Katerniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary

A 3 1/2 hour ride over a bumpy 100 km route from Palia brings us to the Katerniaghat wildlife Sanctuary. The GPS shows that we are just 3 kms from the Nepal Border. Katernaighat is situated in the upper Gangetic Plain in Bahraich district of UP & is part of the Dudhwa Tiger reserve.  It covers an area of 400.6 km2 (154.7 sq mi) in the Terai grasslands. This is the place to see the Snout Crocodile (Gharial) & the endangered endemic - Indian Skimmers. Two species that i saw a month earlier at Chambal.

 The Katerniaghat Forest provides strategic connectivity between the tiger habitats of Dudhwa and Kishanpur in India and the Bardia National Park in Nepal. Its fragile Terai ecosystem comprises a mosaic of Sal and Teak forests, lush grasslands, numerous swamps and wetlands. It is home to a number of endangered species including the Gharial, Tiger, Indian One-horned Rhinocerous, Gangetic Dolphin, Swamp Deer, Hispid hare, Bengal Florican as well as the white-backed and Long-billed Vultures.  

A one hour boat ride on the river Girwa is an interesting experience and so is the safari in the park. The title photo of this blog shows a small village across the river that leads to Nepal. See more of this lovely forest in the pictures below

A surprise sighting of the endangered Indian Skimmers

Pair of Ruddy Shelducks

Snout Crocodiles (Gharials) having a face-off

And the winner keeps the land!

River Tern

Large Cormorant

Red-headed Vulture

More Indian Skimmers on the shore
the boat that ferries us on the Girwa river

no prizes for identifying this species! ha ha


1 comment:

  1. Run FactoryDecember 23, 2015 at 3:29 AM

    Lovely Pics and good article writing here!!
    Guys if you are going to Katerniaghat then you must visit Dudhwa National Park. Its really a great wildlife tiger reserve in Uttar pradesh. you will spot tiger and 400+ species of birds in this Park


    Thanks
    Dudhwa National Park

    ReplyDelete

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