Rajaji National Park
- Last year I visited Rajaji National Park on 20th December, as usual I was very excited. To start with I would love to give a brief description about the park. Rajaji National Park is located in Uttarakhand, it is an Indian National Park that encompasses the Shivaliks , near the foothills of the Himalayas.It spreads over 820 square kilometers and three districts of Uttarakhand i,e Haridwar, Dehradun, Pauri Gharwal. In 1983 three wildlife sanctuaries in the area namely Chilla, Motichur and Rajaji sanctuaries were merged into one.
- Rajaji National Park has been named after C. Rajagopalachari (Rajaji) a prominent leader of the freedom struggle, the second and last Governor- General of independent India and one of the first recipients of India's highest civilian award Bharat Ratna (in 1954).
- Rajaji is famous for it's wide variety of Flora and Fauna. To start with I would like to choose Fauna, Rajaji National Park contains tropical and sub-tropical broad leaf forest in particular those of the "Upper Gangetic Plains" moist deciduous forest Eco-region. Important plants such as Shovea, Mallotus, Adina and Phoebe are found in the park and studies have revealed some important associations between them. Now to write about something that I love the most i,e Fauna. Rajaji is famous for both elephants and tigers. Though it has wide range other species such as Leopard, Jungle cat, Stripped Hyena, Goral, Indian hare, Sloth bear, Himalayan black bear, Python, Monitor Lizard, Indian Porcupine, Rhesus Macaque, Wild Boar, Sambhar, Barking Dear, King Cobra and Jackel. 315 species of birds are found inside the park, such as Great Pied Hornbill, Himalayan Pied Kingfisher and Fire Tailed Sunbird and other migratory birds across Himalayas. The river that flows through the park mainly contains two fishes such as Trout and Mahseer.
Standing in front a National Park with such a huge biodiversity was a treat and a dream coming true fact for nature lovers like me. I feel very proud that I got the opportunity. Now to start off with my experience, I purposefully choose my visit at these national parks when it is mostly off season. The reason behind the fact is that while in the park I don't like the commotion of the people and the possibility of seeing the illusive animals is at it's best. Though you have to prepare for the worst 9 out of 10 times. I find that many people has misconception about the wildlife sanctuaries and national parks, they think there's animals sitting at every corner of the park waiting for us to see them, we just have to borrow a car and enjoy. If one goes to the National Parks with this mentality then I sorry to say that you are totally mistaken and these things are not your cup of tea. Instead I would like to request everybody to enjoy this unique wilderness and if you are lucky,have patience and have high level of endurance you never know what nature preserves for you.I borrowed a local gepsey with a guide named Bhupinder.Bhupinder was an efficient man and knows every bit of the park as he is working there for last five to six years.Seeing my interest in wildlife he told me that he would love to take me to the areas where they generally don't take other tourists.I geared up and started my journey with huge expectation and excitement .
That was a cold and chilling day.At first we went to a watch tower for where as far many animals can be located but alas I couldn't see even a single one.
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| Lucky to grab one binocular form one of the local shop for rent |
As I have told earlier one should follow the key word and march on and I did the same.Then we came across a dried river bed actually that was a tributary of
Ganges.The prime drinking spot for variety for fauna that flourished in that region.It was a beautiful place and the forest officials had done a marvellous job in marking the driving route with stone in order to avoid difficulty while driving.On that river bed I saw a female Asiatic elephant crossing with her two babies in front of us.The feeling that i had at that point was beyond expectation and cannot be expressed in words.In one word mind boggling.My feeling at that point can be understood by those who had been to the wild and experienced that at one piece.
Then as we drove slowly through the grasslands we saw numerous other animals like wild boars,peacock,spotted deers, sambars, hornbills, etc. It seemed that nature has preserved a lot for me,just when I stared thinking that today is my day and tried to push my luck a bit by jumping out of the vehicle Bhupinder warned me and told me
"don't take thing for granted when you are in wild" I appreciated him and quickly rectified my mistake.Slowly we drove our way back with an ever green memory and an enormous experience to share with everyone.Only despair was that i could not see the big cats and I heard that there were 13 Bengal tigers according to a recent census apart from Leopards.For this reason I will come back to Rajaji National Park all over again with new hope and mount of expectation.
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| Expectation grew bigger every time I visited these national parks and I feel an eternal urge to come back all over again |
One thing I must really say about Rajaji National Park is that the official are making an earnest effort to make people about these endangered wild species through promotional events and wildlife documentary.They make sure that every tourists who visits the park watches these documentary courtesy
Arundhuti a shop named after a local resident female elephant.
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| Wild beckons what are you waiting for |
"Kudos Rajaji National Park forest officers for making an effort in order to save these last patches of wild land where the wild animals still roam free."
