The Forest That Existed Before the Tiger Became a Symbol
Jim Corbett National Park was established in 1936 as Hailey National Park, making it India's first national park. The tigers came with it, but they were never the only reason the Ramganga river valley mattered. The park sits at the foothills of the Shivalik hills in Uttarakhand, where the Terai grasslands meet sal forest and riverine vegetation. That transition between habitat types is what makes the place biologically dense. You can drive the same road in the Dhikala zone at dawn and see a completely different set of species than you would at dusk, because the forest is not one place, it is several, stacked on top of each other.
