India Nepal Jungle lodges Wildlife Tour

Nature has been extremely generous with India and Nepal. Bubbling rivers, tranquil lakes, seas of unfathomable depths, white-peaked mountains and dense forests--the two countries  have all these gifts. Because of the  unique geographical location and divergent climatic conditions, India and Nepal  have  always had a large variety of wildlife. The legacy of exotic wild animals that we have inherited in our forests includes about 350 species of mammals, 1200 species and 2100 sub-species of birds, and well over 20,000 species of insects. The number of fish in the rivers and seas is beyond count.

Three hundred years before Christ, Kautilya, the Prime Minister of Pataliputra, wrote in his treatise, the Arthashastra, "It is forbidden to cut trees, bamboo, cane and grass; to pluck leaves, to cut firewood, to burn wood for making coal; to remove the hide and to collect the bones of animals". These activities, he realised, would create havoc in the normal lives of animals and thus disturb the balance of Nature. Emperor Ashok had banned hunting in the third century B.C. In 242 B.C. in the fifth edict of the Ashok pillar, the Emperor engraved the names of those birds and animals which should be strictly protected and also specified that the burning of forests was prohibited. Our modern day concept of national parks and sanctuaries must enliven this very spirit of kindness to all creatures. The seeds of a survival plan for mankind are to be found in the ancient Vedas, and the working patterns have been well defined in the Arthashastra.

The causes of the decline of wildlife in India and Nepal are many. In the not very remote past, wild elephants were captured and trained for use in wars. Rhinos were killed for their skins to make shields for warriors. The last two centuries saw the rulers of erstwhile princely states and the officers of the British raj indulge in wanton killing of large cats. To meet the needs of the evergrowing population, forests were cleared indiscriminately for the development of agriculture, industry and scores of other developmental projects. The wild animals that inhabited these forests were driven out. As a result, their number declined alarmingly, and many species are now facing extinction. At the turn of this century the number of tigers in India was estimated to be between 40,000 and 50,000. The 1972 national census revealed that their number had declined to just 1,827.

A bad phase followed immediately after independence from the British rule. With the rulers of the princely states having lost their power and control, poachers with scant regard for the rules and regulations of the forest department indulged in indiscriminate shooting of wild animals. The fledgling government of independent India was occupied with innumerable matters of urgency, and by the time it took up the cause of wildlife much damage had already been done.

For years the argument has raged: why talk of saving animals in a country where human development is so urgent? The answer, though not obvious, calls for foresight and perception. Animals are by far the most accurate indicators of the health of the forests, which in turn are as important to the farmer as they are to wildlife. In this complex chain of life, saving wild animals ceases to be an act of kindness and becomes a matter of human survival.

In 1952 an Animal Welfare Board was constituted in india , and soon national parks and sanctuaries for the protection and conservation of our savaged flora and fauna were established. The network spread from Kashmir to Kanyakumari and even further to Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Three and a half decades later, we have around 250 national parks and sanctuaries with a collective area of over 75,000 square kilometres. The results of well-planned projects for the conservation of forests and wildlife executed with aid from the Worldlife Fund, the International Union for Conservation of Natural Resources and other agencies, have gained public attention. And the threats to a number of species such as the hispid hare, pigmy hog, gharial, tiger, rhinoceros, hangul, thamin and the great Indian bustard have been quelled. By the continuous vigilance and sincerity of efforts, The Indian Government is ensuring the future of rare and threatened species, a common heritage of all mankind. <,

Wildlife in Kanha National Park

 The forests of Madhya Pradesh cover an area of about 162,390 square kilometres, as much as 37 per cent of the total land in the state. Of the forest land, 1,156 square kilometres house three national parks—the Bandhavgadh National Park, the Shivpuri National Park, and the Kanha National Park, India's largest, with an area of 945 square kilometres. The park's main attractions are the tiger and the barasinga—animals that are surprisingly interdependent.

Today there are over 700 tigers in Madhya Pradesh, where earlier they had roamed the state in their thousands. In 1973, when Kanha was brought under Project Tiger—a bid to save this endangered species—there were only 39 tigers left. Within five years, this number rose to 62. Kanha offers excellent animals that are surprisingly interdependent. Today there are over 700 tigers in Madhya Pradesh, where earlier they had roamed the state in their thousands. In 1973, when Kanha was brought under Project Tiger—a bid to save this endangered species—there were only 39 tigers left. Within five years, this number rose to 62. Kanha offers excellent opportunities for photographing tigers in the wild to the enthusiastic wildlife tourists. Parties of scholars from all over the world regularly visit the park to study the life of the tiger. Each year about 10,000 tourists visit Kanha.

But the tiger is not the only wonder of Kanha, whose range of wildlife includes species of deer, such as the barasinga or swamp deer, the chital or spotted deer, and the sambar. The shy blackbuck and the magnificent bovine, the gaur, can also be admired here.

