Jim Corbett

Declared in 1936 as Hailey National Park, it is the oldest national park in India and in the whole of South Asia. In 1957 it was renamed after Jim Corbett, a British hunter born in India who, after shooting several man-eating tigers and leopards, became a fervent advocate of protecting the species, writing books that decisively shaped tiger policy in the country. In 1973 it was chosen as the launch site of the historic Project Tiger, driven by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, which has taken India's tiger population from some 1,800 animals in 1972 to more than 3,900 today.