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To wildlife watchers in India, Dudhwa is Billy Arjan Singh
country. Long before the rest of the world had even heard
of this amazing wilderness, Billy, a tough and determined
man, chose to make Dudhwa his home with the express
purpose of saving its tigers. With its fine sal forests
and dense thickets that open abruptly into magnificent
grasslands, the habitat has become one of India's most
vibrant and exciting wildlife reserves -- and one of the
most vulnerable. Dudhwa is often called The Last Terai,
since it holds remains of the dense forests that once
existed along the foothills of the Himalayas. An aura of
mystery and prehistoric nostalgia envelops you as you
enter Dudhwa. In these forests lurks the unexpected. Here
species threatened across India continue to thrive. It is
also one of the best spots on earth to watch birds. But
life is not easy in Dudhwa. It has always been a land
where you have to struggle to succeed.
The area comprising the forest was
once the playground of the big game hunters. Full of
jheels (lakes) and marshland -- which have now been
converted to paddy and sugarcane fields -- this was once
the heart of the most extensive swamp deer ranges. Called
barasingha, or 12-pointed deer, the animals had caught the
imagination of the huntsmen. Predictably, their population
dwindled in the crossfire of hunting and habitat loss.
Today, as the grass bursts forth after the monsoon in the
protected confines of the park, the barasingha herds can
be seen raising their antlers skywards, assured of
survival at least for now. The barasingha is a vital prey
species for the tiger. These deer originally triggered
conservation efforts here and the fact that both predator
and prey continue to be relatively safe in Dudhwa speaks
volumes for Project Tiger's essential strategy: Save the
habitat if you want to save the wildlife. Among Dudhwa's
successes is the introduction of a small herd of Indian
one-horned rhinoceri into the Park (which shares a border
with Nepal) in 1984 with the active involvement of the
then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi.
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