National Parks

A New Weekly Feature!

/ Jocelyn Toll / 2 Comments

 

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Ergaki National Park. Source: siberiatimes.com

Drawing inspiration from our site’s Bird of the Day, a new weekly feature titled National Park of the Week will publish every Sunday starting on August 28th. We love birds – but other wildlife too! – and we love the environment they (as well as we) live in, so we decided to start this new “column” (if this was a newspaper) to promulgate the protected areas that reflect the range of biodiversity and natural beauty around the globe. Although this weekly article has the words national park in the title, all types of government-protected areas, such as refuges, reserves, sanctuaries, and parks, will be featured in this category.  Continue reading →

Wildlife at Carara and Manuel Antonio National Parks

/ Seth Inman / Leave a comment
napping Two-toed Sloth

napping Two-toed Sloth at Manuel Antonio National Park

In 2014, I went to Carara National Park with James, and we saw lots of birds and also a bunch of reptiles and mammals. Some of these I got photos of, and others I was able to catch on video. This last weekend I went to Carara again for a morning of birding, and the next day went out to Manuel Antonio National Park for the first time in over a decade. Carara was as fruitful as ever, although there were many birds that I only heard and couldn’t identify since I don’t know my Pacific coastal bird calls very well. Manuel Antonio proved extremely crowded with tourists, and with a couple mammals so accustomed to human interactions that they brazenly robbed unsuspecting visitors, like the raccoons with a pack of chips (which aren’t allowed in the park due to their crackling package that attracts raccoons, coatis, and monkeys) in the video below. I saw a White-faced Capuchin Monkey bare its teeth and snarl at a tourist for trying to take back an empty plastic grocery bag that the monkey had snatched from his backpack webbing, and, in a more peaceful scene, a Two-toed Sloth napping calmly while a horde of tourists snapped photos a meter or two below (pictured left).

In the following video, you can watch Continue reading →

Nagarhole National Park – Karnataka

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Photo credits : Ramesh Kidangoor

Photo credits: Ramesh Kidangoor

Nagarhole National Park (also known as Rajiv Gandhi National Park) is among the most well maintained wildlife reserves in India.  Located in the state Karnataka, this national park has an abundance of fauna, including large mammals such as wild elephant, bison, tiger, leopard, wild dog and spotted deer. Continue reading →

Wild Periyar – Avifaunal Hotspot

/ Salim.E.I / 1 Comment
malabar parakeet

malabar parakeet

Periyar Tiger Reserve is an avifaunal hotspot extraordinaire and one of the most facinating birding destinations in the entire Western Ghats. The verdure of rolling hills, rich flora and a many-armed reservoir supports an impressive 323 species of birds, including Malabar Parakeet, Hill Myna, Bulbuls and Hornbills. Continue reading →

Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary

/ Salim.E.I / 1 Comment
Photo Credits: Roji Antony

Photo Credits: Roji Antony

Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary is one of south India’s famous national parks, nestled amidst the Nilgiri Hills Biosphere in Tamil Nadu. This sanctuary is situated at the tri-junction of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala near the Mysore plains. With an area of 321 sq km of natural forest, Mudumalai is famous for Elephant, Wild Gaur, Tiger, Leopard and Deer, as well as being home to over 200 species of bird. Continue reading →

Periyar Sightings, Gavi

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Gavi, part of the Periyar Tiger Reserve under the management of the Kerala Forest Development Corporation, is one of the off-the-beaten-track destinations ideal for a wilderness retreat replete with trekking, birding, canoeing and facilities for lodging. There are hills and valleys, tropical forests, sprawling grasslands, sholas (evergreen tropical forests), cascading waterfalls and cardamom plantations. Elephants, Nilgiri Thar, and the endangered Lion-tailed macaque are all often sighted at the outskirts of Gavi. Yesterday Mr. Sunu from Kottayam visited Gavi and shared some of his photos. Continue reading →

Nagarahole National Park – Karnataka

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Photo credits: Ramesh Kidangoor

Nagarahole National Park is located near Mysore in Karnataka, covering an area of 643.39 sq km. This national park is one of the best-maintained wildlife reserves in the country. The name of the park is derived from naga, which means cobra in Kannada (the local language of Karnataka) and hole, referring to streams, or river. The park, also known as Rajiv Gandhi National Park, has an  abundance of fauna including spotted deer, wild boar, gaur, elephants, leopard and tigers. Continue reading →

Periyar Tiger Reserve (Thekkady, Kerala)

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The Periyar Tiger Reserve is one of India’s most famous wildlife sanctuaries. Periyar was declared a Forest Reserve in the late 19th centuary, a Wildlife Sanctuary in the 1930s and a Tiger Reserve in 1977. This land of emerald vistas, productive grasslands, orchid-studded rain forests, moss-laden trees and dripping ferns provide food and shelter to mammals, including Elephants, Tigers, Dholes, Leopards, and Wild gaur, as well as birds, amphibians and insects.

Continue reading →