In early June 2025 I embarked on another mission to see and photograph wild tigers at Jim Corbett National Park in Uttarakhand. It was the very end of the season before the park closes until 15 November. The urge which had been brewing for over two years since my last visit was finally getting fulfilled.

Quick plans were made to stay at Dhikala Core Zone for two nights (the maximum allowed at this time of the year before the rains) and one night at Dhela Reserve Forest. The bookings process is a matter of chance at Dhikala. Being at the very core of the Tiger reserve, there is incredible demand for rooms which are only a handful and run out fast within minutes if not seconds.
The bookings were made and the plan was final. We left Delhi on 5th morning and within a couple of hours we entered the forest via Dhangiri Gate ahead of Ramnagar. Dhikala FRH is about 35km from the forest checkpoint at Dhangiri and takes bit more than an hour to reach. The drive crosses a couple of other Forest Rest Houses (FRH), Dhikala being the largest and the remotest.

Tiger in the dry Ramganga river

SOURCE: https://cwejournal.org/ckfinder/userfiles/files/Vol19_No2_Lan_Mee_Fig2.jpg

Heavenly Sal forest marks the entrance to Dhikala.

Dhikala is the only facility in India which allows night stay within the core forest and indeed it feels like a different world here. The remote facility run by the forest department is located at the high bank of the Ramganga river, offers very basis accommodation and food, limited phone network, but is right in the middle of the action where tigers roam freely. So close that the area had to be eventually have electrical fences to prevent mishaps resulting from tigers entering the complex which the reader can find on the Internet. Attacks still happen in the vicinity of the complex but barely on safari gypsys which is the primary mode of transport for visitors here.

Dhikala Old FRH, built-in 1890

Dhikala FRH from across the river

Tigers live solitary lives. The male tiger has a larger territory (50 to 100 square kms) which encompasses multiple smaller territories of female tigers/ tigresses. Both genders walk and leave markings to define their territory. Males typically interact and engage with tigresses for mating which typically happens every two years. While males tiger always look out to grab more area from nearby weaker/ older male tigers and if that happens they by default also take over the female territory. Now if that happens and the female has cubs then the male tiger most likely kills them so he can have his own offsprings with the tigress.

Bhola Male Tiger at Dhela

Tigers typically wean-off from the mother to go on to lead their independent lives at about two years which requires setting up their own territories. Young male tigers can also team up to oust the active male tiger (can also be their father) and the young females may kick out their own mother and take over her territory. This is actually what happened to the famous tigress Machali of Ranthambore.

Dhikala offers an unmatched experience to witness the secret lives and complex social structures of tigers which is a constant power struggle to own territories and power shift most often is built on aggression, conflict and death of the weaker one.

The area between Dhikala to Dhangiri is broadly distributed into eight clusters:

(1) The area behind the FRH which covers the Dhikala Chaur (or grassland), Mota sal, which then extends upto the marshlands, where you can occasionally see the rare Hog Deer. The marshlands which eventually leads to the end of land and the river/ dam reservoir starts. Here an island also pops out from the water which one can only visit in May and June when the water level is low. Lot of Sal trees in the area got chopped offer and much of this area got submerged under water when the Kalagarh dam was built on the Ramganga river in 1974. The area is also famous for Gharial and Marsh Crocodiles which you can occasionally spot basking in the sun along the bank of the river in the cooler months.

(2) Starting from the left of the FRH leading on to Sambhar road upto Khinanauli FRH (VIP guest house) which extends into the Khinanauli Chaur and high bank and the Ramganga river beyond.

(3) The main road that leads up from Khinanauli to Dhikala is heavenly, with tall Sal trees on both sides creating a canopy over the road. No matter how many times you drive through this, it always gives you goosebumps and leaves one awestruck at the beauty of nature.

(4) Ramsingh road cuts perpendicular to Khinanauli and leading onto Kamarpatta road, Thandi sadak and Chua Pani onto its left.

