2. Wildlife Tourism - Definition
Wildlife tourism refers to the observation and
interaction with local Animal and Plant life in
their natural habitats.
3. Wildlife Tourism Destination in India
• Corbett National Park
– Created by hunter-turned-conservationist, the first National Park of India is in
Uttarakhand and is popular for Tigers and Great Indian elephants.
• Ranthambore National Park
– Once a hunting ground for the Maharajas, the National Park situated in
Rajasthan is now a wildlife conservation park, this park is most its Tigers and
birds.
• Bandhavgarh National Park
– The National Park located in Madhya Pradesh has the highest diversity of
Bengal Tigers.
• Sundarbans National Park, West Bengal
– Spread over 54 islands located at Delta of two great rivers – Ganga and
Brahmaputra, the UNESCO World Heritage Site is famous for its Royal Bengal
Tigers. The place gets its name from elegant Sundari trees.
4. Wildlife Tourism Destination In India
• The Great Himalayan National Park, Himachal Pradesh
– This National Park starting from Kullu is famous for the musk deer, snow
leopard, primates, Himalayan pit viper.
• Nanda Devi, Uttarakhand
– Adjoining the equally beautiful Valley of Flowers, the National Park is famous
for Asiatic black bear, blue sheep, Himalayan musk deer.
• Hemis National Park, Jammu Kashmir
– The highest National Park in the country is famous for being home to several
endangered species the Asiatic Ibex, the snow leopard, the Tibetian wolf, the
red fox.
• Gir National Park, Gujarat
– The chance to spot Asiatic lions and other exotic animals aside, Gir National
Park also offers you a chance to go boating in many of its lakes.
5. Wildlife Tourism Destination In India
• Kaziranga National Park, Assam
– The UNESCO World Heritage Site situated is famous for its Great One-
horned Rhinoceroses.
• Keoladeo Ghana National Park, Rajasthan
– Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary, this UNESCO World Heritage Site is known for
the diversity of the birds. The safari options here do not include jeep but
you can have the option of seafaring on foot, cycle or rickshaw.
• Khanchendzonga National Park
– The National Park of Sikkim is famous for being home to red Panda
• Bannerghatta Biological Park, Karnataka
– This National Park located in Bangalore has an elephant sanctuary and,
hear.
6. Scope of Wildlife Tourism
• Wildlife tourism is a growing phenomenon, in emerging economies like India.
• Benefits of this growth in tourism include greater tourist interest and support for
wildlife conservation.
• Today, in India, there is no better way for the tourism industry to establish its
bonafide than to locate itself some distance away from the boundary of a national
park or sanctuary and then work assiduously with cooperatives formed by farmers
and locals to ecologically restore the marginal lands between their lodges and the
forest edge.
• This would invite wildlife to their very doorstep and give their guests the ‘close to
nature’ experiences for which most people are willing to pay a premium.
• Apart from the financial benefit to locals, this would dramatically reduce incidents
of human-animal conflicts, which are largely triggered by wildlife-farmer
interactions.
7. Challenges To Wildlife Tourism
• Increasingly threatened by rising human populations
• Economic activity like Wood Cutting, Poaching
• Lack of funding
• Uncertain Monsoon
• Loss of land to Tiger Conservation
• Crop Destruction by Wildlife
• Poorly Planned and Managed Tourism
8. Prospect Of Wildlife Tourism
• Job Creation – Local Residents around Wildlife Tourism Destination have an
Opportunity to earn their Livelihood by Promoting and Supporting Wildlife
Tourism.
• Revenue Generation – Revenue Generated from Destination would facilitate in
Infrastructure Development.
• Revenue-Sharing Arrangements – Arrangement through Private – Public, NGO-
Public, Private – Community Partnership for Accommodation, Sight- Seeing, Food
will help Sustainable Tourism.
• Co-management Of Natural Resources – Agriculture, Farming, Mining can elevate
Livelihood and Community Development.
• Local Community would Participate in Wildlife Conservation - when they see
Growth in Infrastructure, Livelihood , Their Culture.
• Eco – Lodges & Cultural Villages - can be set up In and Around Wildlife Tourism
Destinations. For Example, Pench National Park.
9. Conclusion
• Tourists have a critical role to play in India as wildlife tourism continues to grow in
leaps and bounds. Visitors’ concern and interest in Indian wildlife and parks along
with financial prowess can become a boon or death knell for conservation.
• There is a critical need to encourage visitors to behave better inside parks (noise,
clothing ,trash), and respect the environment they are in. Interest in tigers is
wonderful, but obsession with a single species can do serious harm to the other
wildlife and wild places we are trying to conserve. There are major negative
impacts of wildlife tourism as - causing behavioural changes, habitat alteration and
causing injury or killing.
• Illegal hunting, logging, flood, forest fires, pollution, plastics and rubbish usages
are some of the threats in Wilderness area. However researches assert that
controlled tourism would benefit economically as well as preserve natural
resources and it can create awareness among local people and the tourists.
• As conservation needs the cooperation from every sector a well-planned tourism
would steer to betterecological, economical and social Sustainability.
