A short visit to Rajaji National Park – Chilla range

ॐ

A short visit to Rajaji National Park – Chilla range

A Golden backed woodpecker inside the TRH Chilla

             We were struck up and could not undertake any short trips due to certain difficulties in my home front.  However, we got a short window of about a few days and I had to plan for a destination that could be reached overnight or across a day and after visiting the destination for a day, return back the next day.  After much research, I zeroed in on Chilla range of Rajaji National Park.  It is situated in Haridwar District of Uttarakhand and is about 220 odd kilometres from Delhi and further lies about 8 Kms. from the Hardwar Railway Station.  The distance was doable within about five hours and in case of any exigency I could rush back at home quickly.   Being a reserve forest, it was an ideal location for us, to be away from the hustle and bustle of city life for some time.   For the trip to fructify, the foremost requirement was to identify a suitable place to stay at the location and also to find out if any accommodation was still available.  There are only two good boarding & lodging arrangement within the precincts as well as periphery of the Park vicinity i.e. the Forest Rest House and the other one is the Tourist Rest House run by Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam Ltd. (GMVN for short).  By luck I could source a family room in the GMVN run facility, as the Forest Rest house was fully booked.

A map showing location of Rajaji National Park, Chilla (sourced from net)

The outer gate of TRH, Chilla

Inside wide-angle view of TRH, Chilla

View of water canal formed by the barrage behind TRH, Chilla

A Cormorant looking for fish in the canal behind TRH, Chilla

           We started in the morning at around 7.30 A.M, which was quite late by our standards, considering the fact that whenever I visit my summer pad in Ranikhet, we usually start at around 6.00 A.M sharp.  But as the distance was about more than a 100 Kms. less and coupled with the fact that the present drive did not require any hill driving, we were quite comfortably placed.  The road from Delhi to Meerut was excellent, being newly constructed, by using the bye-pass we were able to make quick progress upto Meerut.  Thereafter, the road was again congested and the journey, time consuming.  Around 10.00 A.M we reached Muzzafar Nagar and had our first break for B’fast at Bikanerwala, which is very conveniently placed, right on the highway, with ample parking space.  The restaurant offers great food and there is a wide variety to choose from and the public utilities are well maintained and is a most suitable spot to drop in for a short break.  Having, had our fill we proceeded further and reached Haridwar after negotiating another bottleneck at Roorkee.  Having reached Haridwar, we overshot the cut which led to the destination and instead manoeuvred our car towards the barrage entry and were rightly guided back to take the cut from road that leads towards Chandi Devi temple and we finally reached Chilla at around 3.00 P.M.  Thereafter, having made ourselves comfortable in our rooms, we ordered some snacks and really enjoyed them, the food per se was quite delicious in the GMVN run Tourist Rest House.  Having had our tea and snacks, it was time to call up Viru Negi to check out about the next day’s safari booking for visiting Rajaji National Park.  Late in the evening he turned up in his Jeep and after dropping his guests for the day, we had tete a’ tete and I sought the afternoon safari for the next day.  During the period that I waited for Viru Negi ji to make an appearance, I strolled along the canal formed due to barrage across the Ganga River and could spot quite a few birds around the TRH complex itself and shot photographs using my camera and am sharing with you all in my blog.

A Buzzard flying by at the birding spot near Chilla

Some Cormorants flying across in the sky avboe

Bahminy Shelduck in Ganga in the birding spot near Chilla

A Common Kingfisher in the birding spot near Chilla

            New day morning while I was strolling with my camera along the side of TRH, another local bird enthusiast approached me and gave me some information about another birding spot in the locality and we drove up to the destination and shot a few birds with my camera, accompanied by my Son and daughter.  Thereafter, we returned back to have lunch around 1.30 P.M and were thereafter, picked up by Viru Negi ji for our afternoon safari at around 2.30 P.M, since the safari began at 3.00 P.M.  The Rajaji National Park is situated along the hills and foothills of Shiwalik ranges in the Himalayan foothills within the Shivalik biosphere.  Historically speaking, there used to be three separate wildlife sanctuaries namely – Rajaji Wildlife Sanctuary established in 1948; Moticur Wildlife Sanctuary established in 1964; and Chilla Wildlife Sanctuary established in 1977.  In the year 1983 all these three reserves were all combined to create one body named as the Rajaji National Park and in the year 2015 it received the status of a Tiger Reserve.  It is named after Sri C Rajagopalachari – the first Governor General of free India.  Spread across more than 800 Sq. Km., with altitude spanning from 330 to 1350 meters, it is a fairly large park that is adjacent to the holy cities of Hardwar, Rishikesh and Dehradun in Uttarakhand.  Chilla Reserve is situated next to the hydropower plant.  So one can see a branch of Ganga flowing here, with many seasonal rivers merging into it.   In fact, the GMVN guest house is located on a narrow strip of land where one such seasonal stream meets the Ganga.

