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The Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve, one of India’s most exciting and best-protected wildernesses, is fast turning into the country’s finest, most secure tiger habitat. Located in the Chandrapur district, Tadoba is the oldest national park in Maharashtra and was brought under Project Tiger’s mantle in 1993. One of India’s most celebrated forests in the 1960s, mining, timber and bamboo extraction, plus agriculture combined to tatter the green tapestry that clothed the land.

By the 1990s, vast areas had been stripped of biodiversity. However, since then a dramatic recovery, triggered by far-sighted policies and concerted efforts of forest officials, has seen tigers and other wild species spring back to life. Teak and bamboo dominate this landscape, which is home to tigers, leopards, sloth bears, hyaenas, jackals and dholes, apart from an impressive diversity of avian and aquatic life forms.

Spread over 1,700 sq. km. (core and buffer), the Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve is a test case for wildlife tourism in India. Policymakers are determined to make sustainability and the involvement of local communities the lietmotif of tourism within the core of the park, supported by community-owned Nature Conservancies in the buffer areas. This book highlights the value of this magnificent tiger reserve, justifiably regarded as the ‘Jewel of Vidarbha’.