Corbett National Park
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INTRODUCTION
The Corbett National Park (of the name of a famous hunter and British naturalist Jim corbett*) was in 1936 the first national park in India. It extends today on 1 318 km². In 1973 it was selected to set up "Project Tiger"* aiming to the protection of the tigers*. Located at five hours of Delhi, it is the most famous park in India because of its biological diversity and its geographical site, at the bottom of the Himalayas. It shelters 350 species of mammals, 2 000 species and subspecies of birds, 500 species of Amphibians, of reptiles and fish, 110 species of trees, 51 species of shrubs.
PRESENTATION OF THE PARK
The Corbett National Park is oldest of the national parks of India. It is located close to the town of Nainital, in the state of Uttarakhand. The park is known for its varied wildlife, like like site of launching of the Project Tiger*. The Corbett national park and close the Sonanadi sanctuary form the Reserve of panthera tigris corbetti*.
The reputation of the park was built abroad on the presence of the tigers* even if it becomes increasingly difficult to see some. The best means of discovering the park is there to walk on the back of elephant*. You can rent a jeep at the entry. The accompaniment of a guide is obligatory whatever your means of displacement. You can place inside the park in rest houses with comfort Spartan (not of electricity or very little) but also in luxurious hotels outside the park (very expensive). Will know that the tariffs applied for the foreign visitors are much higher than for the Indians.
The park receives thousands of visitors each year. The tourists can find many facilities of lodging there, as well inside as outside the park.
HYSTORY
The park was created on August 8th, 1936 under the name of Hailey National Park (Sir Malcolm Hailey* was then the British governor of the Plain Provinces). In 1952, five years after the independence of India, it became Ramganga National Park, of the name of the Ramganga river which crosses it on most of its length. In 1957, one still gave him a new name, Corbett National Park, in honor of Jim corbett*, legendary hunter become protective of the wildlife, which was especially made know by its huntings for the tigers* and the leopards man-eaters in the areas of Kumaon and Garhwal in the years 1920, and for the accounts which it made thereafter of his adventures, in a series of works like the man-eaters of Kumaon and the leopards man-eater of Rudraprayag, who became great best-sellers in the whole world.
In the years 1930 the park goes rather well vis-a-vis the elected government, but during the second world war, he suffered from the poaching as well as deforestation.
There in 1991, the government reinforces the reserve while adding to it nearly 800 km² of ground in order to be able to preserve the last indochinese tigers* living in these sectors. This included the forest division of Kalagarh as well as the Sonanadi Wildlife Sanctuary*. In 1974, the park was selected to launch the "Project Tiger"*, a quite ambitious project of conservation of fauna.
The national park of Corbett is one of the 13 reserves protected by World Wildlife Fund*. The program of the park aims at protecting 3 from the 5 species terrestrial headlights such as the indochinese tiger, the Asian elephant* and the Indian rhinoceros*, by restoring the corridors of the forests to connect the 13 protected areas of Nepal and India and thus to allow the migrations of fauna.
FLORA OF THE PARK
A total of 488 species different of plants were listed in the park. The density of the trees in the reserve is higher in the forests of sals.
THE FAUNA OF THE PARK
More than 585 species of birds resident or migrating were listed, 33 species of reptiles, 7 species of Amphibians, 7 fish species and 37 species of dragonflies.
The tiger*, present in the park, does not locate itself easily because of the abundance of camouflage in the reserve. The abundant preys make this reserve an ideal range for this felid* which is an opportunist eater eating about all the animals that it can kill. The tiger* attacks preys more large than him only in period of food shortage. The reserve has enormous pigs, heavy up to 200 pounds, which provide a food sufficient for the tigers*.
One also finds leopards* in the zones of hills, although they venture sometimes in the jungle in lowland. It is also the surface of predilection of the fishing cat* and the Leopard Cat. The other mammals understand 4 types of deer such as Indian Muntjac, the sambar, the Nilgai and the chital. One also finds in the reserve the gharial, the King Cobra, wild boar, the hedgehog, the flying fox and the Indian Pangolin. In summer, the Asian elephant* can be seen in herds of several hundreds of individuals.
CURRENTLY
Nowadays, the park must face the species invading such as the lantana, partjenium and the cassia. The villages surrounding the park are old of almost 20 years and no new village was made up during these last years. The demoraphic increase in growth rate and the density of the population present a real challenge for the management of the reserve. The attacks of tigers* and leopards* on the cattle led to acts of reprisals by the local populations. The Indian government ended up approving the construction of a stone wall on 12 km on the southern limit of the park where it is in direct contact with the agricultural domains.
In April 2008, the National Tiger Conservation Authority (ATNC)* expressed a sharp concern on the protective system which weakened, as on the fact that the poachers again succeed in infiltrating in the park. It also proves that the monthly return of the pieces of evidence on the ground relating to the tigers was not received since 2006.
NTCA says that in “the absence of protocol of monitoring continues in a standardized way, it would be impossible to envisage and keep trace of the undesirable events in the zones targeted by the poachers. A cement road was built in the park because of an ordinance of the Supreme court. The road became a crossing point between Kalagarh and Ramnagar. The continuous increase of the traffic of vehicles on this road strongly affects fauna as well as the flora of the park.
EXTERNAL LINKS
http://www.corbett-national-park.com
http://pagesperso-orange.fr/bharat
