One of the leisure pursuits of the super rich Maharajas and
the British Officials in India was the Tiger Hunting. It meant to be the Manly
sport, though driven by elephants and hordes of the villagers, the Maharajas
got trophies to adorn their Palatial Mansions which we call the Palaces.
The Tiger hunting was an elaborate affair with huge retinue
collected days before the tiger hunt. At times the entire household would
participate and thus arrangements were made to transport the entire seraglio to
the hunting grounds. These Hunting grounds are today’s Tiger Reserves, Sanctuaries
and National Parks.
10th May, 2013; the Government of Rajasthan notified one
such erstwhile Hunting Grounds of Tigers, Mukundra Hills. This has become the
third tiger reserve in the state of Rajasthan.
Aproximatley 759 sq Km spread over four of the 31 districts
would namely Kota, Bundi, Jhalawar and Chittorgarh now forms the Reserve Area.
Of which 417 sq km have been is the core habitat area of The Tiger and 342.82
sq km is the buffer zone. The existing tiger reserves of Ranthambore and
Sariska have a core area nearly thrice the size of Mukundra Tiger Reserve.
With the density of Tiger population increasing in Ranthambore National Park led to territorial fights in the recent past. The creation of
this reserve would thus ease off the situation as with the relocation of the
Tigers from Ranthambore National Park. It would take another year for the
relocation to happen.
The core area of the Mukundra reserve currently has six
villages, two of which are uninhabited. Eventually all these villages will have
to be relocated funded by the NTCA. The sanctuary currently has wolves, sloth
bear, chinkaras and leopards.
The Mukundra hill sanctuary already declared as the
satellite core area of Ranthambore reserve by the NTCA (National Tiger
Conservation Authority). It was natural and logical step by the conservation
body to link the area as Tigers often strayed into Mukundra area to breed.
The proposed Mukundara Hills Tiger Reserve constitutes three
wildlife sanctuaries including Darrah, Jawahar Sagar and Chambal. This hilly
sanctuary with thick forests is worth a visit. The animals here include Wolf,
Sloth Bear, Chinkara and Leopard. This sanctuary is stretched in the area of
250 sq Km, around 50 Km from Kota.
It is to be noted that the approval was accorded by the
National Tiger Conservation Authority for creation of five tiger reserves in
India, which namely are:
- Pilibhit (Uttar Pradesh)
- Ratapani (Madhya Pradesh)
- Sunabeda (Odisha)
- Mukundara Hills (Rajasthan)
- Satyamangalam (Tamil Nadu)
As the frequent traveler to Rajasthan Wild Life Circuits or
any National Park knows the National Parks are open to the public from the 1st
of October till 30th of June every year. IN the monsoon especially the core
areas are closed as it is the breeding time too for these magnificent beasts.
The best time is the winter seasons but the months of April
to June increase the sighting chances with loss of foliage cover in the Parks
for this King of the Jungle.
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