Top 10 National Parks for Wildlife Safari in India

India has more than 200 wildlife sanctuaries and about 100 of them are classified as National Parks. However some are better than others and still unexplored. National Parks in India spread across the country offer a fascinating diversity of terrain, which is houses of large number of wild rare and giant animal species. India is a great tourism destination in world. It attracts tourists with its unique cultural and geographical features.

Jim Corbett National Park

Jim Corbett National Park is the oldest national park in India, located at Uttaranchal. Corbett has been a haunt for tourists and wildlife lovers for a long time. Its dense forest is the home for various species. The Corbett National Park is a heaven for the adventure and wildlife seeker. Tourists are not allowed to have a walk inside the park. Story of Jim Corbett to kill an Indian leopard is very famous. The pride of India, Great Tiger can be spotted here with some luck.

Deer in Jim Corbett National Park

Kaziranga National Park

Kaziranga National Park is located in Assam. It has the highest density of Royal Bengal Tigers in the world. The park also hosts two-thirds of the world’s Great One-horned  Rhinoceroses, Indian elephants “The holy Animals“, wild water buffalo, and swamp deer. Kaziranga has achieved notable success in wildlife conservation as compare to other protected areas in India.

Buffalo in Kaziranga-National-Park

Sundarbans National Park

Sundarbans National Park is one of the largest reserves home for the Royal Bengal Tiger. This area is covered by dense rain forest,sunder ban is located in west Bengal. The park has got protection since its creation. The core area is free from all human disturbances and is habitat of many toxic reptiles in India. Man eater tigers stories belongs to sunder ban national park.

Ghadiyals in Sundarbans-National-Park

Kanha National Park

Kanha National Park is Tiger reserve park and located in the Mandla, Madhya Pradesh. The park has a significant population of Royal Bengal Tiger, leopards, Barasingha and Indian wild dog. A documentary has been cover by discovery on Indian wild dogs in Kanha National Park. This is one of India’s most visited wildlife area and best place to encounter with wild animals.

Indian Wild dog in Kanha-National-Park

Gir Wildlife Sanctuary

Gir Wildlife Sanctuary is the single home of the pure Asiatic Lions or Indian Lion and is considered to be one of the most important protected areas in India as well as in Asia. Ecosystem of Gir is prefect to support all species. The lion-count in Gir Wildlife Sanctuary is 411, an increase as compare to 2005. Gir also includes Sloth bears, Jungle cats, Striped Hyenas and some time black bucks also appear.

Striped Hyena in Gir-Wildlife-Sanctuary

Periyar National Park

Periyar National Park area lies in the middle of a mountainous area of the Cardamom Hills in Land of Attraction Kerala. This protected area is well famous for its diversity and natural beauty. Around 70% of the area is well covered by evergreen or rain forest,which is also home for the biggest snake in India, the Giant King Kobra. Periyar is one of the 27 tiger reserves in India, there are an estimated 53 tigers. A large number of Indian elephants can also be tourist attraction in periyar.

Giant King Kobra in Periyar-National-Park

Bandhavgarh National Park

Bandhavgarh National Park located in the Umaria district of Madhya Pradesh. Bandhavgarh has the highest density of Royal Bengal Tigers known in the world. A female Tiger known as Sita was covered by the National Geographic and considered as most photographed tiger in the world. The park has a large breeding population of monkey also called Langur “one of the holy animals of India“, Leopards and various species of deer and smbhar.

Langur sitting in Bandhavgarh-National-Park

Ranthambore Wildlife Sanctuary 

Ranthambore Wildlife Sanctuary is famous for its Royal Bengal Tigers and is one of the best places in India to see these Great Cats in the jungle. There is Ranthambore fort inside the park,hence its name become Ranthambore national park. Padam Talao is the biggest lake inside the park,other major wild animals are hyena, wild boar, sambar.

Wild boar in Ranthambore-Wildlife-Sanctuary

Hemis National Park

Hemis National Park is located at the high altitude in Ladakh region of J&K. This is the only national park which contain largest protected area in India, thus become the largest national park of India. The park is home for number of species of endangered mammals including the Indian Snow Leopard. Population of Snow Leopards in Hemis National Park are around 200. Tibetan Wolf, the Eurasian Brown Bear, Sheep and the Red Fox are also present in Hemis. The big flying Predators like Golden eagle and Vulture are also best part of Hemis.

Golden eagle flying high in Hemis-National-Park

Sariska Tiger Reserve

Sariska Tiger Reserve is one of the most famous national parks in India, located in Royal Rajasthan. It is home for wild animals leopard, chinkara, wild boar and plenty of bird species and unique reptiles like big snakes, monitor lizards and turtles. Sariska is famous as bird sanctuary in India. It was selected for tiger reserve under Project Tiger scheme, but now its finally declared that Sariska indeed did not have any tigers left.

