A jeep safari is a good way to see the sights

One hundred years ago, India’s tigers numbered around 40,000, yet within decades the Royal Bengal Tiger faced extinction. Although hunting was outlawed in 1970, the survival of the species was threatened by continuing loss of habitat and by poaching.

Enacting the Wildlife Protection Act in 1972, India’s central government established the first nine tiger reserves, including Corbett and totalling 16,000sq km, across India.

Reserves now number 27 and encompass more than twice that initial land area.

Project Tiger has doubled India’s tiger population whilst safeguarding much of the gene pool and habitats for wildlife generally, although some argue that some smaller reserves are not viable populations.

As at Corbett, Tiger Reserves consist of a core, a heartland shielded from forestry, grazing and other disturbances. Buffer zones supplement the habitat and allow multiple uses, including pre-existing villages and forestry operations.

Project Tiger http://projecttiger.nic.in

Fact File

Corbett National Park is six hours drive east of Delhi. Overnight trains also serve Ramnagar, which offers a range of accommodation including the comfortable but bizarrely designed Country Inn Tree Tops, one of many hotels along the Ranikhet road.

Corbett Museum is 32 km from Ramnagar on the road to Nainital.

More information: Lonely Planet’s encyclopaedic India guide.

A legendary veteran of Corbett, he gave us valuable inputs on conservation of the Ramganga  River and on its monarc the Golden Mahseer and ethical ways of fishing. Brijender Singh, or just Brij has been the Honorary Warden of Corbett Tiger Reserve since 1982. He was recently awarded the Esso Award. The award recognizes the efforts of an individual or an organization for bravery, valor and lifetime dedicated to Tiger Conservation. Popularly known as Raja sahib he belongs to the royalty of Dada Siba in Himachal Pradesh and Kapurthala. Influenced by the well known hunter Colonel ANW Powell (Author of, The call of the Tiger) he was an avid hunter till the late sixties but he gave it up and instead became a staunch protector of wildlife and a keen nature photographer, this time much like the legendary Jim Corbett.

In the mid-1980s, he was also appointed as a member on the Indian Board for Wildlife, and the Steering Committee of Project Tiger and is its longest serving member. He was instrumental in many of the expansion plans of the Project Tiger Reserves, national parks and sanctuaries throughout the country, and trans-location of the great one horned rhinos from Assam to Dudhwa. During his tenure Corbett Tiger Reserve increased from a 520 sq km to its present 1,319 sq km with the addition of the Sonanadhi Sanctuary and adjoining buffer areas. This has ensured safe future for many migratory species particularly elephants. He has been instrumental in established Benog in Mussoorie, though sanctuary may still be hosting the Himalayan Quail a bird mysteriously lost to science.

He spends most of his time patrolling and organizing logistics in the Corbett Tiger Reserve. His wife Dawn has started a small school at Dhikala.