Uttarakhand · North India
Jim Corbett
Grass, sal forest and the long wait
Dhikala grasslands, Corbett Tiger Reserve · Photo: Timothy Gonsalves, CC BY-SA 4.0
India's first national park, named for a hunter who stopped
In 1936 a stretch of sal forest and river grassland in the Kumaon foothills became Hailey National Park — the first national park in India. In 1957 it was renamed for Jim Corbett, the Naini Tal-born hunter who had spent years tracking man-eating tigers and leopards for the villages of Kumaon, wrote about it with unusual tenderness, and became one of the early voices for the animals' protection.
The park sits where the Ramganga leaves the hills, a mix of dense forest, cane-brake and the wide chaurs — grasslands — around Dhikala. In 1973 it was among the first reserves of Project Tiger, and today it holds one of the densest tiger populations anywhere, along with elephants, gharial in the river, and close to six hundred species of birds.
Kumaoni villages at the forest edge
The people who live around the park are mostly Kumaoni, and their year is tied to the land: Phool Dei in March, when children leave spring flowers on every doorstep, and Harela in July, when saplings are planted for the monsoon. Corbett's own house at Kaladhungi is now a small museum, and the village there still remembers him through families he knew.
Kumaoni food is plain, local and good once you find it — bhatt ki churkani, a dark gravy of black soybeans, aloo ke gutke spiced with jakhiya seeds, madua roti of finger millet, and a sharp mustard-laced raita. Ask your lodge to cook it rather than the standard buffet; most will, and gladly.
The honest logistics
- Best monthsNovember to June. Dhikala usually opens mid-November and closes mid-June; Bijrani opens a month earlier. The core shuts for the monsoon, and April to June is hot but best for sightings.
- Getting therePantnagar (PGH) is the nearest airport, about two and a half hours away. Most people come by road or train from Delhi to Ramnagar, roughly six hours.
- StayingForest rest houses inside Dhikala and Bijrani, booked only on the official reserve website; private lodges line the Kosi river outside.
- Days neededThree nights for four or five safaris. Fewer, and you are mostly hoping.
- Budget feelComfortable from ₹4,000/day plus safaris; river lodges from ₹10,000/day.
Local cuisine & must-try dishes
Festivals & celebrations
What a Saint will tell you
Book safaris and Dhikala rooms only through the official reserve portal, as early as it opens; resellers mark up the same permits. A night inside Dhikala is worth more than three outside, because you are in the grassland at first light. Wear dull colours, bring a warm layer for winter mornings in an open jeep, and listen — alarm calls from chital and langur will find a tiger long before your eyes do. And go knowing you may not see one. The forest is still worth it.
Being a good guest
Ask your driver not to crowd a sighting or chase an animal, and say so plainly if he does. Keep voices low and plastic out of the park. Outside, the lodge strip along the Kosi has grown fast and strains the river; choose places that treat their waste and employ people from the villages around them.
Where this path continues
Corbett's own country continues up into the hills: Nainital is about two hours away, the lake town where he grew up and spent his summers, with the Kumaon ridges rising behind it.