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Ranthambhore

Introduction :

Ranthambhore National Park is one of the largest and most famous national parks in northern India. It is situated in Sawai Madhopur district of southeastern Rajasthan, about 130 km from Jaipur, which is also the nearest airport. The nearest town and railway station is at Sawai Madhopur, about 11 km away.

Ranthambhore was established as the Sawai Madhopur Game Sanctuary in 1955 by the Government of India, and was declared one of the Project Tiger reserves in 1973. Ranthambore became a national park in 1980. In 1984, the adjacent forests were declared the Sawai Man Singh Sanctuary and Keladevi Sanctuary, and in 1991 the tiger reserve was enlarged to include Sawai Man Singh and Keladevi sanctuaries.

City Guide :

The park lies at the edge of a plateau, and is bounded to the north by the Banas River and to the south by the Chambal River. There are several lakes in the park. It is named for the historic Ranthambore fortress, which lies within the national park. The park covers an area of 392 km², and is famous for its tiger population, and is one of India's Project Tiger reserves. Other major wild animals include the tiger, leopard, nilgai, dhole, wild pig, sambar and chital. It is also home to wide variety of trees, plants, birds and reptiles. Ranthambore is also the site for one of the largest Banyan trees in India.

WILDLIFE

Ranthambhore is most famous for its large tiger population. As tourism in the park increased, so did the population of neighboring villages. This lead to increasing amounts of fatal human-tiger interactions and poaching. The Indian Government started Project Tiger in 1972 with an allotted area of 60 m2. It was later expanded to become what is now called, the Ranthambore National Park. Besides tigers, the reserve has thriving bird population with more than 270 different species of birds here.

In 2005, there were 26 tigers living in Ranthambhore. This was significantly lower than the recorded tiger population of the reserve in 1982, which then stood at 44. In 2008, more than 14 tiger cubs were recorded. This was largely attributed to sustained efforts by forest officials to curb poaching. Villagers in the region were being given incentives to stay out of the park and surveillance cameras were also fitted across the reserve. The Indian government also committed US$153 million for the efforts. These efforts have been successful with Ranthambore having enough tigers to participate in the Sariska Tiger Reserve relocation efforts.

PROJECT TIGER

Project Tiger is a wildlife conservation project initiated in India in 1972 to protect the Bengal Tigers. It was launched on April 1, 1973 and has become one of the most successful wildlife conservation ventures. The project aims at tiger conservation in specially constituted tiger reserves representative of various biogeographical regions throughout India. It strives to maintain a viable tiger population in their natural environment.

In 2007, there were more than 40 Project Tiger wildlife reserves covering an area of 37,761 km². Project Tiger helped increase the population of these tigers from 1,200 in the 1970s to 3,500 in 1990s. However, a 2008 census held by Government of India revealed that the tiger population had dropped to 1,411. Since then the government has pledged US$153 million to further fund the project, set-up a Tiger Protection Force to combat poachers, and has relocated more than 200,000 villages to minimize human-tiger interaction. The efforts did pay-off when in July 2008, the Sariska Tiger Reserve, whose tiger population was nearly wiped out in 2005, had a recorded tiger population of 21.

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