Prominent Wildlife National Parks To Visit in India

If you are interested in discovering and enjoying the flora and fauna of the country, visiting some of the prominent wildlife parks is the answer. Indian wildlife sanctuaries and national parks are exquisite and equipped with all the amenities an avid explorer needs. The avifauna, flora, aquafauna and other wild forms can be captured in their natural habitat in some of these prominent wildlife general parks of the country.

The first national park was established in 1936 and is now called the Jim Corbett National Park. It is one of the most famous and oft visited national parks in the country. In 1970 India had only five national parks, however as of 2007, over ninety six general parks have been established. The need for and the growth of wildlife are slowly increasing and over 166 national parks are said to be underway.

Some of the most pristine parks in India include the Great Himalayan, Jim Corbett Park, Dachigam, Ranthambore, Kaziranga National, Bandhavgarh National park and more!

Here is a list of some of the best wildlife parks that should not be missed:

Sundarbans park: This splendid mangrove jungle is one of its kind in the world. The Subdarbans is located in West Bengal and extends into Bangladesh. The National Park is a series of over 54 islands and is accessible through boat rides. Sundarbans offer one of the countries best wild life experience. They are home for the famous Bengal Tiger. There are innumberable wildlife wonders in this estuarine delta. The Sundarbans is blessed with the Ganges and Brahamaputra and is a land of swaps and mangrove forests. It is also home for a variety of bird life and flora. Some of the famous flora that you can spot are the Kankara and Khalsi. In terms of fauna, besides the famous Bengal Tigers (over 400 of them), Chital Deers and Rhesus Monkeys that can also be spotted. Within the Sundarbands is also the Sajnakhali Santuary which is famous for its avian population. There are tourist lodges in and around the area.

Jim Corbett park: One of the country's first wildlife national park, the Jim Corbett national park remains one of the best in the country. The park is located in the foothills of Himalayas and is home for a wide variety of flora and fauna including lions, tigers and elephants. The park is said to have over 110 tree species, 580 bird species, 50 mammal species, and 25 reptile species. In terms of fauna, the park is home for deers, wild boards, leopards and more. There are several lodges in and around the park.

Kaziranga Park: is one of the most pristine country wide park in the country. Located along the Brahmaputra in Assam, Laziranga is one of the most lush and green sanctuaries for fauna and flora. Kaziranga is home for the great one horned Indian Rhino. It is also home for a large number of elephants, swamp deer, hog deer, tigers, jungle cats, otters, wild boar and more. Lodging in and around the park is available.

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Scenic Drives of Florida's Space Coast - South Tropical Trail, Merritt Island to Indian Harbor Beach

Back in the late 1960s when I first moved to Florida, South Tropical Trail was a narrow winding two lane roadway starting at the West end of Mather's Bridge which connects Indian Harbor Beach to the South tip of Merritt Island, and wound along the western edge of the island northward to the more populated center of Merritt Island near State Road 520. Mather's Bridge at the time was an old wooden bridge that I spent my youth fishing from and at the west end on Merritt Island sat the old Mather's bridge Fish Camp. Along the trail, large homes nestled among large properties on the east side of the road stretched from the Banana River shore westward across the trail to the Indian River. These "estates" were broken up by undeveloped properties with jungle-like vegetation, giving a mysterious otherworldly aura to this part of the island. There were also several urban legends about the Trail, including the "Haunted House", an ancient, dilapidated, and abandoned nursing home allegedly still haunted by the residents who died there. There was the "Madman with the Machete", a supposedly insane man who prowled the trail on foot at night, looking for unsuspecting teenagers parked in vacant lots. Then there was the "Girl in the Glass Coffin", whereas the story goes, a man raises his blind daughter until she dies tragically in her young teens. The father, distraught over her death and lifetime of blindness entombs his daughter's body above ground on their property in a glass coffin so that "she will not have to spend eternity in darkness as she spent her short life". Then there was our own version of "Dead Man's Curve", a section of the trail where a higher than normal number fatal traffic accidents occurred, usually younger drivers showing off late at night. The alleged "Haunted House" was there, ghosts or not, as was "Dead Man's Curve, a narrow curve on the edge of the Indian River Lagoon lined with thick trees. The "Girl in the Glass Coffin" was a story you always heard third hand, I never met anybody who had actually seen her or could tell exactly where she was, and I never personally met the "Machete Madman".

However, with that said, the drive between State Road 520 in Merritt Island Southward to Mather's Bridge, which connects the South tip of Merritt Island to Indian Harbor Beach is one of the most interesting drives along the Space Coast of East central Florida, and can be driven in three sections, however in my opinion it gets better the farther south you go with the southernmost section being the best.

