The well-known Corbett National Park and Tiger Reserve are inextricably linked with “Project Tiger” in the country and have placed Uttarakhand on the world wildlife tourism map forever.
People all over the world identify Uttarakhand region with this famous national park which is a constant reminder of the hunter turned conservationist Jim Corbett. Home of the roaring tiger, trumpeting elephant and singing birds, India’s first National Park, turns 79 on August 8.
Founded on August 8, 1936 as Hailey National Park, Corbett National Park in the Uttarakhand Himalayas, is tiger country at its best. Named first after the governor of the United Provinces, now Uttar Pradesh, Sir Malcolm Hailey, the park was later named Ramganga National Park in 1952.
It was in 1957 that it was finally renamed as Corbett National Park in honour and memory of the late Jim Corbett who had helped in setting up the park and demarcating its boundaries.
Corbett National Park has the distinction of being the first park in the country to have been brought under the auspices of “Project Tiger”.
Kaladhungi, a picturesque hamlet 35 km from the park, has been an inseparable part of the endless tiger stories of Kumaon focusing around the legendary Jim Corbett. It is this place where he resided.
Born in 1875, Corbett stayed in Kumaon till 1947 when he left for Kenya where he died in 1955. His home in Kaladhungi is now a museum.
Noted actor Tom Alter, who regularly visits the park, says he spent all his winter vacations here between 1958 and 1966. “The impressions created then are still strong in my mind. Corbett has given me a lot and I will try to give my bit back to it,” he said.
More than 2 lakh tourists visit the park between November and June every year.
Dhikala is the most well known zone in Corbett. It is located at the edge of the broad Patli Dun valley through which the Ramganga flows in numerous channels.
The Tourist Complex overlooks Dhikala chaur (one of the largest remaining grasslands of the Park) and Phulai chaur.
The Jhirna Zone, which is towards the southern boundary of the Reserve will, as usual, remain open throughout the year. The area in and around Bijrani once formed part of a shooting block. During the British period, it was known for the quality of game hunting that it offered to shikaris. Jhirna was a farming village until 1994 when it was successfully relocated under Project Tiger. Dhikala is the most well known zone in Corbett. It is located at the edge of the broad Patli Dun valley through which the Ramganga flows in numerous channels.
Jim Corbett took up a job with the railways at the age of seventeen and worked as assistant station master and a store keeper. The Terai area of Kumaon was infested with man- eating tigers those days. While Corbett was on leave once, he shot two of these. After this, villagers used to write letters to him and he would come to the scene and kill man-eaters.
Corbett’s life was linked inextricably with the life of the villagers in Kaladhungi and Nainital. He loved the area and its people, working always for their welfare. Stories of his goodness have been handed down from one generation to the next and villagers, even today, talk fondly of their “Carpet Saab”.
Corbett immortalised his life and times spent in Kumaon through his famous works Man-Eaters of Kumaon, a world classic Jungle lore, The Man Eating leopard of Rudraprayag, My India and Tree Tops.
Jim Corbett and FW Champion were friends who thought of tiger conservation way back in 1930s almost forty years before the launch of Project Tiger by Govt. of India. Jim Corbett was passionate about tigers and deeply concerned about their fate and rapid loss of their habitat. Champion was an IFS officer who was posted as the Deputy Conservator of Forests in Kalagarh Forest Division after the formation of Corbett National Park. Champion’s pool near Sarpduli Forest Rest House is named after him. The then Governor of United Province Sir Malcolm Hailey’s fore-sightedness and efforts by Jim Corbett and F W Champion resulted in the formation of Hailey National Park on 8 August 1936. At that time it was India’s first and one of the foremost National Parks of the world. It was renamed as Corbett National Park in 1957 as homage to Jim Corbett after his death in Kenya.