Flamingos in Sariska-Tiger-Reserve

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Unexplored wildlife sanctuaries of India

Wildlife Sanctuaries of India has a unique status worldwide, It has the second largest base of bio diversity in the world. These calm and peaceful wildlife sanctuaries are the home for some very giant animals and rare species of birds. India has some of the biggest National Parks like Hemis, Sundarbans and Gangotri National Park. Rann of Kutch, also known as the Indian Wild Ass sanctuary is the largest wildlife sanctuary in India.

Area wise wildlife sanctuaries of India:

Desert National Park: 

Desert National Park, Rajasthan covering an area of 3162 km. It is one of the largest protected areas for wild animals in India. The famous Desert National Park lies on the vast ocean of sands near Jaisalmer. Its is one of the major attractions of the Jaisalmer city another one is Jaisalmer fort. This is a only desert sanctuary of India, famous for its endangered species like the Great Indian bustard. An excellent example of the ecosystem of the Thar Great Desert and its rich habitat area offers the desert animals & birds including flying predators black and grey eagles, vultures, Indian peafowl, species of antelopes, monitor lizard, Russel viper and krait the most venomous snake in India.

Indian-peacock-Rajasthan

Namdapha National Park: 

Namdapha National Park is the largest protected area in the Eastern area of Arunachal Pradesh, lies on the Patkai range. It offers a wide spectrum of plants and animals and one of the richest areas in biodiversity in India. Namdapha is famous for its untouched wilderness, unexplored place and unseen natural beauty. It is the only one national park in which four Big Cats – tiger, leopard, snow leopard and clouded leopard are found. Other large predators are wolves, and Asiatic black bears. The great Hornbills and Red Giant Flying Squirrel is often seen in park.

Giant-Indian-flying-squirrel

Khangchendzonga National Park: 

Khangchendzonga National Park is the largest wildlife reserve in Sikkim in the bless by nature area of 1784 KM. It lies on one of the grandest and most unspoilt Himalayan mountain ranges called Khangchendzonga the third highest peak in the world. The park, along with its surrounding forests and mountains offers best beauty of nature. The park has the right mix of mountains, glaciers and forests, Snow leopard is the one of biggest cats found here.

Snow-Leopard-Himalayan-Region-India

Sanjay National Park: 

The Sanjay National Park in Chhattisgarh is spread over an area of 1471 km and is surrounded by Vindhyachal Mountain Ranges and rivers. After partition form madhay pradesh its name is now Guru Ghasidas national park. Main wild animals are Jackals, Sambar, Four-horned Antelopes, Jungle Cat, Monitor Lizard,Monkey, Striped Hyena and wild Dogs. It is also an ideal place to watch migratory birds. Sanjay National Park is one of the most important wild animal sanctuaries in central India. Indian Rock Python, Cobra and Russell’s Viper are the dangerous reptiles found here.

Indian-Monitor-Lizard

Indravati National Park: 

Indravati National Park is located in the Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh in area of 1258 KM. The park is known for the wide species of animals, birds and reptiles. The major wildlife attractions in Indravati National Park include the rare Wild Buffalo, Tigers, Leopards, Gaurs, Barasinghas and barking deer. reptiles in the park are freshwater crocodile, Indian Rock Python, Cobra and Russell’s Viper. It is the finest and most famous wildlife parks and also the only Tiger Reserve in the Tribal State Chhattisgarh.

Indian-rock-python

The Big Cats of India

Felidae is the biological family of cats and member of this family is called Felid. Big Cats Tiger, Lion, Leopard and jaguar are define this family. The only cats able to roar are come under big cats family.These “roaring cats” are also sometimes called as “Great Cats”. Big cats also includes cheetah, snow leopard, and cougar. The Asiatic lions or some time called Indian lion is one of the four great cats  found in India, the other great cats of India are the Bengal tiger, Indian leopard and the snow leopard. There is an Cheetah reintroduction plan running by the Indian government, to bring the cheetah back to India. Seven sites in the four states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Chhattisgarh have been shortlisted as potential homes for the cheetah.The Great Indian Tigers in are a bit larger than those Panthera found in Indonesia or Bali.

The Big Cats of India

Great Indian Lion: 

The Indian lion are quit similar to African in looks, Asiatic lion are smaller and lighter but are equally aggressive as African. The habitat of the Asiatic lion is very small they survives today only in the Gir National park of Gujarat and only about 411 lions are left. About 150 yeas ago Asiatic Lion was found in large parts India along with Cheetah. Big cats of India lost their jungle habitat in India because of rising human population which almost convert their habitat area to farmlands.The Palpur-Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary was selected to relocated the lions form Gir National Parks.The Gujarat state has been resisting the relocation, since it would make the Gir Sanctuary lose its status as the only home for big cats in India. Indian lions are highly social animals, living in small units called prides with just two or three females, these prides are smaller than Africans.Indian lions prey deer, nilgai and chinkara.