(5) In the hotter months the river is relatively dry, Phulai paar opens up via a man-made rickety wooden bridge across the river and leads upto the “swimming pool” and the Phulai Chaur with a couple of high banks at the edge of the river. There is also a forest post and watch tower (chowki) here. Further and beyond the road from here leads upto the Kanda FRH towards the right and Ringara area on the left. The bridge is dismantled each year around 10th June to avoid it getting washed away in the heavy flow of the river during the monsoon and is rebuild once the river flow subsides in the summer months.

Male/ Tusker Elephant in the forest behind Phulai

Bird Nest on the high bank of Ramganga river on paar side

(6) Closest to the Sarpduli FRH is the Champion road and pool, High bank area and Gorkha.

(7) Around Gairal there the Crocodile point, Gharial tiraha and shikari batiya.

(8) The area around Sultan FRH and the one closest the Dhangiri is the Sultan sot, Shikari batiya, Saaj Garhi sot, however this area is typically least visited unless you stay at this FRH.

Sambhar Deer (male)

Common Kingfisher

Between Dhangiri and Dhikala, the road cuts across atleast three tigress territories frequented by a couple of male adult tigers. Generally Male tiger sighting are not that good at Corbett.
Back in 2016, the area around the Dhikala Chaur was ruled by an old, but bold grassland female. In her last litter in 2019 she had three cubs, two male and one female. The father most likely was a shy and rarely seen male tiger known as Samba. The Samba became a maneater in 2020 after killing a worker and was captured and send to Ranibagh Wildlife Transit Rescue Centre.
The old female most likely died around 2021 either naturally or in a fight and the grassland area was controlled by these three cubs. The female was shy and was barely seen but the males were bold and often delighted the visitors with close sightings.

I got lucky back in April, 2023 to observe them from close proximity. Tiger sightings in the grassland are always phenomenal with tigers majestically walking in and out of the tall elephant grass.

Romeo male tiger cub (Grassland)

Last year one of the male cubs killed a worker outside the Dhikala FRH and was moved to the rehabilitation centre in Kalagarh. Thus, the grassland area was mostly left with only the other male tiger cub AKA Romeo to fend for himself until early this year. The grassland was still roamed by another male who took over the void after Samba was shifted out and also a rarely seen shy female. It is believed that the female gave birth to cubs in early 2025 and has moved them deep into the forest for safety.

From around 2014 the paar area across the river was ruled by a famous tigress Paro. Back in the time she expanded her territory from Kanda upto Sambhar road which was also roamed by four other tigresses, the one from Kanda, the grassland female, Chua pani female and Langdi. She was able to establish her authority over Sambhar road after a big fight with Chua pani female. The other tigresses used to use only some parts of this road to avoid any fights with Paro.
The first two litters of Paro between 2016 and 2017 (from the dominant male Sambha) of three cubs each did not survive due to leopards and other tigers. From the second litter she had saved one cub called Prince/Nawab. When he was 9-10 months old, he got attacked by another tigress, Paro came back and fought off the tigress but Nawab was seriously injured and died soon after.

Around 2019 Paro again had three female cubs. When the cubs gor older they split her territory amongst themselves. Paro was last seen in Dhikala in 2021 but was again seen in January 2023 in Durgadevi zone of Corbett now old and frail.

At Dhikala, the paar area was taken over by Paarwali, the pool area and the area behind by Gathia rau wali and the Sambhar road area was taken by Pedwali. She was the only one to aggressively expand her territory to include Kamarpatta and Ramsingh areas.
The Gathia rau wali, has faded into obscurity, unseen for nearly two years.

I saw the Paarwali in April 2023 in close proximity, majestic as she is glistening golden in the evening sunset sun, poised, confident and bold as always.

Last year Paarwali had four cubs, of which one did not survive the monsoon. She now has three daughters left, on the verge on embarking on their own respective journeys.

The third area upwards from Sambhar road until somewhere near Chua Pani is ruled by Pedwali and her name comes from her fondness to sit on lower tree branches. Pedwali as on 2025 also has her first litter of three cubs, two males and one female.

