Corbett-The land of trumpet, roar and song
The Corbett tiger reserve is visually stunning. Aptly called the land of trumpet, roar and song, this forest is following rivers, blue waters and sal-dappled glades is tiger and elephant country, where unexpected sights and sounds present themselves at almost every turn. India's first National Park, it is ranked as one of the best-managed parks in the subcontinent. The reserve now falls in the newly constituted state of Uttarakhand. Established in 1936, it is on of the last serving stretches of untouched sub-Himalayan wildernesses.
The reserve is home to a number of species. With water and food avialable in abundance, this is an idle habitat foe all of nature's wards.Barking deer,chital and sambhar hoof marks crisscross with pugmarks og tigers. Doves, coppersmiths, myans, flycatcher and thrushes work laboriously at their respective songs, calls and display, announcing territorial rights to "whom it may concern". Corbett has over 585 species of resident and migratory birds.
History of Corbett National Park
The Reserve area was named as ‘Hailey National Park’ in 1936. This was renamed in 1954-55 as ‘Ramganga National Park’ and again in 1955-56 as ‘Corbett National Park’. Its the oldest National Park of India. It was one of the nine Tiger Reserves created at the launch of the Project Tiger in 1973. The original area of the Park was 323.75 sq. km. to which 197.07 sq. km. was added later. An area of 797.72 sq. km. was added as buffer of the Corbett Tiger Reserve in 1991. This area includes the whole of Kalagarh Forest Division (including 301.18 sq. km. area of Sonanadi Wildlife Sanctuary), 96.70 sq. km. of Ramnagar Forest Division and 89 sq. km. The administrative control over the entire area is that of the Field Director of the Reserve.
Tourism
New Tourism Zone: Dhikala represents the main area open to visitors. Day visits to Dhikala were banned in 1990 and only those visitors that had confirmed overnight accommodation were permitted to enter from the National Park gate. As the total number of beds in different forest rest houses in Dhikala Zone is a mere 113, this represented one of the strictest controls on the number of visitors entering the NP. The ban was enforced as per the recommendations of the committee constituted by Government of India. In order to cope up with the increasing demand of the tourists, an alternate day visit zone was set up at Bijrani. In 1996 three more tourism zones were demarcated within the re-organized Corbett. These included the Sonanadi WLS and the Jhirna and Lohachaur zone located in the buffer.
At present, the area open to visitors in Corbett Tiger Reserve has been divided into five mutually exclusive tourism zones, each having a separate gate/gates for entrance. A visitor wishing to go from one zone to another has to come out and re-enter through the gate for the other zone. This has been done to disperse visitor pressure all around the reserve and check excessive visitor numbers in more popular areas.
Habitat
The Corbett National Park lies in the undulating Shiwalik ranges, distinct from the Himalayan in that they were formed by the products of massive erosion-sand, gravel and stones -of the Himaliayas. In this Kumaon hills, they are not melt into the Himalayan chain and are not physically separate from them. Patliduns is an elevated, flat valley through which they incomparably picturesque Ramganga river, the only perennial source of water in the park,flows.
Thus cralled in the foothills of Himalayas, in the Pauri Garhwal hills and Nainital, the forest spreads over an area of 1,319 sq. km. of which a core area of 512 sq km. is inviolate. The south patlidun are, where much of wildlife is to be found, ranges in elevation from 400 m,. to 1,210 m. (the kanda peak) and comprises a huge east-west valley through which there debsely forested, parallel ridges systems run. Offshoot ridges go from north to south forming smaller valet and these provides very schedule niches for wild animals to be hunt and breed. The Ramganga river enters from the northeast and flows through most of the park till it forms the Kalagarh reservoir created by a multipurpose hydroelestric dam, the largest earthen dam in Asia.
Forests
Northern Moist Deciduous Forest- Moist Shiwalik Sal, moist bhabar dun sal, western Gengitic moist mixed deciduous, alluvial savannah woodland.
Northern Tropical Dry Deciduous Forest-Dry shiwalik sal,northern dry mixed deciduous, khair sissoo
Himalayn Subtropical Pine Forest-Lower shiwalik chir pine.
Grasslands
Locally known as chaurs. It is estimated that ane tent of the total area of the reserve is under grass cover. The largest grassland is the Dhikala Chaur. Some of the best area under grasslands, including the famous Buxur chaur and the Beri Chaur, were submerged by the Ramganga reservoir in 1974.The are made avilable as a result of the relocation of the Dhara, Jhirna and Kothirau Chaurs in 1994 is being developed into grassland through habitat alteration.
Riverine Areas
The Ramganga river is the lifeline of the Corbett Tiger Reserve, its principal tributaries being The Mandal, Palain and Sonnadi. Numerous mountainous streams locally called sots flow into these rivers. The nullahs and raviines are thickly covered with evergreen shrubs and glades, which provide undisturbed cover for the Tiger and ready drinking water. A part of catchment of the Kosi river falls within the reserve. There are no other major rivers.
Water Bodies
Mailani Tal and Phul Tal; located in the Bijrani range are stagnant water bodies.
Swamps
Many areas located along the boundary of the ramganga reservoir and along springs are swampy, typically covered with jamun trees and cane, providing good cover for the tiger to rest in during hot summer months.
