Rajaji National Park


Rajaji National Park is an Indian national park and tiger reserve that encompasses the Shivaliks, near the foothills of the Himalayas. The park is spread over 820 km2., and three districts of Uttarakhand: Haridwar, Dehradun and Pauri Garhwal. In 1983, three wildlife sanctuaries in the area namely, Chilla, Motichur and Rajaji sanctuaries were merged into one. The Ganga and Song rivers flow through the park.
Rajaji National Park has been named after C. Rajagopalachari, a prominent leader of the Freedom Struggle, the second and last Governor-General of independent India and one of the first recipients of India's highest civilian award Bharat Ratna.

Tiger reserve status

Final approval was accorded to Kudremukh and Rajaji for declaring as a tiger reserve on 15 April 2015. Rajaji became the second tiger reserve in Uttarakhand.

Flora

Rajaji National Park of India is nestled between the Shivalik ranges and the Indo-Gangetic plains. Broadleaved deciduous forests, riverine vegetation, scrubland, grasslands and pine forests form the range of flora in this park. The dense jungles here are home to vivacious wildlife. The varied topography of the national park is also responsible for vivid animal life inhibited here. The under-wood is light and often absent, consisting of rohini Mallotus philippensis, amaltas Cassia fistula, shisham Dalbergia sissoo, Sal Shorea robusta, palash Butea monosperma, arjun Terminalia arjuna, khair Senegalia catechu, baans Dendrocalamus strictus, semul Bombax ceiba, sandan, chamaror Ehretia, amla Phyllanthus emblica, kachnar Bauhienia variegata, ber Ziziphus mauritiana, chilla Casearia, bel Aegle marmelos, etc.

Fauna

Rajaji National Park is predominantly formed from dense green jungles, and this environment forms a habitat for a number of animals. The park is at the northwestern limit of distribution for both elephants and tigers in India. The park is most renowned for its elephants. The mountain goat, goral is another noteworthy resident. It is mainly confined to the precipitous pine-covered slopes. Besides the huge pachyderms and the nimble goats, you might come across huge herds of chital, sometimes as many as 250 to a herd. sambar, barking deer, hog deer, nilgai, wild boar and sloth bears also inhabit these forests though you may not always catch a glimpse of these. The rhesus macaque and the common langur are fairly common here. Tigers and leopards are the prime predators in Rajaji. The leopard cat, jungle cat, civet and yellow-throated marten are other carnivores. Mammals like the hyena, jackal and the Bengal fox scavenge in the park. The Himalayan black bear though uncommon, can be sighted in the higher reaches of the park. Other wild animals found in the park include:
tusker dust bathing at Rajaji National Park
in Rajaji National Park, India
Over 315 species of birds are found in the park, whereas the wider region has over 500 species of birds, including both residents and migrants. The most prominent avian species include pea fowl, vultures, woodpeckers, pheasants, kingfishers and barbets, supplemented by a number of migratory species during the winter months. The park is also home to the Great Pied Hornbill, Oriential Pied Hornbill, Pied Kingfisher, Crested Kingfisher, Spotted Forktail, Asian Paradise Flycatcher, Greater Racket-tailed Drongo, Lesser Racket-tailed Drongo, Crimson Sunbird and the Fire-tailed Sunbird, among hundreds of other rare and exotic species. This area is the first staging ground after the migratory birds cross over the Himalayas into the Indian subcontinent.
The rivers which flow through the park harbour species of fish such as trout and mahseer.

Incidents

Rajaji National Park was in the news in April 2010 when a forest fire which started on the fringes of the park, spread out over a large area and threatened the Chandi Devi Temple.
In 2015 field employees of the Forest Department working with the Rajaji Tiger Reserve had decided to boycott the wildlife census to begin shortly in the park to protest the delay in payment of salary for November.