Never before we, Leena and I, experienced this kind of excitement. Modestly, we became wild amongst the wild. Never I knew that my eight year old daughter had so much knowledge about wildlife . Some how my trip to Uttar Pradesh revealed many things about my daughter that I never knew before.

The first sanctuary that I explored was the breathtaking beauty of this sanctuary - Van Vihar that stretches over an area of 60 km2. It lies in Rajasthan and is divided into two parts Van Vihar and Ramsagar. Van Vihar on the Vindhyan Plateau supports a rather light grow of crippled Dhok- and Khair trees, where as Ramsagar is situated around the picturesque Lake Ramsagar. Wildlife here includes sambar, chital, wild boar, sloth bear, hyena, leopards, as well as crocodiles, birds and a variety of snakes and fish in and around Lake Ramsagar.

The next one in our tour was the Dudhwa National Park, covering an area of about 500 sq km, along the Indo-Nepal border in Kheri district of Uttar Pradesh, is best known for the Barasingha or Swamp Deer. The grasslands and woodlands of this park, consist mainly of sal forests. The barasingha is found in the southwest and southeast regions of the park. Among the big cats, tigers abound at Dudhwa. There are also a few leopards. The other animals found in large numbers, are the Indian one-horned rhinoceros and the wild elephant. Other animals found in Dudhwa are jungle cats, leopard cats, fishing cats, jackals, civets, sloth bears, sambar, otters, crocodiles and chital.