Jim Corbett

A closer look at Jim Corbett

Jim Corbett is India's oldest national park, established in 1936 as Hailey National Park and renamed for the hunter-turned-conservationist whose books about the man-eaters of Kumaon are still in print nearly a century later. It covers around 520 square kilometres of the core park, expanding to over 1,280 with the surrounding tiger reserve, and it was the site of Project Tiger's launch in 1973. Today it holds one of the densest tiger populations in the world — roughly 250 in the wider reserve — along with Asiatic elephants, leopards, sloth bears, sambar, four kinds of deer and more than 600 bird species.

The park is divided into zones and which one you get matters more than anything else about your booking. Dhikala is the classic — a grassland plateau deep inside the park with forest rest houses, only accessible on an overnight permit, and the best chance of seeing tiger and elephant together in open country. Bijrani is grassland and sal forest with excellent sightings and easier access from Ramnagar. Jhirna and Dhela stay open year-round when the others close. Durga Devi is hilly, riverine and superb for birds, particularly for the ibisbill and the great hornbill.

Safaris run twice daily, early morning and mid-afternoon, in open jeeps with a licensed guide and a park naturalist, and permits are issued by zone in a limited number that sells out well ahead in season. This is the part we take off your hands: we book zone permits as soon as the window opens, arrange the jeep and guide, and hold rooms at a resort along the Kosi river that puts you at the gate rather than an hour away at dawn. The canter bus option in Dhikala is a good budget alternative for larger groups.

The park core is open from mid-October to mid-June and closed through the monsoon, when the Ramganga floods and the tracks become impassable. November to February gives comfortable days and excellent bird life; March to June is hot but delivers the best tiger sightings as animals concentrate at shrinking water sources. Corbett is around four hours from Haridwar, which makes it an easy three-night addition to a Rishikesh or Nainital trip, and we frequently pair it with a dawn safari in Rajaji, which starts on Haridwar's own doorstep.