Call of the wild: Valmikinagar Tiger Reserve

Tourists would be able to get refreshed in the lap of nature at Valmiki Tiger Reserve by taking advantage of a safari package.

Bihar State Tourism Development Corporation (BSTDC) launched the two-day-one-night weekend Valmiki Wildlife Safari on November 2.

“Though entry was allowed into the reserve earlier as well, there was a dearth of accommodation facility,” said a senior BSTDC officer.

He added: “But now, visitors would be able to stay at the forest rest houses and ecological huts developed by the forest department as part of its eco-tourism facilities.”

Nature enthusiasts would have to shell out Rs 2,500 per head for the package that includes travel, food and accommodation facilities. They would be picked up at 9pm on Fridays from Hotel Kautilya Vihar in Patna — the BSTDC headquarters.

Depending on the number of people in each group they would be taken to the tiger reserve, around 289km northwest of Patna in the Terai region of the Himalayas, in SUVs or minibuses.

They would arrive at the VTR around 5am on Saturday and would be served tea and snacks.

A jeep safari would start at 9am to tour the reserve that extends into Royal Chitwan National Park and Parsa Wildlife Sanctuary in Nepal on the north and into neighbouring Uttar Pradesh in the west.

Several rivers like the Gandak, Manor, Babhsa, Pandai, Dohram, Harha and the Dwarda pass through the tiger reserve that is home to leopards, fishing cats, wild dogs, large and small Indian civets, sloth bears, neelgai, sambhar, cheetal, barking deer and hog deer.

“Visitors might also be able to spot 16 reptile, 13 amphibian and 261 bird species at the reserve,” said Samir Kumar Sinha, the manager of Wildlife Trust of India who has been researching at the VTR since 2003.

The highlight of the tour is of course sighting the tigers. “According to the 2010 tiger census, eight big cats have been registered in the VTR’s core area of 440sqkm,” said Sinha. “Tigers are an umbrella species. Their presence implies a sound ecosystem.”

Tourists would return to the base camp by 4pm. Post sundown, it would not just be a retreat indoors.

Members of the Tharu community — traditional human inhabitants of the forests at Valmikinagar — would stage a cultural programme for the visitors.

The next morning, they would be taken on a tour of the barrage across the Gandak. They would also visit the legendary hermitage of prehistoric saint Valmiki, and shrines at Jatashankar, Nardevi, Madanpur Devi Asthan, Sonfa Mandir and Someshwar Temple. They would return to base camp at 12noon and depart for Patna in half-an-hour.

The forest department is also eying on expansion of its eco-tourism facilities at the tiger reserve through more infrastructure.