The northernmost access is from State Road 520 Causeway at the first stoplight east of the Indian River Bridge from Cocoa. If approaching from the east it will be the next stoplight west of the intersection of 520 and South Courtenay Parkway. Heading South from 520, South Tropical Trail will wind through mostly residential neighborhoods for the first 3 miles, but once past that, the trail runs along the eastern shoreline of the Indian River lagoon offering expansive views of this most biologically diverse estuary while to the east of the road, high end home-sites dominate. This will continue for a little over 2 miles at which point the trail turns to the east to meet up with South Courtenay Parkway, where it again turns to the south and South Courtenay Parkway or State Road 3 becomes South Tropical Trail or County Road 3.

The second leg, which can be accessed by directly by South Courtenay Parkway if you wish to bypass the first leg, will at first go through residential on both sides of the road but very quickly begins to hug the Banana River to the east offering great views of this beautiful river, while to the west, beautiful homes on expansive lots are the rule.

The third or southernmost leg starts as the trail passes underneath Pineda Causeway and can be accessed or exited at this point. This is also the most scenic portion of the drive as the trail now begins to hug the Indian River Lagoon shoreline to the west. The island is thinner here and many of the homeowners along this stretch own the property from the Banana River to the Indian River and tropical foliage abounds while attractive gazebos and docks line the shoreline. The views are spectacular, especially towards sunset. South Tropical Trail ends at Mather's Bridge and at this point the island is not much wider than the road, as it turns to the east across the bridge, becoming Banana River Drive entering Indian Harbor Beach.

Dean R. Pettit is the author of Space Coast Outdoors, an online resource for self guided outdoor adventures along Florida's Space Coast, and includes locations and other information about Fishing, Birdwatching, Kayaking, Hiking, Biking, Backcountry Camping, Surfing, Windsurfing, Snorkeling, Golf, and more.

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A Quick Guide to Informal London Speech

If you are staying in a Hyde Park hotel, London offers the chance to experience a variety of language use that you may find interesting - and depending upon where you come from, not always easy to understand!

Here are a few examples of what you may hear.

"I come down the stairs"

Originally considered part of Cockney English (Cockneys traditionally originate from the part of London to the East of Tower Bridge on the north bank of the river) but today now relatively commonplace in all parts of London, the verb "to come" is sometimes strangely conjugated.

Often "come" is used instead of the correct past tense "came".

"Fink and Fort"

In the 19th through to the middle part of the 20th centuries, some London English traditionally pronounced the "th" sound as an "f". So, "think and thought" became "fink and fort" etc.
Strangely, this is now becoming less commonplace, presumably as a result of standardised education and the mass media. Nevertheless, in and around your Hyde Park hotel, London residents may still be heard dropping the "th" occasionally.

"I know-ist that"

For reasons that are still not clear, over the last decades of the 20th century, through large areas of United Kingdom, but notably London, the sound of the clearly enunciated sharp "t" in the middle of words has declined rapidly. Sometimes it is now so softly pronounced as to be virtually non-existent, leading to words such as "noticed" sounding closer to something like "know-ist", and words like "better" now sound closer to "beh-ah". There is also some circumstantial evidence that the "t" sound is also declining at the end of words, to be replaced by an "eh". Examples might be words such as "bought" being pronounced as "baw-h", "right" as "rye" or "what is" as "whas".

"My plates of meat are killing me"

This is traditional London rhyming slang with "plates of meat" meaning effectively "feet". It is sometimes doubly confusing when abbreviated as in "my plates are sore". There are many, many such examples. There was a significant decline in the use of rhyming slang during the latter part of 20th-century. From your Hyde Park hotel, London areas to the east may still occasionally use rhyming slang, though it is now largely the preserve of older people or Londoners who may utter phrases of it occasionally out of a sense of tradition and nostalgia, rather than daily use.

"Ah neh-vah"

A huge and relatively recent change to London English has come about as a result of the fusion between what is called 'estuary English' and the English spoken in the Caribbean islands.

Estuary English had its origin in the area of eastern England where the Thames meets the sea. A distinctive accent with some interesting pronunciations, for reasons that linguists still argue about, this spread rapidly across much of southern, eastern and even central parts of England during the latter 20th century.

In London and some other urban areas with a significant Afro-Caribbean population, estuary English has blended with local accents to create a now quite distinctive new accent and pronunciation set that can be heard across a very large geographical region encompassing millions of people. This is extremely hard to describe in words but it is commonly results in a shift in tone and a pause in the middle of words. Thus "I never" can sound much more like "ah neh (pause and change tone) vah".

From your Hyde Park hotel, London will offer you all this linguistic richness, to say nothing of a multitude of foreign languages, all within a short walk!

Looking for a Hyde Park hotel, London? Roberta Stuart is the Travel Manager for Worldhotels, a company offering the best rooms at Hyde Park hotels, London and a selection of unique four and five star hotels around the world.

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