Suman Kumar

Wildlife tourism in Gujrat Gujrat is very well known for its rich culture and variety of flora and fauna which makes it an absolute treat for the nature lover. It makes home to 402 species of animals and 45 species of birds. Gujrat's jungles are home to a good population of the sloth bear, Asiatic lions, greater flamingo, blackbuck. Indian wild ass, Indian bustard, etc. As we all know Gujrat is very much famous for Lions which are found in Jungle of Girs. Due to its rich natural flavour wildlife tour here becomes a dream of every naturalist. If someone wants to experience the thrill of best reserves of India Gujrat is a must which provides extreme opportunity to experience the animated colours of wildlife and nature. There are 21 wildlife sanctuaries and 4 national parks in its territory, which makes Gujrat the paradise for wildlife explorers and tourists. Following are the national parks of Gujrat which attracts due to its nature and wide flora and fauna, and especially lions. 1. Gir forest national park: It is also known as Sasan Gir, it is located about 43km northeast of Somnath which comes under the district of Junagarh. It’s a dry and deciduous forest which habitat variety of wildlife and rich greenery. The establishment of it takes place in the year 1965. The Gir jungle spreads out over about 1,412 km2 and only 285km2is fully protected which is the core area of it. This national park is the main hub for the conservation of Asiatic lions which is keep on progressing by the efforts of Department of Forest of India. Major attractions in Gir national park first and most attractive of course the Asiatic lions and others are leopards, two different species of deer sambar one of it is sambar, Chowsingha which is the only 4 horned antelope, Jackal, Striped Hyena and the fox. This national park also shelters around 200 species of birds and also habitat the endangered white and long-billed vultures. It is also a house of the more than 40 species of reptiles and amphibians, marsh crocodiles can be seen a good number and also the King Cobra. The park is open for tourism from 16th October to 15th June every year. 2. Blackbuck National Park, Velavadar: It is situated in the Bhavnagar district of Gujrat and spreads out over the area of 34.08km2. It is located around the 42 km from the district headquarters city of Bhavnagar. This national park considerably famous for the blackbucks which inhabitants here from the very old time. This area used to be the private grasslands of the Maharaja of Bhavnagar, where he used to hunt them down but From 1976 the black buck was considered an endangered animal as was protected from hunting, so right from that time the number of blackbucks havens been increased to a considerable amount. Apart from the black bucks, other major attractions are the nilgai, jackal, wolf, jungle cat and fox. 3. Marine National Park, Gulf of Kutch: It is a first marine national park. It resides in the Gulf of Kutch and is situated on the southern shore of the Gulf of Kutch which comes under theDevbhumi Dwarka district of Gujrat. It was established in 1982 and spreads over the area of 270km2 out of which only 110km2 is the core of it. The zone of the national park is an intertidal zone where frequency and wavelength of the tides are very low that means the area is quite stable and gives chance to observe the richest diversity of the marine habitats which includes saline grasslands, marshy areas, rocky shores, mudflaps etc. The finest coral reef fringe islands are found at Pirotan, NaralaAjad and Positara. There are 7 species of mangroves which maintain the balance between salt and fresh water systems and also protects from the soil erosion. This park is the bracing ground for the endangered species of birds such as painted stork, darter and black-necked ibis, some other birds which are normally can be seen are gulls, terns, kingfishers, osprey. 4. Vansda National Park: It is also known as Bansda national park and is a protected area of the Dang jungle.it spreads over an area of hardly 24km2 in the Vansda tehsil of Navsari District. This park is almost 65 km northeast of the Valsad. The majority of the population is represented by Adivasis and it’s an important trading place for them. It was established in 1979. This park is also famous for no felling of trees since 1952 that’s why the jungle is so dense and green. Some of the animals which are found here are Indian leopard, rhesus macaque, palmcivet, hanuman langur, etc. and but also houses 443 species of flowering plants which includes teak, sadad, khakhro, kadad, humb etc and there are wide variety of colorful orchids at the banks of Ambika river which makes a beautiful scenery.