Pragnya IAS · Chapter 1 of 15 · National parks of India
National parks in India map: Himalayan north
Read the Himalayan and north-Indian parks in three strips — high Himalaya, Shivalik-terai and the dry west — and learn the traps UPSC sets among them.
STUDY NOTE 1
Three strips, one map
The high Himalaya strip runs from Kishtwar and Hemis through Great Himalayan to Nanda Devi and Gangotri. The Shivalik-terai strip carries Rajaji, Corbett, Dudhwa and Valmiki. The dry west holds Desert, Ranthambore, Sariska and Mukundara Hills.
STUDY NOTE 2
Corbett is the elder
Jim Corbett (1936) is India’s first national park, born as Hailey National Park. The Ramganga — not the Ganga — flows through it; UPSC 2014 used exactly that trap.
STUDY NOTE 3
Records worth keeping
Hemis in Ladakh is India’s largest national park, snow-leopard country in a high-altitude cold desert. Valley of Flowers and Nanda Devi (Uttarakhand) and Great Himalayan (Himachal) are UNESCO natural sites; Keoladeo Ghana in Rajasthan is a UNESCO waterbird park that began as a royal shooting reserve.
STUDY NOTE 4
One-line finds
Valmiki is Bihar’s only national park, in the West Champaran terai. Kalesar and Sultanpur are in Haryana. Gangotri and Govind Pashu Vihar are musk-deer habitat — UPSC 2020 asked precisely this. Sariska lost all its tigers by 2004 and was repopulated by translocation.
Map reading activity
Mark the three strips on an outline map of north India. Write one line each for Corbett’s river, Hemis’s record and Valmiki’s state.
What does this national parks: himalayan north lesson explain?
The high Himalaya strip runs from Kishtwar and Hemis through Great Himalayan to Nanda Devi and Gangotri. The Shivalik-terai strip carries Rajaji, Corbett, Dudhwa and Valmiki. The dry west holds Desert, Ranthambore, Sariska and Mukundara Hills.
UPSC map practice & Geography Optional connection
For UPSC Prelims environment questions and GS III, pair each protected area or convention site with its state, ecosystem and flagship species. Use a labelled sketch to show distribution; lists and counts change, so note the update date rather than memorising a frozen tally. These are Pragnya-authored exercises, not official UPSC previous-year questions.
References & original artwork
This lesson covers chapter 1 of the supplied reference curriculum. Pragnya IAS notes, activities and questions are independently authored; source PDF pages, branding, personal watermarks and unverified PYQs are not republished. India state geometry: geoBoundaries (CC BY 2.5 IN), simplified. These are educational concept views, not legal boundaries or official protected-area maps.