The Story Behind Jim Corbett National Park

About The Park

Jim Corbett National Park is one of the oldest and first national parks in India. This wild park is situated in Nainital & Pauri Garhwal district of Uttarakhand state of Northern India. The Corbett National Park was set up as the Hailey National Park in the year 1936 to safeguard the endangered Bengal Tiger and to protect them. It was renamed Ramganga back in the mid-1950s. Corbett Park is spread over an area of 520 square kilometers and it comprises of hills, river belts, grasslands, and big lakes. Days in this wild park Jim Corbett are sunny while nights are cold. This park has dense moist deciduous forests of sal, peepal, rohini, haldu, birch, spruce, bamboo, and mango trees. Tourists can see over 110 species of trees, 50 species of mammals, 580 species of birds, and 25 species of reptiles. Corbett Park has Patlidoon Valley where the river Ramganga flows in westerly direction.

History of Jim Corbett

There were several Britishers like E.R. Stevens and E.A. Smythies during the 1900s who recommended establishing a national park. Then the administration considered the probability of setting up a reserve back in 1907. Then a reserve named Hailey National Park was made under an area of 323 square kilometers. It was established back in 1936 and was named after Sir Malcolm Hailey, the Governor of the United Provinces. In 1936, this was the first time when a national park in India came into existence. The administration of the park prohibited hunting activities in the area and the timber wood was only to be used for domestic purposes. After some time, there was a ban too on killing or capturing of reptiles, mammals, and birds under its boundaries. In the year 1974, this park was selected as a location for the Project Tiger.

Everything was going well until the Second World War when ruthless poaching and timber cutting began. Then later on the area of the reserve was enhanced and 798km2 was added to it in 1991 as a buffer zone that included the Kalagarh division of Sonanadi Wildlife Sanctuary.

Corbett National Park falls under the thirteen areas of the World Wide Fund for Nature under the Terai Arc Landscape Program, a program meant to preserve the tiger, Asian elephant, and one-horned rhinoceros species of the five terrestrial flagship species.

Hailey National Park to Jim Corbett National Park

Jim Corbett or James Edward Corbett was an army official of the British-Indian Army and was also a great wildlife lover, conservationist, and author. Due to what he did as a nature activist, the Hailey National Park was renamed the Jim Corbett National Park. Jim Corbett was an Indian who was born in Nainital to his parents Christopher William Corbett and Mary Jane. He has had a great interest in and love for wildlife right from his childhood, and so he became a great hunter and tracker. Once, the government summoned him for his help in tracking and hunting the man-eater tigers. Edward was a polished hunter, but despite his skills, he didn’t kill any animal except those man-eaters.

James Edward Corbett started a movement for the conservation of wildlife and forests and also he supported the All-India Conference for the Preservation of Wildlife. Furthermore, he encouraged the establishment of the Association for the Preservation of Game in the United Provinces. The Hailey National Park was renamed Jim Corbett National Park after India’s independence in 1956 in honor of the renowned Jim Corbett. Jim Corbett and his sister left for Kenya after India’s independence in November 1947, they sold their Kumaon home which was converted into Jim Corbett Museum. This was and is now one of the major tourist attractions near the Jim Corbett National Park.