The area upwards from Chua Pani is controlled by Chua Pani female (rarely seen) and also a ferocious Chua Pani male. A couple of years ago this male jumped on the bonnet of one of the safari gypsies and traumatised the driver so much that he did not return back to work for more than three months.

The area around Gairal and high bank is ruled by an older female called Tittli (rarely seen due to dense forest and limited road access) who also recently has had a litter.
Finally (atleast from what I personally know) there was a ferocious male around Sultan FRH who a couple of years ago dragged a worker off his motorcycle into the forest half ate him. Since then motorcycles for staff have been banned in the area.

Once we arrived at Dhikala we left for our afternoon safari post lunch with high hopes of seeing tigers at close proximity and take photographs and videos as our trophy.

We got lucky to catch a fleeting glimpse of the rare Yellow-throated marten along the way to Dhikala.

Dhikala was different this time. There was an eerie stillness to the tiger movement. There was a void, a lot had changed. Dhikala is in a phase of transformation.

The grassland is empty. The Romeo male has been killed apparently by the two cubs of Pedwali. Paarwali on the other hand was on the verge of weening off her cubs and she is roaming and exploring on the banks of the river upto the borders of the grassland. Which is where we saw her wandering one late evening.

Pedwali was nowhere to be seen, she is recuperating from motherfood but is also exploring, she was seen across paar at the swimming pool in early March.
We saw one of her cubs the next morning calling out to his mother and then attempting a deer hunt which failed. Later in the evening we again saw him returning back from near the Palm water pool.

His siblings were nowhere to be seen and it was likely they were killed by another tiger. On the next day we saw tracks of another male tiger wandering the same area and the male cub we saw yesterday had now changed his route to get down to the water.

Dhikala was disappointing in terms of game and apart from fleeting glimpses and tigers far away, there wasn’t any substantial sightings. However, it was a lesson on the rule of the jungle, a purvue into the life of tigers which I humbly brought back.

The Tiger Reserve now closes and will re-open on the 15th of November. At this time sightings are few due to dense vegetation and tall grass post monsoon. Paar side is closed as the Ramganga river is in full flow with water.

The actual tiger season will re-start from February/ March 2026 onwards which is when I will plan my next excursion to observe how the next chapter of the Tiger story around Dhikala has unfolded.

After staying two nights at Dhikala we moved onwards to Dhela. A newer zone of the Jim Corbett National Park opened in 2014. It is a reserve forest reclaimed by the forest department from a village. Dhela lies along the state border between Uttarakhand and UP and the forest department has installed multiple high range surveillance cameras here to monitor poaching activity. Some of the forest here are planted and symmetrical and include Eucalyptus, Sal and other large trees. This is also the only place where one can see Sloth Beers at Jim Corbett.

The FRH at Dhela was built by the British in 1908 and mostly likely served as a hunting lodge back then.

The forest department has built and maintain the only grassland here which is a reclaimed farmland from the relocated village. They have also built a couple of interconnected water bodies to provide water to the native animals including elephants and tigers. Thus in the hot summer months the tigers inevitably visit these water bodies and sightings are frequent.

As a result of the outstanding efforts towards tiger conservation and habitat protection, tiger population in these buffer zones have gone up and since a lot of these zones lie next to villages such as Dhela or Sawaldey, human and tiger conflicts inevitably happen. Last year the Sawaldey tigress killed a lady when she had gone a few metres into the forest to collect wood.
Dhela is where we got our heartful and much awaited close up tiger sightings in the Dhela Grassland. The best being four tigers at the same time. Two adult male siblings Bhola and Langda on one side and on the other the native female tigress with her cub.

Langur Monkeys at Dhela

The consecutive day we crossed paths again with Bhola when he visited the water hole and then walked back to the dense forest across a seasonal rivulet.

In additional to tigers, I saw a lot of elephants, birds and other wildlife both at Dhikala and Dhela which I have documented below.

Wild Rabbit

Mother Elephant with calf

Owlets on a Banyan tree outside Dhela FRH

Migratory Nilgiri bird eating a baby snake

Lone Tusker on the dry Ramganga river

Final photo of us at Dhela FRH.

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