Valmiki National Park is an Indian tiger reserve in the West Champaran District of Bihar. It is Bihar’s only national park. The Valmiki Tiger Reserve covers 898.45 km2 (346.89 sq mi), or 17.4% of the district’s total land area. The Reserve housed forty tigers as of 2018.
History
The Valmiki Tiger Reserve includes the Public Park and the Natural life Asylum. The broad backwoods area of Valmikinagar (officially known as Bhainsa Lotan) was recently claimed by the Bettiah Raj and Ramanagar Raj until the mid 1950s. In 1978, it was designated a Wildlife Sanctuary. In 1990, Valmiki National Park was established. The park covers approximately 335.65 km2. The 18th tiger reserve in the nation is Valmiki Wildlife Sanctuary and National Park.
Location
It is situated in West Champaran, which takes its name from the combination of the words “Champa” and “Aranya,” which mean “forest of Champa trees.” It is located between 27°10′ and 27°03′ north latitude and 83°50′ and 84°10′ east longitude, respectively. All out woods region contains around 900 square kilometers , out of which the Valmiki Untamed life Asylum is 880 square kilometers and spread of the Public Park is around 335 square kilometers region. Nepal’s Chitwan National Park borders the protected areas in the north, while Uttar Pradesh in India surrounds the sanctuary from the west. The Bihar Government is creating India’s largest grassland by converting 800 hectares of forest in VTR into grassland.
Geography
The foothills of the Shivalik Hills make up the Valmiki National Park’s landscape, which is made up of a maze of cliffs, ridges, and gorges, as well as hills, streams, and valleys. grasslands, swamps, open woodlands, dense forests, and the riverine fringe. The forest is made up of bhabar and terai tracts and is located in the country’s biogeographic zone of the Gangetic plains. The Bhabar tract was characterized by boulder and pebble deposits near the Himalayan rivers in the foothills, while Terai lands were characterized by deposits of finer sediments.
The Someshwar Hill Range and the DunHill System are made up of narrow valleys, cliffs, spurs, gorges, and ridges with sharp edges.
Artesian flows and older alluvium with sandy soil, variegated clay, and loose boulder deposits; lateritic arrangements on higher forms and more current Alluvium on southern parts with reissuing springs likened to artesian streams.
Befuddling and wandering waterways, streams and creeks, man-made channels; grasslands and swamps. The western boundary of the Valmiki wildlife sanctuary is the River Gandak. It enters India at Valmikinagar, where two streams Sonha and Pachnad goes along with it, framing a heavenly conjunction ‘Triveni’. In Nepal, the river is known as the “Narayani.” The Valmiki Forests are the source of the Harha-Masan River system, which flows south to form the Burhi Gandak River.
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From Nepal, the eastern end of the Sanctuary is where the River Pandai enters Bihar (India) and meets the Masan. The Rohua, Kotrahia, Manor, Bhapsa, Koshil, Singha, Dhonghi, Ganguli, and Dhoram rivers, as well as their precursors and tributaries, are all full of youth and vitality. They descend from hills, ridges, and gorges in enchanting cascades of reckless playfulness. As they approach the planes, they slowly develop into serene grandeur.
Fauna
Mammals The Bengal tiger, Indian rhinoceros, Asiatic elephant, Asiatic black bear, Indian sloth bear, otter, Indian leopard, wild dog, wild water buffalo, and wild boar are among the animals that can be found in the forest of VTR. Barking deer, spotted deer, hog deer, Sambar, and blue bull are among the various deer species. In addition, the clouded leopard, Indian gaur, monkey, flying squirrel, leopard cat, fishing cat, langur, and mongoose can be observed. In the Reserve, there were 10 tigers in 2010, 22 in 2013, and 40 in 2018, respectively.
Cultural diversity
A Ladies from Tharu clan
Bagya – rice flour dumplings made Tharu individuals
The Valmiki scene harbors striking socio-social variety. The landscape is dominated by the Tharu people, a scheduled tribe. The colonization of this Himalayan terai community is the subject of numerous theories. Rice is their staple food, and agriculture is their primary occupation. They don’t eat meat and like fish, chicken, pork, snails, and liquor made locally from jaggery. Bhojpuri is the primary language. Rama Navami is their fundamental celebration. Additionally, they maintain sociocultural relationships with Nepal’s Tharus. Their populace is around 2.5 lakh.
How to reach
Muzaffarpur and Gorakhpur are the major junctions closest to Bagaha and Narkatiaganj for passenger, mail, and express trains. The Field Directorate is on the same rail route as the district headquarters of West Champaran at Bettiah, which is about 105 kilometers from the sanctuary.
