National Parks of Haryana

A national park is created by the government and protected by it to conserve biodiversity. It is a natural environment preserving several species of flora and fauna. It also preserves the topography and historically important bodies in that area. It is maintained by the national government. As it is a much protected area, it is managed as a sustainable eco-tourism hotspot. It is compulsory to maintain certain rules for the safety of animals over there.

India currently has 106 national parks covering an area of 44,372.42 sq. km. This accounts for 1.35% of the total geographical area of the country.

Bandipur National Park – Karnataka, Great Himalayan National Park – Himachal Pradesh, Jim Corbett National Park – Uttarakhand are some of the national parks.

National Parks of Haryana: 

Haryana has two national parks, which are maintained by the Haryana Forest Department, Government of Haryana. They are:

1. Sultanpur National Park, District Gurgaon 
2. Kalesar National Park, District Yamunanagar

The Sultanpur National Park covers an area of 142.52 hectares and the Kalesar National Park covers an area of 4682.32 hectares respectively, thus accounting for 4824.84 hectares in total.

Sultanpur National Park 

Location: It is situated in the Gurgaon district of Haryana, in the Sultanpur village,15 Km away from Gurgaon on Gurgaon Farooq Nagar road. It is around 50 Km from Delhi.

Area: It covers 142.52 hectares approximately

About: 

• The Sultanpur National Park is a bird paradise and is ideal for bird watchers. It is famous for both resident and migratory birds.
• Sultanpur Jheel was attracting birds from everywhere.
• It was due to the effort of Peter Michel Jackson, a famous British ornithologist, who wrote to the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to declare Sultanpur Jheel, a bird sanctuary.
• It was emphasised in 1969 at the IUCN Conference held in New Delhi.
• The Jheel was granted sanctuary status on April 2, 1971, under Section 8 of the Punjab Wildlife Preservation act of 1959. 
• During that time, it covered an area of 1.21 sq.km.
• The park’s status was upgraded to a national park on July 5, 1991, under Section 35 of the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972.
• During that time, it covered an area of 1.42 sq. km.
• The Sultanpur National Park has been carved out of the lands of Sultanpur, Chandu, Sadhrana, and Saidpur villages.
• A total of 250 bird species have been recorded in this park.

Climate:

• Haryana, being a North Indian state, has a typical North Indian climate of harsh summer, which is up to 46℃, and cold winter goes to a low temperature of 9℃.
• The migratory birds, which have their hometowns in Europe, Siberia and Central Asia, reach here after covering incredible distances due to the cold weather, snow covered areas and frozen lakes.
• They arrive here in September and rest till March-April.
• The park is best visited during December to February (winter).

Species kinds  :

1. Resident birds
2. Migratory birds

Resident Birds:

Common Spoonbill, Weaver Bird, Bank Mynah, Common Mynah, Asian Green Bee Eater, Grey Francolin, White-throated Kingfisher, Little Egret, Red Collared Dove, and Rock Pigeon are some of the resident birds of the Sultanpur National Park.

Migratory Birds:

Greater Flamingo, Northern Shoveller, Northern Pintail, Rosy Pelican, Wood Sandpiper, Yellow Wagtail, and White Wagtail are some of the migratory birds during winter.

Black Crowned Night Heron, Knob Billed Duck, Blue Cheeked Bee Eater, Blue Tailed Bee Eater, Asian Koel, and Indian Golden Oriole are some of the migratory birds during summer.

About 11 species migrate during the summer season.

Other important flora and fauna:

Flora – Berberis, Neem, Acacia Tortilis, Acacia Nilotica 

Fauna – Blue bull, Indian fox, and Black Buck  

Kalesar National Park 

Location:

•  It is situated in the Yamunanagar district of Haryana, sharing a boundary with three other states, namely Himachal Pradesh, Uttaranchal, and Uttar Pradesh.
• It is located in the foothills of the Shivalik ranges of the mighty Himalayas.
• The Eastern boundary is formed with Uttar Pradesh by the Yamuna River.
• In the North, the main Shivalik ridge separates the state boundary among Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttaranchal.

Map Location: The National Park is located between 300 18’ to 300 27’ north latitude and 770 18’to 770 35’ east longitude.

Area: It covers 4682.32 hectares 

About:

• The entire area is full of vast biodiversity that supports a wide variety of flora and fauna species.
• It has dense Sal forests, Khair forests, and patches of grass lands.
• The Kalesar National Park is named after the Shiva (Kalesar) temple that is situated in the reserved area.
• On December 8, 2003, the park was upgraded as a national park covering an area of 11,570 acres.
• In addition, the Kalesar Wildlife Sanctuary, which was notified on December 13, 1996, covering an area of 13,209 hectares, is situated just adjacent to this national park.
• In terms of biodiversity, the Kalesar National Park has got more significance as it is the treasury of numerous medicinal plants.
• It also houses many threatened animals, such as python, Monitor lizard, Chital, leopard, King Cobra, Barking Deer, and Sambar.
• The Kalesar National Park is very important in additionally protecting two other threatened animals, namely, the tiger and the elephant, which occasionally visit from Rajaji National Park.
• In Haryana, it is the only national park that supports a wide biodiversity with its natural forest.
• The Kalesar National Park is notably significant in the matters of education, conservation, tourism, etc.
• One of the interesting things to do in the national park is taking up a safari ride by hired jeep.
• The government of Haryana has also set up two special environment courts in Kurukshetra and Faridabad to handle crimes related to poaching happening in those areas.

Climate: The national park is best to be visited during November to December (winter) and March to June (summer). It remains closed from July to September.

Flora:

• Kalesar has a total forest area of about 71% that includes 53% dense forests, 38% open forests, and 9% scrub.
• This forest area accounts for 46.8 sq km.
• Trees such as Amaltas, Bahera, Semul, Sain, Shisham, Chhal, etc, are present in the forest.
• About 20 Km from Chuharpur is the Devi Lal Herbal Park, which is spread over 50 acres, 61,000 shrubs of herbs, and medicinal trees numbering 6,100.

Fauna:

• At 3 Km nearby Kalesar National Park is the Khol Hi-Raitan Wildlife Sanctuary and Bir Shikargah wildlife sanctuaries.
• Migration of animals between these three places occurs as they lie in the same line of Shivalik Hills of Haryana.
• Indian Jackal, Asiatic elephant, Indian leopard, leopard cat, goral, small Indian civet, Barking deer, Sambar, Chital, boar, Indian grey mongoose, nilai, Indian hare, panthers, etc, are present in the area.

Conclusion:

We came to know about: what is a national park, number of national parks in India, the nationals parks of Haryana, namely the Sultanpur National Park of Gurgaon District and the Kalesar National Park of Yamunanagar District, for what these two national parks are famous for, factors such as climate, area, and species availability were discussed. In addition, the details of species that migrate to these national parks are seen. Acts passed by the government to protect the biodiversity of that area and other important flora and fauna of these national parks are discussed.