Wildlife Photography Workshop — Jim Corbett, Uttarakhand

Corbett Tiger Reserve covers about 1,288 sq km. At its centre is the national park, of about 521 sq km. This is the core zone. The forest around the core is the buffer zone, where some human use is allowed. The park opened in 1936 as Hailey National Park. It was the first national park in mainland Asia. Today it has the name of Jim Corbett, a hunter who became a naturalist and author. In 1973, Corbett became one of the first nine reserves of Project Tiger, the national programme to protect tigers. The 2022 national tiger count recorded 260 tigers here. No other Indian tiger reserve recorded more.

Most of the park is dense forest of sal, a tall tree. Sal and many other trees here are deciduous, which means they lose their leaves in the dry season. Open grasslands cover about 10% of the park. Local people call these grasslands "chaur". The Ramganga River runs through the park. It has gharials, mugger crocodiles and otters. A gharial is a fish-eating crocodile with a long, thin snout. Other mammals include leopard, Asian elephant, sloth bear and several types of deer. The park also has records of more than 580 bird species. The departures run in March. When the deciduous trees lose their leaves, you can see further into the forest.