What’s better than a weekend? A long weekend. It's been four hours since we left Lucknow. Ignoring Google Maps, we are following the instructions of a 19-year-old from the forest rest house where we will be staying for the next two days. “Aap live location share kijiye, hum aapko guide karenge,” was what he said, when asking us to leave the safety of the main road.
The foliage begins to thicken. The few scattered villages and hamlets, separated from each other by vast expanses of crop and farmland, fall behind. We take a quick turn at a nondescript railway crossing, and a large board indicates that we have arrived at the Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary in the Bahraich district of Uttar Pradesh. Never heard of it? It’s because, in the Terai belt, which stretches from Nepal’s Bagmati River in the east to India’s Yamuna River in the west, the Dudhwa National Park and Pilibhit Tiger Reserve are the star attractions. Wildlife enthusiasts typically will head there in search of the elusive big cat - the tiger.
Katarniaghat remains in their formidable shadows. Spread over 551.02 sq. km., it acts as a corridor between tiger habitats in India and Nepal. Even though it became a wildlife sanctuary in 1976, it was included in Project Tiger only in 2003. The landscape here is distinct and diverse - a mosaic of sal and teak forests, tall grasslands that go on and on, large swamps, and lush green wetlands. It’s also home to several mammals, including the tiger, rhino, swamp deer, and leopard.
Its proximity to water bodies also makes the sanctuary a birding paradise. From the large cormorant and the grey heron to the sarus crane and Bengal florican, there's a wide variety of birds to see here. There’s also a nature trail that takes you inside the forest, so you can get a feel of the place.
Biggest draws
But its mainstay, and the reason for our trip, is that it is arguably the best place in the country to see the Gangetic river dolphin, the gharial and the crocodile in the same habitat. One major reason for this is the riparion ecosystem created due to the Girwa and Kaudiyala streams of the Ghaghra river that snake their way through the sanctuary.
There are two types of safaris available for those who’d like to see these species from up close. There’s the gypsy, which takes you deep into the forest for a glimpse of the grasslands, teak and sal forests. The road runs parallel to a few swamps and the backwaters of the river Girwa, where, if you are lucky, like us, you can spot crocodiles and gharials on the banks, just basking in the sun. The other is a boat ride along the river route around the park. Here, you can see gharials floating in the water, dolphins swimming around and crocodiles lazing on the sandy riverbanks. Either one of these safaris can bring you face to face with a leopard, rhino, elephants or even the tiger.
Making a mark
What put Katarniaghat on the map in the world of conservation, in as early as the 1970s, is its role in saving the critically endangered gharial. In 1974, the fish-eating reptile was on the brink of extinction. To safeguard it and ensure the gharial’s long-term survival, the Crocodile Conservation Project was launched in India in 1975. The main goal was to protect the three crocodilian species found in the country - the freshwater crocodile, the gharial and the saltwater crocodile - by breeding and rearing them in captivity, and then releasing them in the wild.
At the time, there were around 129 breeding pairs of gharials in the Chambal river and near Katarniaghat. So, Katraniaghat became one of five crocodile sanctuaries established between 1975 and 1982, the others being the National Chambal Sanctuary, Satkosia Gorge Wildlife Sanctuary, Son Gharial Sanctuary and Ken Gharial Sanctuary.
Eggs sourced from here were sent to the Kukrail Gharial Rehabilitation Centre in Lucknow, where they were incubated, hatched and reared. Over time, they were reintroduced to habitats across India, - including the river Ramganga in the famous Corbett National Park. By 1991, 12,000 gharial eggs had been collected from the wild and captive breeding nests, and over 5,000 gharial juveniles had been released back into rivers. Of these, 3,500 were released in the National Chambal Sanctuary, which is spread over 425 km in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. In fact, as per forest authorities here, almost all captive-born gharials that have been reintroduced in the open waters of Uttar Pradesh have their origin stories either in Katarniaghat or the river Chambal. The project also provided gharials to zoos and nature parks in Odisha, Kanpur, Delhi, West Bengal, Chennai, Bhutan, Tokyo and New York.
With their numbers on the rebound, the gharial is one of India’s few conservation success stories. At a time when monitored wildlife populations have declined by 69 percent, watching the gharial basking on the riverbank at Katarniaghat offers hope. It might not be too late, yet, to save them.
When to visit
The sanctuary is open from November 15 to June 15. Visit from December to March when crocodiles and gharials come out of the water to soak up some sun. November to February, however, is a good time to see migratory birds.
Summer begins to set in by March and lasts till June. The park rapidly dries out and animal sightings, especially of the tiger, increase. Safari drives can get uncomfortable with temperatures ranging from 30 to 45 degrees C.
Safari
The jungle safari is available from 7 am to 10 am, and in the evening from 2 pm to 5 pm. Boating can be done in between. A safari cost is about Rs 2,500.
Stay
Book yourself into a cottage at Motipur and Kakraha which offer a magnificent view of the sal forest. Check their availability here: https://www.upecotourism.in/CheckAvailability.aspx
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