A Golden backed woodpecker inside Chilla range

Terai like grasslands inside the Chilla range

Huge Sal trees and other trees inside the forest in Chilla range

A Back shouldered Kite inside the Chilla range

A Siberian stonechat inside Chilla range

A male Chital or Spotted deer inside Chilla range

        A small portion of the holy River Ganga flows for about 24 km within the park precincts. Other small seasonal rivers or rivulets join it at various places within the reserve forest.  However, we could only see some dry River beds across the reserve, through which our jeeps drove through during the safari.  The area is covered with diverse forest types ranging from semi-evergreen to deciduous and from mixed broad-leaved to terai like grassland and has been classified as Indus-Ganges Monsoon Forest type. Lofty strands of Sal dominate in many parts of this forest range giving it a surreal feeling, as the evenings set in. 

Pug mark of both Elephant and a leopard inside Chilla range

A watch tower inside the Chilla range

A Mountain Hawk Eagle inside the Chilla range

A juvenile Sambar male inside the Chilla range

A Sambar female inside Chilla range

           Rajaji is home to a plethora of avian species, which are found in forested foothills and in open grassland.   The location of this reserve forest being in a transition zone between temperate western Himalaya and central Himalaya enhances the species diversity and consequently the viewing prospects of a large number of birds that inhabit this broad spectrum. As per the official website, the Rajaji's checklist has about 400 bird species and includes good birds like Greater Scaup, White-naped Woodpecker, Great Hornbill, Black-bellied Tern, Pallas's Fish Eagle, Northern Goshawk, Black-necked Stork, Yellow-billed Blue Magpie, Scaly Thrush, Snowy-browed Flycatcher, Rusty-flanked Tree-creepers, Pale-footed Bush Warbler, Tytler's Leaf Warbler, Green Avadavat and Reed Bunting.  Apart from this, the National park is best known for is its elephants. I had always heard about herds of elephants roaming freely in the region that one can come across while driving through the forest, but it was not to be in our case. In fact, this is the identified North Western end of Elephant corridor in India. If you travel further North or West from here, you would not find any wild elephants.

A male Peacock inside Chilla range

A female Red Jungle fowl inside Chilla range

A White breasted Kingfisher inside Chilla range

A Woolly necked Stork inside Chilla range

Sambhar deer - both male & female inside Chilla range

        The safari charges are quite reasonable with a Jeep Safari of two and half hours duration costing around Rs.3,500/- with guide, but may vary from season to season.  As the winters had yet to pass and the weather was not very clear and being quite cold early in the morning, I preferred an afternoon safari.  The afternoon safari starts at about 3.00 P.M and ends at about 5.30 P.M and one can book it in advance or get one at the entry gate itself, if the rush is less.  I, on the other hand, was able to establish contact with one of the well-known guides operating in the Rajaji National Park and is quite well acquainted with all the portions of the park.  I had contacted him over phone and he was courteous enough to arrange for the entire safari for us and his name is Viru Negi (Mobile No.+91-9917606031).  He is a very nice person and anyone interested can contact him directly on this mobile.  The safari itself is better than that of Corbett in respect of time and distance covered, albeit there are fewer Tiger sightings in the region.  We got to see a lots of deer, birds including Jungle fowls and by the time as the evening set in, we could hear alarm calls of Langurs and Sambars, but could not sight any Tiger nor any Elephants to speak of.  By the time we were returning back, it had become literally cold and we were also famished, as the Park authorities do not allow any packed food items inside the park and rightly so.  The photographs shall speak for themselves about the trip and a short video of the safari inside the park for my viewers –

 © S. Roy Biswas