- Pilibhit Tiger Reserve lies along the India-Nepal border in the foothills of the Himalayas and the plains of the ‘terai’ in Uttar Pradesh. It is one of India's 41 Project Tiger Tiger reserves.
- Pilibhit is one of the few well forested districts in Uttar Pradesh.
- According to an estimate of year 2004, Pilibhit district has over 800 km2 (310 sq mi) forests, constituting roughly 23% of the district’s total area. Forests in Pilibhit have at least 36 tigers and a good prey base for their survival.
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| Tiger Reserve Pilibhit |
Tourist Info:
- With Corbett Tiger Reserve going to Uttrakhand, Uttar Pradesh always wanted to develop the Pilibhit forests area as a home for the striped cats. A proposal, created in 2005, to make a home for the endangered cats in Pilibhit forests was sent to the government of India in April 2008.[4] Pilibhit Tiger Reserve was declared in September 2008 on the basis of its special type of ecosystem with vast open spaces and sufficient feed for the elegant predators.
Tourist Attraction :
- The nearest major town with railhead and bus service is Pilibhit which has train connections to most major cities in northern India, including Delhi and Lucknow. Pilibhit Tiger Reserve has its own station too, but connections to it are scarce, moreover Government of Uttar Pradesh is planning to stop rail traffic in the tiger reserve area as it has caused the death of wild animals.
- Puranpur and Bisalpur are other towns near to Tiger Reserve, which also has a few trains coming in from other parts of Uttar Pradesh.
The nearest airports :
- Lucknow, 250 km (160 mi) from Pilibhit and Delhi, 264 km (164 mi) from Pilibhit.
- Pilibhit city is well connected with Bareilly in west and Nainital in north (Via Khatima). There are good road connections to Pilibhit Tiger Reserve via Shahjahanpur. Private coaches and buses operated by the UP State Road Transport Corporation connect Pilibhit to Bareilly, Delhi, Lakhimpur Kheri, Shahjahanpur and other towns.
- For visitors, the tiger reserve area has its own tourist log huts, lodges and forest resthouses at Bankatti, Mala, Chuka and other places. All are pretty minimalist (except the one at Chuka, which has a small canteen attached to it), and charge no more than a nominal tariff.
- Alternatively, Pilibhit and Bareilly have hotels where tourists can have air conditioned or non-air conditioned rooms at nominal price. Hotels also provide daily vehicles to the tiger reserve areas.
- The best time to visit Pilibhit Tiger Reserve is between September and mid-June. The Reserve area remains open to the public from September to June, but by June it’s usually a little too hot for comfort.
- In the rainy season, also, the weather can ruin your trip, so this season is better to avoid. Remember to take your woollens along if you’re going between December and February — it can get pretty chilly here, but then you see lot of wild animals due to clean grass in the foothills of the Terai.