The barasinga of Madhya Pradesh—also known as the branderi barasinga—has been known to the tribals since ancient times. Kanha National Park has been providing a sanctuary to the barasinga for many years, and the present range of distribution shows that it is more efficiently protected here than at any other place. In the past the barasinga was distributed widely in Madhya Pradesh, but today the last few herds of this deer survive in the Kanha National Park.

This race of barasinga lives in open hard-ground grasslands called chauds. Its hooves arc compact and pointed, suitable for easy movement over the terrain. It is not particularly fond of water and is seen near the water even less than the chital. Mainly a grass eater, the barasinga stays in grasslands. It moves into tall grass a few days before a fawn is born and stays there until it grows up because such areas are comparatively safe. Individuals of the same sex and age form separate parties, like school children divided into different classes, and these panics are called schools. One may see 40 to 50 fawns frolicking together at one it place in the Kanha meadows and schools of juveniles or adults grazing separately. Males and females may  also be seen together in a school of yearlings.

The barasinga rests during the day at the edge of meadow, keeping a watch on all sides. Only on its a way from one meadow to another does it walk under trees. It breeds, feeds and seeks protection in the meadows; meadows, not woodlands, are its habitat. Meadows near villages are constantly being denuded by grazing cattle; as a result its natural habitat shrank considerably. Under Project Tiger, however, most of the villages have been shifted from the national park, which benefited the barasinga and their number is s increasing.

The chital is one of the most graceful animals of our forests. Probably the most beautiful deer in the world, it is also India's most abundant, found throughout the country in forests with enough food and water. Its spots, or chittis, have given it its name. The chital is a gregarious deer and there may be as many as a few hundred animals in a large herd—fawns,   juveniles and adults of either sex. As long as there weren't too many tourists in Kanha the chital was not scared of man. One large herd of chitals stayed near our rest house and would remain in the compound even when it was unoccupied.

The chital is the main prey of the tiger. Wild dogs also attack them and as they run for their lives, start eating them alive. Leopards, jackals, hyenas and pythons cat them too. These predators play an important role in the balance of nature, for the chital is a prolific breeder. The doe gives birth to a fawn every six months.

The blackbuck is one of the antelopes that is facing extinction. In the park it can be sighted in small parties of two or three. One of the fastest quadrupeds in the world, it lives in the open plains and does not venture into forested or hilly areas. Nature has given it the gift of speed to escape its enemies. It seldom falls prey to leopards or tigers.

The only species of the genus antelope in India, the blackbuck was distributed all over the plains of the country, except along the coast from Surat and its neighbourhood down south. It has been mercilessly hunted for its meat, skin and as a trophy. Poachers did not leave it alone even in national parks and reserved forests. It was the same story in the Kanha sanctuary. In 1963 there were only 30 blackbucks left. Conservation measures saw their number increase to a hundred by 1980, a slow growth because of the heavy toll taken by the wild dog and the jackal.

The sambhar is the largest Indian deer, with magnificent antlers. Often found in water, its food includes grasses, leaves and wild fruits. It grazes during the night and takes shelter in dense forests during the day. A male may weigh as much as 300 kilograms, but it is remarkable how silently such a bulky animal can move through the forest.

The gaur (Bos gaurus gaunu H. Smith) is the most powerful and majestic of the truly wild bovine species. It is also the largest, bulkiest and strongest of the bovines. At the withers, it may reach up to 195 centimetres, and weigh more than 900 kilograms. It has a massive head, a huge build and strong legs. A muscular ridge runs above its shoulders halfway down its spine. Its acute sense of smell helps it locate its enemy and its massive bulk helps it protect itself. The colour of the new-born gaur calf is golden yellow, soon turning to fawn and then to light brown. The colour of the young gaur is reddish or coffee-brown. Old males are jet black and their body is almost hairless.

Tigers and leopards do not usually prey upon large animals like the sambhar and the gaurs, but kill their young ones. Nature has therefore given them means of protection. Ten minutes after its birth the gaur calf is able to walk; in times of danger it can run alongside its mother within 20 minutes of its birth.

The Kanha National Park is a shining example of success to other national parks and sanctuaries. It has not only saved many species of wildlife from extinction but also created a suitable environment for their proliferation.

There are a lot of budget and luxury wildlife lodges in and around Kanha National Park  promoting wildlife tourism in the area .The tourists visiting Central India include Kanha , Bandhawgarh and Panna national parks as a part of their holiday itinerary .

The Rhino of Kaziranga 

Assam is located in the east of India and  a short distance from Nepal .Tourists can combine both the destinations due to easy connectivity of road , rail and air services in the area.To the naturalist and wildlife lover, Assam presents many attractions. This land of rain-soaked fertile soil is famous for the unique flora and fauna of its sanctuaries. The only ape in India, the hoolock gibbon, is found solely in Assam. Among the other marvellous species of Assam are monkeys and lemurs such as the capped langur, the golden langur and the slow loris. Here too is the hog-badger with its distinctive striped cheek. The clouded leopard and the golden cat are found here, as is the civet, the binturong. And only in Assam, if one is lucky, can one sec the hispid hare with its coarse bristly fur, and the pigmy hog. But above all, the Kaziranga National Park is known as the home of the great Indian rhinoceros. The Kaziranga National Park and other sanctuaries of Assam have about 1300 rhinoceroses, 300 tigers, 1900 wild elephants and 1000 wild buffaloes.