Indian-lions

Royal Bengal Tiger: 

The Bengal Tiger is  the largest one from the four “Roaring Cats of India”.The Bengal tiger is the second largest subspecies after the Siberian tiger, recent studies have shown that Bengal Tigers are, on average, larger than the Siberian Tigers. Tiger do not live in prides so every tiger has its own territory to live. Tiger habitats usually include dense forest area, proximity to water, and full of prey sources. Bengal Tigers live in many types of forests, including wet and evergreen jungle like Bengal, the mangrove forest of the Ganges Delta. The Royal  Bengal Tiger also found in Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan. Bengal tigers eat a variety of animals found in their natural habitat, including deer, wild boars,water buffalo etc.The Bengal Tiger is the national animal of India.India is the home for the world’s largest population of tigers.In the Big Cats dairy of India there are only 1411 Royal Bengal Tigers left as per record.Conservation efforts called “Project Tiger” is on his way to Save Bengal Tigers. Bandhavgarh national park has been an excellent habitat of tiger and is known for the highest density of tigers in the world.

The-royal-bengal-tiger

White Tiger: 

White tigers have been known to inhabit many parts of East Asia and in India. The habitat range of while tiger’s in India is much reduces due to poaching. While comparing to orange tigers ,white tigers tend to be larger both at birth and at full adult size. Hundreds of white tigers are in captivity in India, and good news is that their numbers are on the increase. The nandan kanan national park is one of the park where White Tigers are found in India.

White-Bengal-Tigers

Indian Leopard: 

The range of leopard has decreased because of hunting and loss of habitat. There are also fragmented populations in India, Sri Lanka, Indochina, and Pakistan and because of its population, it is listed as a “Near Threatened” species.  Compared to other members of the Felid family, the leopard has relatively short legs and a long body with a large skull.  It is similar in appearance to the jaguar. The leopard is an agile and stealthy predator. The leopard is known for its ability in climbing, and it has been observed resting on tree branches during the day.Because of loss of habitat  and continuously deforestation leopard and human interaction can occurred.Basically leopards avoid targeting humans as prey, healthy leopards prefer wild prey but injured leopard can do. Two extreme cases occurred in India, Leopard killed 125 people and another one killed more than 300 after injured by a poacher. Both the man eater leopard were killed by the hunter Jim Corbett.In India the leopard preys on deer such as chitals and muntjacs. Indian leopards are distributed all over in India. Jim Corbett National Park is the best place for Indian leopards. A variation of  leopard is black leopard also known as black panther found in India.

Indian-leopard

Black Panther: 

A black panther is a large black cat, Black leopards or black panther are found at most densely forested areas of Assam and Nepal, from Travancore and other parts of southern India. Number of Black panther’s in India are very less, can be appear some time in rural area of India.

Black-panther-In-India

Snow Leopard: 

Snow leopard also know as  Ounce in India.  Snow leopards are the king of mountain. Snow leopard very less studied member of “The Great Cats” family. Snow leopards bodies are stocky, their fur is thick they are perfect for living in a cold mountainous environment. Its currently occupied range is poorly mapped but as per the record Snow leopard found in Himalayan regions of North India. The diet of the snow leopard varies across its range and with the time of year, and is dependent on prey availability, In the Himalayas it preys mostly wild sheep and goats  and some smaller prey such as hares and birds. Population of the snow leopard was estimated 200-400 in India. Hemis National Park  Ladakh is one of the conservation park for snow leopards in India. Because of disputed border with Pakistan create additional conservation challenges for snow leopard areas. Conservation programs for Snow leopard in India is supported by the native peoples as well.

Snow-Leopard-Himalayan-Region-India

Clouded Leopard: 

The another felid of Himalaya is “The clouded leopard” found from the Himalayan foothills through mainland northeast India to neighbor countries. The powerful predator of hills has been classified as vulnerable with suspected to be fewer than 10,000. The smaller length felid is more beautiful in appearance with longish body and tail. The rarely seen in wild, Clouded leopards are threatened by habitat loss due to deforestation, illegal hunting.

Clouded-leopard

Asiatic Golden Cat: 

The Asiatic golden cat is one of the medium-sized wild cat found in Southeastern Asia. The feline species is comes very close to fall in the category of Vulnerable due to fastest regional deforestation, hunting pressure and habitat loss. Arunachal Pradesh and some part of its neighbor states are the only place for Indian golden cat to spot.

Indian-golden-cat