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The Corbett Tiger reserve has quite a history. It is
India's First National Park and one of the finest, notable for its
individualistic scenic charm and magnificent submontane and riverine
vistas, and also for its richly varied wildlife, still interestingly in
the process of change, and the site of the launching of project Tiger.
Early this century its exceptional potential as a wildlife reserve was
recognized and there were moves to have it officially declared a
sanctuary, liberating it from the exploitation of its tree forests and
human occupation of the riverside land. Finally, in 1936 it was set up as
the first authentic national park of the country under the United
Provinces National Parks Act.
The Corbett Tiger reserve has quite a history. It is India's
First National Park and one of the finest, notable for its individualistic
scenic charm and magnificent submontane and riverine vistas, and also for
its richly varied wildlife, still interestingly in the process of change,
and the site of the launching of project Tiger.
Early this century its exceptional potential as a wildlife reserve was
recognized and there were moves to have it officially declared a
sanctuary, liberating it from the exploitation of its tree forests and
human occupation of the riverside land. Finally, in 1936 it was set up as
the first authentic national park of the country under the United
Provinces National Parks Act.
Originally, it was named the Hailey National Parks Act after
Sir Malcolm Hailey, the Governor of the united provinces, who took such a
keen interest in its development as a preserve. After Independence it was
renamed the Ramganga National Park, and later still the name was again
changed to the Corbett National Park this last change, it should be noted,
was not solely in commemoration of the late Jim Corbett, the famous slayer
of man eaters in the sub Himalayan forests, but also in recognition of his
services in determining the location and limits of the proposed national
park before it was set up he had been consulted over this as an expert.
Jim Corbett- hunter of man-eating Tigers, photographer, conservationist
and author was born in Nainital of English and Irish parentage. A
childhood spent around the Corbett winter home of Kaladhungi brought young
Jim Corbett into close communion with nature, and to an instinctive
understanding of jungle ways. After working on the railways, he joined the
Indian army in 1917 at the age of forty; he rose to the rank of Lieutenant
Colonel, and saw action in Flanders at the head of the 70th Kumaon
Company.
Known locally as "Carpet Sahib", a mispronunciation of his name, Jim Corbett was called upon time and time again to rid the hills of Kumaon of man eating Tigers and Leopards. Normally shy of human contact, such animals become man eaters when infirmity brought upon by old age or wounds renders them unable to hunt their usual prey many of those killed by Jim Corbett were found to have suppurating wounds caused by Porcupine quills embedded deep in their paws; Tigers always seem to fall for the Porcupine's simple defensive trick of walking backwards in line with its lethal quills.
One of Corbett's most memorable exploits was the killing of
the Rudraprayag Leopard, which accounted for 125 human lives between 1918
and 1926, and was bold enough to steal its victims from the midst of human
habitation; he also terminated the careers of the Chowgarh Tigress, the
Talla Des and the Mohan man eaters.
Jim Corbett described his adventures in books such as my India, Jungle
Lore and Man Eaters of Kumaon; Martin Booth's Carpet Sahib is an excellent
biography of a remarkable man. Awarded the order of the British Empire in
recognition of his lifelong work with nature, Jim Corbett was unhappy in
post Independence India, and left to settle in East Africa.
1936,
On April 1, 1973, Project Tiger was inaugurated here. This
ambitious project aims at saving and reviving the alarmingly dwindled
Indian Tiger (Panthera Tigris Tigris) by setting up specially selected
reserves of adequate area in which not only the Tiger but also all other
animals and the wild flora, would be totally conserved, such total
conservation with no selective bias, depending on the ability of nature of
maintain its own balance, being much the best way to rehabilitate any
animal, as part of a whole wildlife complex. In 1973 there were 8 such
reserves under the project, and the Corbett Tiger Reserve was the first of
these.
As
in all other reserves of the project, here too the main part is
constituted into a core area meant exclusively for the wild fauna and
flora, where there is no human disturbance and around this core is the
insulating buffer zone, in which a part is allotted to tourism. Prior to
1973 Dhikala had been developed to provide accommodation and facilities to
see the wildlife, to visitors to the National Park; it is still the main
centre of tourism.
In recent years the Ramganga multi purpose Hydroelectric
Project's Dam at Kalagarh and the reservoir of this dam have had a marked
influence on the Corbett national reserve. When the reservoir is filled to
capacity, one tenth of the reserve is submerged, and while the area of the
reserve so inundated naturally fluctuates with the seasons, the submersion
is still there and has resulted in perceptible changes in the flora and
fauna.
To some extent this is a depletive influence, for it is the low lying
pasture land that has been submerged, but this depletion is more than
offset by the variety of plants and animals that the water spread has
added to the original wildlife of the reserve, particularly in the sudden
influx of vast numbers of water birds and the raptorial birds that follow
in the wake of migratory waterfowl.
The Corbett Tiger Reserve as now set up extends over 521-sq-km, of which 312.86-sq-kms lie in the Pauri Garhwal district and 208.14-sq-kms in Nainital district. The core area is 329.98-sq-kms, the rest being the buffer zone. The Corbet National Park, as it was, was less extensive, being only 323.75-sq-kms in area.
The best time for a visit would naturally depend upon what the visitor is specially interested in -summer would be best if one is keen on observing the larger mammals and winter if one's interest lies mainly in water birds. For most people, January to June would be the best months.