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Dudhwa National Park set to open for tourists from Nov 15
U.P. minister of state for forests and environment Dr Arun Kumar will inaugurate the tourist season at the national park
The Dudhwa National Park (DNP) is all set to greet visitors as the tourist season at the world-famous national park begins from Tuesday (November 15). The tourist season at the national park begins from November 15 and ends on June 15 every year. During this period tourists and wildlife lovers can visit the DNP, the Kishanpur sanctuary and the Katarnia ghat wildlife sanctuary.
Giving this information, field director, DTR, Sanjay Kumar Pathak said, “The tourists would be allowed to enjoy the Dudhwa safari besides watching the rich wild, aquatic and avian life there.” “This year, elephant rides inside rhino rehabilitation area have also been allowed and the tourists would be able to sight one-horned rhinos in their natural surroundings,” he said.
“Dr Arun Kumar, minister of state for forests, environment and wildlife parks, would inaugurate the tourist season in Dudhwa on Tuesday,” Pathak added. “The tourist activities will continue till June 15 when the monsoon season starts,” he said.
However, tourists coming here will have to shell out more money than before as all rates, including entry fees, cottage, dormitory, vehicle and elephant riding charges, have been doubled and in some cases trebled. “These rates were last revised in 2010 following the approval of the governing body of Dudhwa Tiger Conservation Foundation (DTCF),” said Pathak.
“Visitors entering Dudhwa will have to pay entry fees of ₹300 per Indian adult while ₹150 will be charged for every kid between 5 and 12 years of age. Entry fees for the students sponsored by a school or college will be ₹50 per student,” he added.
“Road fees, vehicle entry fees and forest route charge have been cumulatively revised to ₹600 while guide fee has been revised to ₹400 for Hindi or English-speaking guide and ₹500 for bilingual,” the field director said.
“From this season, vehicle parking charges have been introduced under which day and casual visitors will have to pay parking charges between ₹100 and ₹500 as per their class of vehicle and parking slots,” Pathak added.
“Tourists coming for Dudhwa safari have been exempted from the parking charges,” he said. “The tourist would not be allowed to move into the wild on their own vehicles but they would have to hire six-seater Xenon or Gypsy (excluding driver and guide) vehicles @ ₹3,500 per vehicle,” he added.
Pathak further said, “Dudhwa safari would be conducted in two shifts of three hours each. The first shift will be from 07:30 am to 10:30am and the second shift will be from 02:30pm to 05:30pm depending upon visibility conditions.”
Rhino area at south Sonaripur range populating nearly three dozen one-horned rhinos would also be open for tourists. However, restrictions on the visit to recently developed phase 2 rhino area in Belrayan range with four rhinos will continue.
Field director, DNP, Sanjay Kumar Pathak said, “The tourists visiting the rhino area can now enjoy sighting the rhinos in their enclosures. Elephant ride has also been allowed in the rhino area but the tourists will have to pay ₹700 as rhino area entry fees and ₹1000 per person for elephant ride.”
“Four people can ride an elephant at a time and it would be provided subject to availability of elephants on the day,” he added.
From this tourist season onwards, three more tourist routes in Dudhwa buffer zone have been opened for the visitors. Earlier, the tourists were allowed to visit the forest routes inside the DNP and the Kisanpur wildlife sanctuary.
However, from Tuesday, three more routes in Dudhwa buffer zone which are in close vicinity of Kishanpur wildlife sanctuary would be available. Tourists will have to pay charges at the entry point while visiting a particular route.
Field director, DNP, Sanjay Kumar Pathak said the first tourist route falls in Bhira range of buffer zone. He added journey on this 32.3 km long route will start and end at Chak forest barrier on Bhira-Kukra road covering Jhadi Tal and Singha.
He further said the jungle safari on 20.8 km long second tourist route in Mailani range will start and terminate at Ramanandi bridge covering the forest areas at Pansabbi bridge, Pipal Chowki and Ramanandi bridge.
“The third and the last 40-km long tourist route, also in Mailani range, will start from Bharigawan nursery and lead the tourists to Muhrena jungles and the famous Nagaria wetland which is famous for bird watching.
