Ranthambore National Park &Tiger Reserve

The Ranthambore forest is a large landscape of dry deciduous Anogeissus Pendula forest which is left intact in India. Earlier, there was many such forests exist along the foothills of the Aravali and Vindhya mountain range, but with time, many forests degraded and destroyed by the human interference. For now, the plateau of the Ranthambore forest is the only such a big expanse of dry deciduous Anogeissus pendula forest exists in India.

Situated on the plateau that lies between the hills of the Aravali and Vindhya Range, the forest is endowed with the amazing natural bliss in the dry and deserted region of Rajasthan state. The rich diversity of the flora and fauna in the Ranthambore National Park is the prime reason to attract millions of tourists every year.

Among such a large variety of flora and fauna, the Panthera Tigris or the royal Bengal tiger is the premier species in the Ranthambore Park. The park is the only region in the westernmost part of India where tigers exist. However, the growing count of the tigers in this forest has paved the way for other national park and sanctuaries in the Rajasthan to host tiger and be the natural habitat of this wild endangered animal.

Many tigers and cubs are relocated to the other parks to distribute the growing density of tigers in the Ranthambore forest. The forest also plays an important role in the wildlife corridor development to connect the protected forests to enhance the proper distribution of wild animals.

The Ranthambore tiger reserve is also an important watershed for the nearby regions, and it is more significant considering the low annual rainfall in the region. It is the prominent watershed of the Chambal River and many other reservoirs that surround the forest.

The forest plays a crucial role in boosting the ground water of the adjacent areas and it is very significant because the ground water and reservoirs are the only sources of water in the neighboring areas due to the minimal annual rainfall.

The landscape of the Ranthambore forest is mostly rough and craggy with low hills and steep outcrops. The hilly area of Aravali range normally has ridges on one side and the moderate slope on the other. This Aravali expanse is mostly undulating landscape except for a few small flat terrain areas and few small valleys. These valleys are the home to a wide range of wildlife species and are very rich in the natural beauty. These valleys are the favorite spot for the tigers of the forest.

The narrow water streams drained in the river Banas in the northern region and in the river Chambal in the southern region of the forest. However, most of these narrow water streams are the seasonal channels except few streams flowing in the sharp ridges are permanent because the rocky layers beneath doesn't allow the water to percolate through the soil.

Both the rivers in Ranthambore, the Chambal and the Banas are having the prominent ravines in the area which holds very significant value to enhance flora and fauna in the region. Due to the sandy soil along the river banks, the ravines are created and few ravines along the Chambal River are very deep around 50 meters and long about 8 km.

The landscape of the forest varies dramatically from the mild and vertical slopes to the sharp and pointed hills as the geography changes from the Vindhyas range to the Aravali range. Adding to the vintage quotient, there is a 10th century old Fort, a world heritage site, right in the middle of the forest.

The whole forest has been covered with the Dhok (Anogeissus pendula), somewhere dense and somewhere sparse, along with the grasslands around the water bodies, valleys and abundant flora around the canals. The beautiful lakes are the prime attractions for the tourists in the forest.

The main lakes like Padam Talao, Malik Talao and Raj Bagh Talao are very rich in aquatic vegetation which includes lotus, lilies, duckweeds, etc.

The region of the Ranthambore National Park is having the sub-tropical dry climate with mainly three seasons all round the year - summer, winter and monsoon.

During the regal era, before the independence of India, there was enormous forest cover spans almost entire Indian sub-continent. But with the time as the population grew and industrial development begun, to cater the need of the people, the exploitation of forests was started which led to the massive destruction of the green cover in the country.

The shrinking forest cover and wildlife in the country compelled the government to give attention on this mounting problem and thus various policies were introduced to save the remaining forests and the wild inhabitants of the forests by making them reserve forests and national parks.

Before the end of the imperial era in Rajasthan, the Ranthambore forest was the exclusive hunting ground for the Royal members of the Jaipur Kingdom. The forest was owned by the Maharajah of Jaipur and managed by their hunting department. The local residents of the villages around the forest were allowed to take the forest produces after paying the little yearly tax to the kingdom's treasury department.

However, at that time, the population density around the forest was so low that there was hardly any impact on the Jungle due to human interference. Even being a hunting place for the Jaipur Royals, there was no any significant damage could be possible to such a large forest and its rich wildlife species due to the occasional hunting practice.

However, due to the severe exploitation of the forest areas in India, the forest conservation policies were badly needed in the country by mid of the twentieth century. Thus, in 1953, the Rajasthan forest act came into the force to provide some legal protection to the forests in Rajasthan. Though it was not enough to completely safeguard the forest cover, but it has slowed down the exploitation little bit.

In 1955, the entire forest cover around Ranthambore was declared as the Sawai Madhopur Sanctuary and thus any kind of commercial activity in the forest was completely prohibited. However, the count of tigers in the forests was diminishing and this wild predator came on the verge of extinction in the country. So, a tiger conservation program Project Tiger was instigated in 1973 by the government of India. An area of 60 sq miles of Sawai Madhopur Sanctuary was taken under the project Tiger Scheme and the area was declared as the Tiger reserve area.

By 1980, more than 12 villages were shifted out of the sanctuary and an area of around 282.03 sq km was declared as the national park. Since then the area of tiger reserve and the national park increased over the time by including the adjacent forest areas in the protected zone.

In 1983, 647 sq km of forest that was lying adjacent to the north side of the Ranthambore National Park was named as the Kela Devi Sanctuary and included in the tiger reserve zone. In the same way, 130 sq km of forest lying beside the southern periphery of the park was declared as the Sawai Mansingh Sanctuary in 1984 and also incorporated into the Ranthambore tiger reserve.

Due to these tiger conservation efforts, the count of tiger has surged tremendously after 1973 since the project tiger was initiated. According to the latest census in 2014, the count of tiger reached around 64 in the Ranthambore tiger reserve.

Safari in Ranthambore National Park is considered best in the world to view wild tigers in their natural habitat.