Deriving its name from the pictorial fort inside, the Ranthambore National Park is one of India’s most renowned national parks. Located where the Aravali Range and plateau of the Vindhyas meet, Ranthambore National Park was once where the royals of Jaipur hunted. The national park is also considered a prominent heritage site due to the ancient ruins found inside.
The town of Sawai Madhopur is the gateway to the national park with a thriving biodiversity set among ancient religious structures, several man-made lakes and aesthetically-crumbling cenotaphs.
Although flanked by the Banas River to the north and the Chambal River to the south, the many lakes inside are not fed by either of the rivers’ waters. Having been declared a national park in 1980 with focus on protection of the endangered tiger, adjacent forests were merged with the Ranthambore National Park a little more than a decade later. The Sawai Man Singh Sanctuary and Kaldevi Sanctuary became part of the tiger reserve, making the national park at Ranthambore one of India’s largest.
You are bound to be enthralled to watch the splendid tiger roam about in its natural habitat, in the wild! Alternating between dry deciduous forests and swathes of grasslands, the Ranthambore National Park is recognised as one of the best places in the country to spot tigers. Today, sprawling across a little more than 1300 square kilometres including core and buffer area, the Ranthambore National Park is every wildlife enthusiast, photographer and a spirited traveller’s haven.