Mukundara Hills National Park - Royal Hunting Reserve of Kota

 

Mukundara Hills National Park is a national park in Rajasthan state of India with an area of 759.99 sq km. It was established in 2004 and consists of three wildlife sanctuaries - Chambal Wildlife Sanctuary, Jawahar Sagar Sanctuary and Darrah National Park. It is located in the Khathiar-Gir dry deciduous forests a distance of 50 kilometres away from Kota, the vast forest tracts of the Darrah National Park also known as the Mukundra Hills National Park, are home to many species of animals and birds.

 

Spread out in hilly terrain the Darrah National Park is one of the noteworthy national parks in Rajasthan. In earlier times the Darrah National Park used to be a royal hunting game reserve for the Maharaja of Kota because of the abundance of astonishing wildlife creatures. In 1955, the Government of India declared this region as a protected area and the Darrah National Park came into existence in 2004.

 

Mukundara Hills National Park is mountainous and has a variety of plants, trees and animals. It has grasslands in between and also many dry deciduous trees. There are four rivers that flow in this region Chambal, Kali, Ahu and Ramzan. Tree species in the forests of Mukundara Hills National Park include Acacia nilotica, Anthocephalus, Atrocarpus heterophyllus, Aegle marmelos, Azadirachta indica, Bombax ceiba, Cassia fistula, Citrus aurantifolia, Delonix regia, Dalbergia sissoo, Phyllanthus emblica, Eucalyptus, Ficus religiosa, Ficus glomerata and Ficus benghalensis.

 

 

The Leopard, Bengal Tiger, Jackal, Hyena, Jungle Cat, Sambar, Spotted Deer and Nilgai are the main attractions of this sanctuary. In the Desert National Park visitors will see great Indian Bustard. Some other beautiful animals will include to Chinkara, Wild Boars, Bears, Wolf, Antelopes, Blackbuck, Indian Fox, Desert Fox, Hare and Desert Cat. Reptiles include the Mugger crocodile and the gharial.

 

Among the birds you can find grey partridge. You can also find birds like blue tailed and green bee-eaters, drongos, common and bush quail and Indian rollers.

 

There are many historical monuments in the sanctuary. The famous Gagron fort near Jhalawar surrounded on three sides by the Kalisindh River, is also situated on the fringes of the sanctuary.

 

People prefer to visit Mukundara Hills National Park in October to June as the sanctuary remains closed in the rainy season from1st July to 30th September.

 

The nearest airport from Mukundra Hills National Park is Udaipur which is around 300 km from Kota. Nearest railway station is Kota railway station located about 50 km from the Mukundra Hills National Park. The nearest bus station is in the Kota at the Bundi road close to the eastern shore of the Chambal River. This station provides good services to all the major cities of Rajasthan like Ajmer, Chittorgarh, Jaipur, Udaipur, etc.