Himalaya » Himalaya Ecotourism

NATIONAL PARK / ECOTOURISM
India’s 70 national parks and 330 sanctuaries cover a wide variety of landscapes, and are home to rich, diverse ecosystems and many endangered species. Although the past century has seen the habitat of wild animals in India shrink considerably, there is nevertheless a strong awareness of the need to preserve these wild places and the species that live there. The effort to create and maintain national parks rep­resents a serious effort in this direction. Dif­ferent ecological zones provide shelter to a large number of different animals, includ­ing endangered species such as the Ben­gal tiger, Asiatic lion and more than 70 per­cent of the world’s one horned Rhinos.

KEOLADEO GHANA NATIONAL PARK
Keoladeo Ghana National Park at Bharatpur (55km west of Agra and 175krn from Delhi) is 29sq km of protected shal­low lakes and woodlands. It’s home to an enormous variety of birds and the diverse collection of herons who live here is known as amongst the finest in the world. More than 350 species of birds, almost a third of which are migratory species, inhabit the park for at least part of the year.

The arrival of Siberian cranes — after covering more than 6400kms from Siberia — causes international headlines. In ad­dition to wild bird species, the park has wild boar, spotted deer, blackbuck and jackal.
The best time of year to visit the park is from October to March, when the weather is cool.

KANHA NATIONAL PARK
Kanha National Park is the tiger reserve that provided the inspiration for Rudyard Kipling’s vivid Jungle Book. This is by far the best place in India to spot the coun­try’s most endangered animal the tiger and as such, Kanha offers great oppor­tunities for wildlife photography. Other ani­mals such as swamp deer, sambar and leopard may also be sighted. Some 22 spe­cies of mammals and 230 species of birds have been recorded in Kanha.