Ranthambhore National Park: Game Reserve turned into Wildlife Sanctuary
Ranthambhore National Park is one of the Tiger Reserves in India, and a world renowed destination for its large Bengal Tiger population. Ranthambore was first established in 1955 as a Governmental Game Sanctuary. But today, the Maharajas’ former hunting ground has been turned into a major wildlife sanctuary, and recently became a world class destination for nature lovers and wildlife photographers. It has an annual turnover of US$ 3 million in park fees. They get approximately 60,000 overseas visitors and 400,000 local visitors.
Through a successful phased approach, in 1973 the Indian government started Project Tiger and allotted an area of 60 km2 of the park as a tiger sanctuary. The main goal of Project Tiger was the elimination of all forms of human exploitation and biotic disturbance from the Park core area and rationalization of activities in its buffer zones.
This area later expanded to become what is now the Ranthambhore National Park. Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve today spreads over an area of 1334 km2 out of which Ranthambhore National Park forms the core with a 392 km2 area and the buffer sanctuaries – The Mansingh Sanctuary and the Kalia Devi Sanctuary forming the rest 942 km2 area. Ranthambore became a National Park in 1980 and it is today classified as IUCN category II.
Wildlife Ranthambhore is known for its Bengal tigers, and it is a popular place in India to see these animals in their natural habitat: the jungle. Major wild animal species other than tiger are the Indian leopard, carcal, nilgai, wild boar, sambar, striped hyena, sloth bear, southern plains gray langur, rhesus macaque, mugger crocodile and cheetal. Reptiles like crocodiles, turtles, Indian Rock Python and many species of snakes are found in Ranthambore.
Ranthambhore is a paradise for birds watchers : due to its varied terrain and abundance of water bodies, has an excellent population of both resident and migratory birds species. In total, a list of over 272 species have been documented.
Botanically, The park consists of typical dry deciduous elements with Anogesissus pendula forests – a dominant tree species. However, deciduous elements could be seen in the valleys and along water bodies. The Flora of the Park is represented by 539 species of flowering plants.
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