Welcome to India

India spreads over an area of almost 3.29 million sq km, encompassing a gamut of habitats that sustain a sizeable percentage of the world's faunal and floral wealth. Its avian diversity doubles that of Europe, and conservative estimates attribute about 10 per cent each of the world's mammalian, insect and fish species, and over 8 per cent of reptile forms to India. Despite this incredible natural wealth, wildlife is rarely a priority for the average tourist to India, belying the fascination that it long held for shikaris of the colonial era.
After independence in 1947, a spate of ill-advised developmental schemes, an uncontrolled push for agricultural land, and unmonitored hunting wrought havoc on the wilderness. The ensuing degradation of wild habitats finally prompted official action. A wilderness area in the United Provinces had already been declared a sanctuary in 1936 to deter indiscriminate hunting, and some scattered protected areas were reserved as hunting grounds for India's royalty and their privileged guests. Guided by these precedents, the administration assigned special protection to an increasing number of wilderness areas and today, the country's finest wildlife specimens are encountered within the 571 parks and sanctuaries maintained by forest departments across India.
The large number of protected areas indicates a widespread concern for conservation. However, not all bio-geographic provinces have received adequate attention, and vital habitats have been left unprotected. As many as 105 of India's protected -areas are located in the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago alone, but sanctuaries occupy only a miniscule percentage of mainland India's lengthy coastline of over 7000 km. There are very few wildlife reserves in northeastern India or in the vast northern plains. Protected areas together account for barely 4 per cent of mainland India, and many of them are small; 1 13 sites are less than 20 sq km in extent, and some of these are too isolated from other wilderness sites to form viable habitats. With the rising demands of a burgeoning human population, only 25 wildlife reserves in'lndia cover more than 1000 sq km each.
Conservation interests are adversely affected by the country's need for civic, agricultural and industrial development. When forests are felled, not just the trees, but entire systems of flora and fauna disappear. Similarly, when wetlands are reclaimed, the natural habitat of the mightiest of predators to the smallest of insects is wiped out. While inaccessibility can create a relatively undisturbed habitat, it also leads to shortfalls in management and supervision.
The increasing number of visitors to protected areas is cause for both celebration and concern. Forest and wildlife officials have to strike a difficult balance between ensuring the health of the reserves without drastically disturbing the inflow of tourists. As Henry David Thoreau proclaims in Waiden, "In Wildness is the preservation of the World. Not only do national parks and sanctuaries serve as the last repositories of our natural
Peering out onto an uncertain future, the master predator takes cover in a tangle of forest undergrowth heritage, but they also provide employment and generate much-needed revenue. Whereas the wilderness is known to enhance our sense of well-being, human insensitivity is often counterproductive to conservation interests. Littering, overcrowding and fire are often the unfortunate side-effects of tourism.
India's protected areas are all significant in their own special way. The ones included in this work span the northern, western, central, eastern and southern zones of India and have been chosen for either their ecological importance or their tourist infrastructure. Mammals, reptiles and birds commonly seen in each reserve or vital indicators of the habitat's health have been listed under key species.
Areas assigned wildlife sanctuary status constitute habitats of ecological significance and are protected by state governments. Human activities, such as livestock grazing, collection of' forest produce and tourism, within the sanctuary's precincts are monitored by the chief wildlife warden. National parks are given the highest level of legal protection as they provide habitats of special zoological, floral, geomorphological and ecological significance. They usually form the focal area of Project Tiger reserves, In India's 80 national parks, human activity is confined to management duties and controlled tourism, strictly enforced by law.
The Malabar Giant Squirrel of southern India has been known to attain a length over one metre.
The core of a protected area receives the most stringent care. Apart from management inputs, no human activity, not even tourism, may be allowed here, ensuring that at least a small part of the wilderness is left almost totally undisturbed. Buffer areas, on the other hand, permit controlled tourism, livestock grazing and other pastoral activities. They constitute the peripheral tracts of protected areas and often have a sanctuary component.
There are 28 Project Tiger reserves in India, each comprising an existing national park and adjoining tracts of land, with the primary aim of maintaining a viable tiger population. They are administered jointly by the wildlife departments of both the state and the centre. Project Tiger, initiated in 1973, is one of the most comprehensive conservation efforts ever launched. At the apex of a complex biota, the tiger can be saved, not in isolation, but by making its habitat sacrosanct. Populations of rhinoceros, elephant, swamp deer, gaur and several other species have been preserved in this way.
People form an integral part of any CC system. TO involve them ill a region's conservation initiatives and so provide a sustainable approach to biodiversity UNESCO launched the Man and Biosphere Project in 1972. A biosphere reserve in India is often a mix of existing national parks and sanctuaries, with a wide transition zone where local communities are allowed to go about their daily activities, such as agriculture and livestock grazing. Twelve biosphere reserves have been established in India, but only the 5,520 sq kin Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve has been registered with UNESCO. The rest are still managed by committees with no legal protection.
A world heritage site is selected by an intergovernmental committee as a natural or cultural site of "outstanding universal value and exceptional interest" under threat of damage in a rapidly developing world. India has been an active member of the world heritage group since 1977, and among its 22 designated sites are the wilderness areas of Manas, Kaziranga, Keoladeo Ghana, Sundarbans, and Nanda Devi. To ensure their preservation, the government works in close coordination with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources.
The concerted effort of visitor and bureaucrat, agriculturist and politician, educationist and technocrat is required to preserve India's wilderness areas and guarantee their denizens a fair chance of survival. This book will hopefully promote wildlife tourism and create an awareness of the rationale behind conservation efforts. Only then can today's children learn of nature's bounties and the dangers inherent in tampering with the wilderness. Once this lesson becomes a mantra, the success of the conservation movement is ensured.
er front or in the midst of deserts, its just the stuff for a really beautiful experience.