India's National Parks in the Order They First Gained Protection

Keoladeo, in Bharatpur, Rajasthan, begins the path because its protection is the oldest here. It grew from a duck-hunting reserve established in 1899, became a protected sanctuary in 1971 through the advocacy of the ornithologist Salim Ali, and was declared a national park on March 10, 1982. UNESCO listed it as a World Heritage Site in 1985, and the human-made wetland hosts at least 400 recorded bird species.

Kanha in Madhya Pradesh was made a wildlife sanctuary in 1933, a national park in 1955 and a tiger reserve in 1973, so it shows the whole ladder of protection in one place. Its 940 square kilometers make it the largest national park in the state, and it is a key conservation site for the barasingha, a swamp deer subspecies, as well as tigers.

Periyar in Kerala started in 1934 as the Nellikkampatty Game Sanctuary and was designated a national park in 1982 on 350.54 square kilometers. It surrounds Periyar Lake, an artificial reservoir created by the Mullaperiyar Dam in 1895, and is a major elephant and tiger reserve. It is the first stop in the south and the only one built around a reservoir.

Nagarhole in Karnataka was a wildlife sanctuary from 1955 and a national park from 1983. It was declared the 37th tiger reserve of India in 2003. It lies within the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve and holds tigers, Asian elephants, gaur, leopards, chital and sambar, so it extends the southern forests the trail met at Periyar.

Gir in Gujarat was established in 1965 on land that had been the private hunting ground of the Nawab of Junagadh. It is the only place in the world where the Asiatic lion survives in the wild, and a 2015 census counted 523 lions across the surrounding districts. Its 259 square kilometer core sits inside a protected area of about 1,410 square kilometers of dry deciduous forest.

Bandhavgarh in Madhya Pradesh was designated a national park in 1968 after centuries as a hunting ground of the princely state of Rewa, and became a tiger reserve in 1993. The park core covers about 105 square kilometers inside a 1,536 square kilometer reserve, and it holds one of the highest densities of Bengal tigers of any protected area in India.

Namdapha in Arunachal Pradesh began as a wildlife sanctuary in 1972 and became a national park in 1983. At about 1,985 square kilometers it is the fourth-largest national park in India. It contains the northernmost lowland evergreen rainforest in the world at 27 degrees north, so the path here reaches the far east of the country.

Khangchendzonga in Sikkim was established in 1977 and takes its name from Kangchenjunga, the third-highest peak in the world at 8,586 meters. It covers about 1,784 square kilometers of high terrain and in 2016 became the first mixed heritage site in India, recognized for both natural and cultural criteria. From here the protected land climbs into the high Himalaya.

Eravikulam in Kerala was established in 1978 and was the first national park in the state. It covers about 97 square kilometers along the Western Ghats and is run by the Munnar Wildlife Division, which also oversees neighboring parks such as Mathikettan Shola and Anamudi Shola. It returns the trail to the south, this time to a small mountain park.

Simlipal in Odisha was established in 1980 and covers about 2,750 square kilometers, the largest park on this path. It is a tiger reserve and part of the Mayurbhanj Elephant Reserve, named for the red silk cotton trees that grow there. Its tigers show an unusually high rate of pseudo-melanism linked to inbreeding, and UNESCO recognized it as a Biosphere Reserve in 2009.

Kuno in Madhya Pradesh was first protected as a wildlife sanctuary in 1981 and became a national park in 2018 across an expanded area of about 749 square kilometers. Beginning in September 2022 it received African cheetahs translocated from Namibia, the first attempt to establish a free-ranging cheetah population in India since the species was declared extinct there. The eighteenth century Palpur fort stands within its core area.

The Great Himalayan National Park in Himachal Pradesh, established in 1984, ends the path in the high mountains, at elevations between 1,500 and 6,000 meters across about 1,171 square kilometers. All hunting is prohibited there under the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972, the park shelters more than 375 recorded animal species, and UNESCO named it a World Heritage Site in June 2014.