Indravati National Park

Indravati National Park is a national park located in Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh state of India.[1] It derives its name from the nearby Indravati River. It is home to one of the last populations of rare wild buffalo.

Indravati National Park
Indravati Tiger Reserve
IUCN category II (national park)
LocationBijapur district, Chhattisgarh, India
Nearest cityJagdalpur
Coordinates19°12′18″N 81°1′53″E
Area1,258.37 km2 (485.86 sq mi)
Established1975
Governing bodyConservator of Forest (Field Director)
web.archive.org/web/20160215012121/http://www.itrbijapur.in/

Indravati National Park is the finest and most famous wildlife parks of Chhattisgarh. It is one among the three project tiger sites in Chhattisgarh along with Udanti-sitanadi, Indravati National Park is located in Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh. The park derives its name from the Indravati River, which flows from east to west and forms the northern boundary of the reserve with the Indian state of Maharashtra. With a total area of approximately 2799.08 km2, Indravati attained the status of a national park in 1981 and a tiger reserve in 1983 under the famous Project Tiger of India, to become one of the most famous tiger reserves of India.

Topography

The topography of the park mainly comprises undulating hilly terrain with altitude ranging between 177 and 599 metres above the sea level.

Flora

The vegetation of the Indravati National Park is mainly of the tropical moist and dry deciduous type with predominance of bamboo, sal and teak. There are also rich patches of luxuriant grassland providing plenty of food to large herbivores such as wild water buffalos, chital, barking deer, nilgai, and gaurs. The most common tree in the park are teak, lendia, salai, mahua, tendu, semal, haldu, ber and jamun.

Wildlife

Indravati National Park has one of the last populations of the endangered wild Asian buffalo. The national park is also home to a variety of other ungulate species. Reported from the area are gaur (Indian bison), nilgai, blackbuck, chausingha (four-horned antelope), sambar, chital, Indian muntjac, Indian spotted chevrotain and wild boar. Large predators are represented by tigers, leopards, sloth bears, dholes (wild dog) and striped hyenas. Smaller mammals include flying squirrel, porcupine, pangolins, rhesus monkeys and langurs among many others.[2] The commonly found reptiles in the park are freshwater crocodile, monitor lizard, Indian chameleon, common krait, Indian rock python, cobra and Russell's viper to name a few. The park also gives shelter to the large variety of birds of which the hill myna is the most important species.

Transport

Indravati National Park is easily approachable from Jagdalpur, the district headquarters of Bastar. The village Kutrue, the main entry point of the park, is situated at the distance of 22.4 km north of Jagdalpur-Bhopalpattanam road. The Kutrue link road is at the distance of 145.6 km from Jagdalpur. Raipur (486 km) has the nearest airport and Jagdalpur (168 km) is the nearest railhead from the Indravati National Park.

Visiting

The best season to visit the park is from 15 December to 15 June.

See also

References
  1. "Chhattisgarh Forest Department Welcomes You". forest.cg.gov.in. Archived from the original on 11 October 2011. Retrieved 11 October 2011.
  2. D. K. Harshey & Kailash Chandra (2001). Mammals of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. Zoos´ Print Journal 16(12): 659-668 online

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