Baripada: After remaining closed for over four months due to monsoon, Similipal National Park in Odisha’s Mayurbhanj district opened its gates for visitors on Tuesday.
According to sources, the visitors will be allowed to enter the national park from 6 am onwards. A total of 35 four-wheelers will be permitted entry through the Jashipur checkpoint and another 25 vehicles through the Pithabata gate between 6 am and 9 am every day, informed Similipal Tiger Reserve (STR) authorities.
The visitors can also stay overnight and make night halts at camp cottages and bamboo cottages at Gudugudia, Jamuani, Ramathirtha, and Kumari. They have to make online reservations for overnight stays at ‘dak bungalows’ by paying the advance amount. For the convenience of the tourists, the park authorities have made arrangements for guides.
Tickets can be booked online on a first come and first serve basis by logging into www.similipal.com and odishatourism.gov.in.
Tourists will be restricted from carrying plastic bags and other items besides alcohol inside the park.
Notably, the park was closed for visitors from June 15 with the onset of the monsoon as the roads inside it get damaged due to rain.
Spread over 2,750 square kilometre, the Similipal National Park has a variety of 1,076 plant species belonging to 102 families and 96 orchid types.
It is home to 42 species of mammals, 242 varieties of birds, and 30 reptile categories, the official said. Besides rare melanistic tigers, leopards, Asian elephants, sambar, barking deer, gaur, jungle cat, wild boar, four-horned antelope, and giant squirrel are seen here.
