National Parks of India

Indravati National Park (1982)

Located along the bank of Indravati River in the Bijaipur District of Chhattisgarh, it is home to one of last populations of rare wild buffalo. It derives its name from the Indravati River which flows from west to east. The flora in the Indravati National Park consists ma inly of tropical moist deciduous type with predominance of sal, teak, bamboo, mahua, tendu, semal, haldu, jamun, ber, salai, and trees. There are also rich patches of excellent grasslands providing much required fodder to buffalos, chital, barking deer, nilgai, gaur (Indian bison) and other herbivores of the park.

It is one of the last habitats for the endangered wild buffalo. Moreover, there are nilgai, black buck, cha using ha (four-horned antelope), sambar, chital, wild boar, tigers, leopards, sloth bear, dhole (wil-dog) and stripped hyena. Fresh water crocodiles, lizards, Indian chameleon, common krait, Indian rock-python, cobra are also found. The park also gives shelter to a large variety of birds of which Hill -myna is the most important.

Kalakad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve

Located in the southern-western Ghats in Tirunelveli and Kanniyakumari districts of Tamil Nadu, the Kalakad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve was established in 1988. It has 150 endemic plants, 33 shift, 37 amphibians, 81 reptiles and 273 birds.

It has tigers, leopards, wild-cat, Nilgiri- tahr, wild pig, mouse deer sloth bear, lion-tailed macaque, langur slender loris, giant squirrel and crocodiles.

Kanger Ghati (Valley) National Park (1982)

Located in the Jagdalpur District of Chhattisgarh, it is also called as the Kanger Valley National Park. The flora of the park consists of mixed moist deciduous type of forest with predominance of sal, teak and bamboo trees. In addition to these, the National Park is also known for medicinal plants, grasses, climbers, wild sugarcane, canes, ferns and epiphytes. The main fauna of the Kanger Valley National Park include tigers, leopards, mouse-deer, wild-cat, chital, sambar, barking deer, jackals, langurs, sloth bear, ying squirrel, wild-boar, striped hyena, rabbits, pythons, cobra and crocodiles.

Kanha National Park and Tiger Reserve (1955)

It is the largest National Park of Madhya Pradesh. The park has a significant population of Royal Bengal Tiger, leopards, sloth bear, swamp deer, Indian-gaur, barasingha and Indian wild dog. Kanha National park is rich in sal, and other mixed forest trees interspersed with meadows. The highland forests are tropical moist dry deciduous type. It has many open grasslands. Moreover, there are climbers, shrubs and numerous flowering plants.

Kasu Brahmanand Reddy National Park (1998)

Famous for peacocks, the Kasu Brahmanand Reddy National Park is located in the Jubilee Hills in Hyderabad (Telengana). Sprawling over 400 acres, this National Park houses the famous Chiran Palace complex. It is often described as a jungle amidst the concrete jungle. The park small Indian civet, peacock, jungle cat, more than 600 species of plants, 140 species of birds and 30 varieties of butter

Kaziranga National Park (1905)

Located in the Golaghat and Nagaon districts of Assam, the Kaziranga National Park is a World Heritage Site. There are more than two-thirds of world’s great one-horned rhinocerous. According to the census of 2015, the current population of rhinocerous in Kaziranga is 2401 as published by the Forest Department, Govt. of India. Moreover, it has the highest density of tigers among protected areas in the world. It is the home to large breeding populations of elephants, wild water buffalo and swamp deer. Kaziranga National Park has a vast expanse of tall elephant grass, marshland and dense moist deciduous forests.

Keibul Lamjo National Park (1977)

Located in the Bishanpur District of Manipur, this National Park was created in 1977. It is an integral part of Loktak Lake and the only floating park in the world. The park is characterized by many floating decomposed plant materials locally called phumdis. The park, primarily composed of moist semi-evergreen forests, has rich amalgam of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. The grassland structure of the park is aquatic flora recorded in the park which includes wild rice, reeds and grasses. The main fauna includes brown-antlered deer which is the flagship species of the park. In addition to this, hog-deer, wild boar, large Indian civet, common otter, fox, golden cat, and sambar are important. The main birds include kingfisher, black kite, lesser sky-lark, northern hill myna, crow, cranes and wood pecker.

