Sariska

The Sariska Tiger Reserve is one of the most famous national parks in India located in the Alwar district of the state of Rajasthan. Originally a hunting preserve of the erstwhile Alwar state, the area was declared a wildlife reserve in 1955. In 1978, it was given the status of a tiger reserve making it a part of India's Project Tiger scheme. The present area of the park is 866 km². The park is situated 107 km from Jaipur and 200 km from Delhi.^[1]

Some of the wildlife found in the Sariska Tiger Reserve include the Bengal tiger, leopard, jungle cat, hyena, jackal, chital, sambar, caracal, langur, wild boar, four-horned deer (chowsingha) and several species of birds. The reserve's tiger population nearly disappeared in 2005, however after sustained efforts by Wildlife Institute of India (WII) and state government of Rajasthan, the crisis was averted.

The reserve is also the location of several archeological sites such as the Neelkanth Mahadev Temple and Garh Rajor temples from the 9th and 10th centuries. The 17th-century Kankwadi fort, located near the center of the park, was where the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb briefly imprisoned his brother Dara Shikoh in the battle for succession of the Mughal throne. The area also has historical buildings associated with the Maharajas of Alwar such as the Sariska Palace, which was used as a royal hunting lodge of Maharaja Jai Singh.

Tiger population

An image of the Sariska Palace near Tiger Reserve. Dangers posed by growing human population in Sariska had nearly wiped out the reserve's tiger population in 2005.

In 2004, there were strong and persistent reports that no tigers were being sighted in Sariska Tiger Reserve in Rajasthan. It was not only that tigers were not being seen but also and more alarmingly, there were no indirect evidence of tiger’s presence (such as pugmarks, scratch marks on trees etc) being found. The Rajasthan Forest Department took the stand that "the tigers had temporarily migrated outside the reserve and would be back after the rains." The Project Tiger backed this assumption. In January 2005, journalist Jay Mazoomdaar broke the news ^[2] that there were no tigers left in Sariska. Soon the Rajasthan Forest Department and the Project Tiger Directorate declared an "emergency tiger census" in Sariska and the Central Bureau of Investigation, India's premier intelligence agency, conducted a probe. After a two month exercise they finally declared that Sariska indeed did not have any tigers left. Poaching was blamed to be one of the major reasons for the disappearance of tiger.^[3]

Relocation efforts

In 2005, efforts to relocate tiger to Sariska started. In 2006, the Government of India successfully persuaded the state government of Rajasthan to take more concrete relocation efforts.^[4] Under the program, five adult tigers were relocated to Sariska from Ranthambore National Park.^[5] The Wildlife Institute of India (WII) along with the state government of Rajasthan started tracking the relocated tigers with the help of ISRO's reconnaissance satellites.^[6] The Rajasthan government also shifted 15 villages neighboring Sariska in an effort curb poaching.^[7]

The efforts paid-off in June 2008 when one of the relocated tigers made its first kill indicating that the tigers have adopted themselves to the Sariska park.^[8] Forest officials said that tiger population of the reserve now stood at 21 and the park has a capacity of 50 tigers.^[8] Forest officials also observed in July 2008 that a male tiger flown in from Ranthambore had found a mate just within a week of being relocated.^[9]

General information

Another view of the Palace near Tiger Reserve

• Area: 866 km² total (497 km² core, 369 km² buffer)
• Altitude: Between 300 m and 722 m MSL
• Rainfall: Average 650mm (per annum)
• Forest Types: Tropical Dry Deciduous and Tropical Thorn

References

External links

• Government of India -- Project Tiger
• Wildlife Protection Society of India
• Rajasthan Tourism Page
• Article at National Geographic

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