Dhudwa National Park was established in 1977 located in Lakimpur and Kheri districts of Uttar Pradesh. The national park is transformed into Tiger Reserve in 1987 under “Project Tiger”, extending its boundary to Kishanpur Wildlife Sanctuary and Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary and calling it all together as Dhundwa Tiger Reserve.
When To Visit
The climate of region is called humid subtropical climate as Tiger Reserve lies in Northern part of India. This means summers are extreme and during monsoons you don’t want to get stuck at your room. So, the ideal time is winters: mid-October to February, when activities of the animals are low and you can see the fauna in their natural habitat.
Point of Attractions
Tiger: as per the Census of 2018, there are 56 tigers in Reserve and zoo-born tigers are re-introduced along with leopards.
Swamp Deer: half of the world’s population of Swamp Deer is found in Dhundwa Tiger Reserve. These are called Barashinga because they have 12 antlers, one can easily spot them roaming freely in grassland.
Aves: bird watching is heavenly in this Tiger Reserve. The Reserve entertains more than 350 species of resident and migratory birds and some of them are very rare. The bird species includes Bengal florican, Woodpecker, Asian barter, Sarus crane and more. Majority of the avian species found here is fresh water.
Other animals: Assam rabbit is re-introduced (been extinct from Pakistan and Bangladesh), endangered White- rumped vulture forms a good prey base.
How To Reach
By Road
You can take a road trip from any part of Uttar Pradesh for example Lucknow, Bareilly, Gola, Palia, Khatur and Agra. The minimum price of state bus is Rs. 140
By Rail
The nearest railway station is Dhundwa station, but there are not many trains to Dhundwa station.
By Air
The nearest airport is in Lucknow at 227kms. Then from Lucknow you can take a ride for taxi, auto or bus to Dhundwa Tiger Reserve and it takes 2.5 hrs to reach there. Lucknow airport is connected to all major cities of India.