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 National Parks

Ranthambhore National Park is located at 16 km from Swaimadhopur and is an important destination of Indian & Foreign tourists. The region is a historically important remainder of the misty past. The forests around the Ranthambhore fort were the private hunting grounds of the Maharaja of Jaipur. The 392.5 sq. km. of the forest area was declared as a sanctuary by the State Government on 7th November  1955. In 1973, it was included as one of the nine Tiger Reserves of the Project Tiger www.projecttiger.nic.in . On 1st November 1980, the State Government declared 274.5 sq. km. of the area as the National Park.

The beautiful Dry deciduous mixed forests, surrounded by the Vindhyas and the Aravallis have Dhok as the predominant specie and the other species like Dhak, Salar, Gurjan, Jamun, Mango, Churel and Bamboo etc. The area has 6 main  water bodies viz. Padam Talab, Rajbagh, Malik Talab, Gilai Sagar, Man Sarovar and Lahpur. The old Jogi Mahal situated in the park near Padam Talab is a place of  tourist attraction. Its really very pleasant to sit in the open verandah of Jogi Mahal and watch the activities of wildlife in and around Padam Talab. The huge Banyan tree near Jogi Mahal is said to be more than 600 years old.

Ranthambhore is famous for its Tigers. Over the last few decades, as a result of strict preservation, tigers have become more and more active during the day, thus belying the earlier belief that they are nocturnal animals. They have lost all fear of humans and are quite unperturbed by their presence. They can easily be seen here in broad day light. It is not an exaggeration to say that Ranthambhore is the best park in India to see the tigers in their natural surroundings and photograph them. Panthers are the second main predators of the area and are found on the periphery of the park. The other predators found here are Hyenas, Jacals and Jungle cats. Caracal also have been reported. Wild dogs were last sighted way back in 1954. It is not known why they have disappeared from these forests completely. The marsh crocodiles can easily be seen in and around the lakes or basking on the shores of the lakes.  The herbivorous population includes chital, sambar, blue bull etc. Sambhar deer is the pride of the park. There is no other park in Asia, where these largest of all Asiatic deer can be seen so frequently during day-time. Wild boars and langurs are a common sight.

The park is very rich in birdlife as well. Painted stork, Black necked stork, White necked stork, Spoon bill, Green pigeon, Crested serpent eagle, Bonelli's eagle, Great Indian horned owl, Grey partridge, Sandgrouse, Bush quail, Peacock, Indian tree pie and Paradise flycatcher are among the resident birds of the park. In addition, during the winter months the park receives a variety of migratory birds like Grey lag geese, Pintails, Shovellers and Ruddy shelduck etc.

Ranthambhore is equally rich in archaeological monuments. The fort of Ranthambhore, situated on a large hill, is inaccessible even today except for its gate. It has been declared as a protected Monument by the Archaeological Survey of India. The famous Lord Ganesh temple receives large number of religious tourists.

 To secure tiger in their home, the departments of Forest and Tourism have imposed restrictions on duration of sightings and chalked out new exit routes for tourists in Ranthambhore . The decisions were taken to reduce congestion in the park and save the tigers from over exposure in a meeting of the Tiger Task Force in Jaipur on Wednesday .

Link  www.ranthambhore.com
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