans and waterfowl visit. |
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Neelankarai Beach- India-Oliver Ridley Sea Turtle
One of the few places in the world you can see Oliver Ridley Sea Turtles is this stretch of beach around Neelankarai beach. The Tree Foundationworks with local students, who patrol the beaches to protect the turtles and eggs.
Tree Foundation No. 63, Ist Avenue, Vettuvankeni, Chennai – 600 041, India.
Tel: +91-44-24492242 |
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Giant Squirrel Sanctuary
The Giant Srivilliputhur Squirrel Sanctuary has most of the last population of 300 black and white Grizzled Giant Squirrels(Ratufa macroura). So, it's also known as the Grizzled Giant Squirrel Sanctuary. See pictures of the big (3 kg ) squirrel atARKive. |
