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Dudhwa National Park
Best Time to Visit:
November to May.
Further east along the Terai, the Dudhwa National Park,
which is also a Tiger Reserve, is located in the district
of Lakhimpur - Kheri, very close to the Nepal border.
Other inhabitants include the sloth bear, jackal, wild pig
and the lesser cats - the fishing cat, leopard cat, jungle
cat and civet. Dudhwa has also an abundance of birds. Its
marshes are home to a range of water birds both local and
migratory. There are spectacular painted storks black and
white necked storks, sarus cranes and varied night birds
of prey, ranging from the great Indian horned owl to the
jungle owlet.
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 crossfi re
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.
About
National Parks
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