|
Where it's at
The Corbett National Park is 200 sq. miles of parkland in
the foothills of the Himalayas. It was established
in 1936 and is India's first National Park. Here you can ride
on an elephant if you are daring!
The park is named after the famous British hunter Jim
Corbett who was greatly revered by the local people for
shooting man-eating tigers. About 20 people a year are still
killed by tigers, but the tigers are close to extinction in
India thanks to the efforts of 20th century British colonialist
hunting for sport and for the fur trade.
Today the main aim of the park is to preserve the huge variety
of wild life that resides here, including wild elephant, jackal,
leopard and over 1,000 species of bird. It was from Corbett
that a major effort to save the tiger was launched in 1973,
called Project Tiger. As a result of that project,
the total tiger population in India has doubled to about 4000,
and 135 of which live in the Corbett National Park. |
