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Sitabani Wildlife Reserve | |
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Sitabani | |
Location | Nainital, Uttarakhand, India |
Nearest city | Ramnagar |
Coordinates | 29°46′N79°26′E / 29.767°N 79.433°E |
http://www.sitabaniwildlifereserve.com https://sitabani.business.site |
Sitabani Wildlife Reserve is a wildlife reserve in Amgarhi, [1] located in the Nainital district of Uttarakhand, India. It is home to a variety of flora and fauna, including leopards, tigers, and over 500 species of native and migrating birds throughout the year. [2] Sitabani Wildlife Reserve is a scenic and diverse sanctuary in Uttarakhand's Nainital district. Also called home for tigers.
The wildlife reserve is named after Sita, the wife of Hindu god Rama, due to the belief that Sita and her sons Luv and Kush had spent some of her exile in this forest. [3]
Sitabani was subjected to years of slash and burn agriculture by its local villagers: in consequence, the land became degraded, and the moisture profile of the soil dropped. The surrounding forests contained dense numbers of ungulates including deer, nilgais, and wild boars that regularly destroyed crops. Also, domestic animals like cows, buffalo, goats, and even dogs would often be hunted by tigers and leopards.
Sitabani became a jungle habitat. Some higher barren parts of the estate were gradually made green by planting fruit trees, such as Indian Figs, Jamun, Wild Mango, Bhimal, Rohini, and Jackfruit. These trees naturally attracted birds and other wild herbivores. Water bodies were dug out to store excess rainwater, and with time these man-made ponds provided homes for fish, amphibians, insects and turtles. In dryer months, many of the wild animals from the neighbouring hills started coming to these ponds for water. Many endemic bamboo species were planted, which also served to feed deer and passing elephants. Many local villagers were inducted and employed at the reserve by the founder Abhishek Ray [4] thereby generating revenue through Eco-tourism and creating a sustainable conservation area. [5]
Being a part of the Trans-Himalayan birding corridor, the reserve gets both plain and mountain birds during latitudinal and attitudinal migration patterns. Some Himalayan animal species, like Himalayan Black Bear, Himalayan weasel, Yellow-throat Pine Marten, Himalayan Goral, and Himalayan Serow also visit the reserve, especially during the colder months. Indian leopards in this reserve inhabit the craggy cliffs and gorges to avoid interaction with their dominant predator, the Royal-Bengal Tiger. [6] [7] This tiger species prefers the thick forested valleys and lowlands. Herds of Asiatic Elephants pass through the reserve when migrating between the core and buffer areas of Jim Corbett National Park. Altitudinal and geographical variations and diverse flora, combined with direct connectivity with Jim Corbett National Park on one side and the Nainital Forest Division on the other, makes this reserve a natural tiger, leopard, and birding corridor of strategic conservation value. [8]
Jim Corbett National Park is a national park in India located in the Nainital district of Uttarakhand state. The first national park in India, it was established in 1936 during the British Raj and named Hailey National Park after William Malcolm Hailey, a governor of the United Provinces in which it was then located. In 1956, nearly a decade after India's independence, it was renamed Corbett National Park after the hunter and naturalist Jim Corbett, who had played a leading role in its establishment and had died the year before. The park was the first to come under the Project Tiger initiative.
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Rajaji National Park is a national park and tiger reserve in the Indian state of Uttarakhand. that encompasses the Shivaliks, near the foothills of the Himalayas. It covers 820 km2 (320 sq mi) and is included in three districts of Uttarakhand—Haridwar, Dehradun and Pauri Garhwal. In 1983, three wildlife sanctuaries in the area were merged into one.
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