Jim Corbett National Park (1936)

Located in the Nainital District of Uttarakhand, it is the oldest National Park of India. The Ramnagar River passes through the Jim Corbett National Park. Its flora consists of dense moist deciduous forest mainly sal, haldu, peepal, rohini, and mango trees. Among the fauna, Bengal Tiger, leopard, elephants, small cats, black bears, mongoose, sambar, hog-deer, langur, macaques, chital and owls are important.

Manas National Park (1990)

Located in the foothills of the Himalayas, it is a national park is a UNESCO Natural World Heritage site, a Project Tiger Reserve, an Elephant Reserve and a biosphere reserve in Assam. This National Park is known for its rare and endangered endemic wildlife such as Assam roofed turtle, hispid hare, golden langur, wild water buffalo, Indian tigers, rhinoceros, gaurs , clouded leopards, golden cat, macaques, gibbons, otters, barking deer, panthers sambar and Pygmy Hog. The main vegetation types include Sub-Himalayan semi-evergreen forests, moist deciduous and dry deciduous forests. It also has low alluvial savanna woodlands and numerous types of grasses.

Marine National Park (1982)

Located on the southern shore of the Gulf of Kachchh in the Jamnagar District of Gujarat, it was declared a National Park in 1982. There are 42 islands on the Jamnagar coast in the Marine National Park. Most of these islands are surrounded by coral reefs. The best known island is Pirotan. The main fauna includes, 52 species of corals, jellyfish, crabs, lobsters, shrimps, prawns, oysters octopus, starsh, sea-cucumbers, sea-urchin s, sea horse (dugongs), sharks, endangered sea turtles.

Melgat National Park (173-74)

Located in the Amravati District of Maharashtra, its boundaries are formed by the Tapi River and Satpura Range. The Tapi River flows through the northern end. The main fauna found are tiger, leopard, sloth bear, wild dog, sambar, gaur, barking deer, nilgai, chital, chausingha, ying squirrel, langur, monkeys procupines python, otter and hare.

Nagarhole National Park (1999)

Located in the Brahmagiri Hills of Karnataka, it is located to the north-west of Bandipur National Park. The main flora includes teak and rosewood, sandalwood, silver oak and golden shower trees. The fauna of this National Park include tiger, leopard, wild dog (Dhole), gaur, wild boar, elephant and langurs.

Nagarjunsagar National Park (1967)

Nagarjunsagar Srisailam Tiger Reserve is the largest Tiger Reserve spread over the districts of Nalgonda, Mahboobnagar and Kurnool districts. The total area of the tiger reserve is 3568 km2. The main types of flora consists of tropical dry mixed deciduous forest and thorn scrub forest. Important plant species axlewood, terminalia. The main mammals in the reserve are:

Bengal Tiger, Indian leopard, sloth bear, dhole, Indian pangolian, chital, sambar deer, blackbuck, chinkara, and chowsingha. Crocodiles, Indian pythons, king cobra and India pea-fowl are also found in this National Park.

Namdapha National Park (1974)

Located in Arunachal Pradesh, it is the largest National Park in the Eastern Himalayas and the third largest in India. It is known for the evergreen forests and for extensive Dipterocarp forests. Moreover, the National Park has extensive bamboo forests. The park is the home of a great diversity of mammal species. It is known for snow leopard, clouded leopards, and tigers. Other large predators are dhole, wolves, and Asiatic black bears. Smaller carnivores include red panda, red fox, yellow -throated marten, Eurasian Otter and common palm civet, fishing cat, Asiatic golden cat, and two species of mongoose. Large herbivores are represented by elephants, wild-boar, musk-deer, hog-deer, sambhar, gaur, serow and bharal.

Nameri National Park (1978)

Nameri is a National park at the foothills of the Eastern Himalayas in Sonitpur District of Assam about 35 km from Tezpur. The main flora includes semi-evergreen, moist deciduous forests with cane and bamboo brakes and narrow strips of open grasslands along the rivers. The elephants, tigers, leopards, sambhar, dhole, pygmy hog, gaur, wild boar, sloth bear, capped langur and Indian giant squirrel are the main fauna.