A fully grown great Indian one-horned rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis Linnaeus), weighs up to 2000 kilograms. One of the largest of all existing rhinos, a male may reach over 180 cm. at the shoulder. The skin of this massive creature is divided into great shields by heavy folds before and behind the shoulders and in front of the thighs, giving it the appearance of a monster. Atop the rhino's snout protrudes a horn which is, in fact, composed of a closely matted mass of horny fibres. Interestingly, it is not used as a weapon by the rhino—it attacks with its tusks. The elephant normally avoids the rhino for fear its soft trunk being injured. It is found in low marshlands on the banks of the Brahmaputra, the nether land of the Himalayas, in a small area in Bengal and the low swamp lands along the rivers Rapti and Naryani in western-central Nepal.

Since ancient times the horn of the rhino has been believed to be an aphrodisiac. The extreme rarity of the horn has escalated its price to such an extent that poachers kill the animals just for its horn,  which they try to sell as quickly as possible.

At the turn of the century the rhino's numbers declined sharply. It is estimated that about a dozen the rhinos were left in Kaziranga in 1904; in Bengal their numbers were even less. Hunting the rhino was completely banned in 1910, and the Army was pressed into service to discourage poaching. These in measures were so effective that the number of rhinos of increased steadily. It is estimated that there are now about 1654 rhinos in Kaziranga, Jaldapada and Manas. In 1978 the Kaziranga National Park was sip adjudged the best sanctuary in India and—quite mt deservedly—it was awarded a prize by the Chairman wi of the India Wildlife Board.

Though the Bengal Rhinoceros Act, 1932, and the Assam Rhinoceros Bill, 1954 were enacted to protect the rhinoceros, poachers in Assam and Bengal could not be controlled, and poaching is still a major 132 problem. In 1975, high-frequency walkie-talkie sets were made available to the park to check the movements of poachers. Armed guards and patrol parties in Kaziranga now keep a round-the-clock vigil to curb poaching activities.

The tailless ape, also known as the hoolock gibbon, is found in the hill forests of Assam in India and Chittagong in Bangladesh. It has white brows and is, therefore, also called the white-browed gibbon—Latin name, Hylobates hoolock (Harlan). Six to eight kilograms in weight, about 90 centimetres tall and slimly built, this ape has a round head and unusually long arms, which may be twice the length of its hind legs. Its snout is short with nostrils set far apart. The male and the young female are dark in colour. When the female is five to six years old, its colour becomes pale brown. Infants have pale-brown hair with a yellowish tinge all over the body.

Diurnal habits, the hoolock gibbon is most active in the morning and evening. Its food consists of leaves, twigs, fruits, flowers, insects, larvae and spiders. It drinks dew from the leaves, either sipping it or using its palm.

As soon as the morning light permeates into forest, hoolock gibbons create a bedlam. one of them starts, and the calls are taken up by the whole family. Like a contagious disease, this chorus spreads to the other family groups, and soon the forest resounds with the uproar. During the hottest hours of the day the hoolock moves into the dense woodlands to rest the evening it again comes out in search of food but h there is less noise. Swinging through the branches its long arms, walking upright on stout branches, dropping down to reach a lower branch, the hoolock appears to be more agile than any other ape in the same weight-class. While walking upright it balances itself by spreading out its arms. Mothers protect their young. Moving through trees, they carry them piggyback over the obstacles and, while leaping from one tree to another, hold them tight against their breast with one arm.

The avifauna of Assam is also remarkable. Arodrid 1905, the white winged wood duck, Cairina Scutulata S. Muller, was well distributed over the major portion of the Brahmaputra valley, Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura, Manipur, Nagaland and Mizoram. In just 50 years, its number declined drastically, and its habitat shrank considerably. It is now restricted to only north eastern Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. The Assam Valley Wildlife Society estimated that there were only 44 white-winged wood ducks in Assam in 1979. Recently, at the Gauhati Zoo this bird was bred in captivity. Possibly such methods of breeding may be used to rehabilitate the young duck in their natural habitat. The main identifying feature of the bird is the white patch on its wing coverts.

There are many pools and shallow lakes in the swamps of Assam. A variety of aquatic vegetation such as water lily, lotus, water hyacinth grow on the muddy beds on these lakes, and the shores are covered with reeds and grasses. Such green lakes are peculiar to Assam, which attract thousands of birds. At the Kaziranga National Park about a hundred different species of birds may be seen. The breeding of pelicans near Kaziranga valley is an interesting feature of this park and hosts multiple wildlife lodges.