It was piercing cold as we braved the December chill at 4 am in the morning. The freezing chilly winds could not deter us in our pursuit to spot tigers at the Jim Corbett National Park, a part of the larger Corbett Tiger Reserve. As we entered the gates at the crack of dawn, the sky turned bluish purple. Once inside, the vegetation started getting dense. The eerie silence of the jungle was occasionally broken by the snorting of deer, hooting of langurs and grunting of vultures. But we had our eyes set on the majestic creature, the tiger. I will never be able to forget that encounter with the big cat, which left an indelible impression of the aura, mystique, and beauty of this awe-inspiring orange-brown striped majestic creature on me.
“Tigers, except when wounded or when man-eaters, are on the whole very good-tempered,” said Colonel Edward James Jim Corbett, an Indian-born British hunter, naturalist and author. Jim Corbett was enchanted by the forests and the wildlife around his home in Kumaon region of Uttarakhand in India from an early age. During his life, Corbett tracked and shot about a dozen man-eaters. Established in the year 1936 as Hailey National Park, India’s oldest and most prestigious national park was renamed as Jim Corbett National Park later on.
Interestingly, it was Kailash Sankhala, widely known as the Tiger Man of India who was the first conservationist to raise a voice to protect the tiger in the year 1956. He took this initiative in an era when hunting of tigers was still a practice. He spread the message of saving tigers that were bordering on the verge of extinction. Due to extensive hunting, the tiger population had started declining at an alarming rate. In 1973, Project Tiger was first launched at the Jim Corbett National Park with a mission to safeguard the endangered animal. Now, there are as many as 51 parks and sanctuaries involved in this project.
Global Tiger Day or International Tiger Day is held every year to raise awareness for tigers and their conservation. In 2010, at the Saint Petersburg Tiger Summit in Russia, it was decided to mark 29th July as a day to raise public awareness for Tiger conservation.
In 1956, it was Kailash Sankhala, widely known as the Tiger Man of India who raised a voice to protect the tiger.
Tigers are found in the stretch ranging from the Russian Far East through parts of North Korea, China, India and Southeast Asia to the Indonesian island of Sumatra.
Global Tiger Day or International Tiger Day is held every year to raise awareness for tigers and their conservation.
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