Corbett, Rajaji reserves close, to reopen in Nov

DEHRADUN: Corbett and Rajaji tiger reserves will be shut to tourists for the five-month annual monsoon break from June 15.

The two reserves will reopen on November 15.

Corbett is divided into six ecotourism zones of Dhikala, Bijrani, Jhirna, Sonanadi, Durgadevi and Dhela.

Though Dhikala will be closed, Bijrani will be accessible for day tourists till June 30. Jhirna and Dhela are open throughout the year for day safaris, but they can be shut down depending on severity of monsoon.

“Only Dhikala is completely shut down. There are other zones that will continue receiving day tourists. We are hopeful that the number of tourists will continue to rise,” Corbett deputy director Amit Verma told HT.

In Rajaji, the five tourist zones of Chilla, Motichur, Ranipur, Asarodhi and Mohand will be out of bound for tourists during the monsoon break. “We have some encouraging results this year. We are hopeful that the number of tourists will increase,” Rajaji director Sanatan Sonkar said.

This season, Corbett reported a drop in the number of tourist arrivals. In 2015-16, the number of tourists reported was 2.83 lakh, while it is 2.50 lakh this season. But there has been a slight increase in revenue generation from ₹8.90 crore to ₹9.16 crore.

In 2015-16, Rajaji received 41,000 tourists and earned ₹1 crore in revenue.