Jim Corbett Nationl Park - Home Sweet home for the wild !

“OM Sree Gurubhyo Namaha”.

At the outset, I start with pranams to Jagadguru Sankaracharya His Holiness Sri Sri Sri Bharathi Theertha Mahaswamigal, the ruling and 36th Pontiff and His successor designate Jagadguru Sankaracharya His Holiness Sri Sri Sri Vidhu Shekhara Bharathi swamigal the 37th Pontiff of Sri Sringeri Saradha Peetham for everyone’s welfare &     continued prosperity. 

The river that flows in you, flows in me as well - Kabir

River view - Ramganga ( Kosi River)

Moving on with from the snow-clad peaks of Himalayas which was a picture perfect setting of our break-fast family rendezvous, we moved on to Corbett National park to enjoy the beauty of wild-animals in their natural habitat. We had a unbelievable welcome, where-in we had hi-tea on the river side. Our stay was in River-view retreat and post check-in we were asked to join-in for hi-tea on the banks of river Kosi ( Ramganga). The resort is situated on the banks of Kosi and an exit leads you to the river directly

Cooling off near the river side

Light Music party in hotel

The sparking and crystal clear water of Kosi river attracted us and we spent lazing around the river banks and indulging in idle conversations. Video shows and light music were organized and a singer sang priceless Hindi songs of yesteryear's and brought us back to our child-hood days.

Massive Bee-Hives in a tree

A Scavenging Jackal

A Sambha Deer eating Mud - for Minerals

Jim Corbett park is situated around in  park area of 500 +Sq km’s and adjoining the another park Sonanvadi wild-life sanctuary. An buffer area is also ear-marked and in total the animals have around 1300 Sq km to freely tress-pass. On the high-way we can see multiple sign-boards “ Animals ( elephants and Deers) have the right of way” . The message was loud and clear, “we were in their home”.

Monitor Lizard resting in its burrow

The park is named after the famous British Jim Corbett and stories abound on his prowess in shooting down man-eating tigers and leopards. He had single handedly brought down 30 of them (which were man-eating) and was being revered as ‘God’ in helping the tribal villages from the prowling nocturnal beasts. After retirement, he has actively focused his energy in “forest conservation” and keeping a habitat for our National Animal. Records indicate the tiger population in the wild has picked-up and conservation endeavors are yielding desired results.

I wanted to pen- down the below instance of Bird and Animal behavior which we observed.

Black faced Langur - Alpha Male

Submission to Alpha Male ?

Spotted Deer

          The Monkey’s ( Rhesus monkey )and Deer’s are most of the time spotted together. The monkey perched on top of the tree branches pluck the leaves and keep feeding the Deer’s beneath ( Spotted deer’s and barking deer are a common sight). The barking deer which has acute sense of smell warns the monkey’s and other animals if case a tiger or cheetah is around by making a barking sound continuously. On our Safari, we noticed a deer, was barking continuously on the impending danger and the monkey’s and birds were running helter-skelter by making various types of sounds. 

We definitely have a lessor or two to be learned from our wild-cousins. ‘Stay together and help each other”



Red whiskered Bulbul

A pair Indian Horn-Bill in playfull mood

Oriental Magpie Robin

We spotted different Himalayan species of birds namely parakeets, different breeds of king fisher, Green bee-eater. The cynosure of all eyes was a the playful ‘grey Indian hornbills

Indian Peacock

Two peacocks were in hot pursuit in attracting a pea-hen. The mighty one displayed it’s plumage and was able to hold-on for a longer time than the other one. The pea-hen ran a distance of 30-40 meters towards it’s partner and they disappeared into the bushes. Peacocks were seen in plenty

An Elephant herd

At one stretch, we saw a herd of about 20 wild elephants making a cross. The herd got split into 2. Elephants are a matriarchal society and this was very evident in the crossing. The matriarch stayed behind, ensured the young calf’s have safely crossed the road, checked on all sides for any threats or impending danger and then joined the herd on the other side

Girija Lakshmi temple on the banks of Ramganga River

The authorities have taken cognizance to the fact of keeping the local community engaged in wild-life protection. The wild life safari park nicely supports good local employment opportunities. The locals are also trained on wild life conservation and heavily depend on tourists for their income and livelihood. This has resulted in good awareness resulting in a win-win situation . We visited the Corbett National park museum and Girija devi temple.