Similipal National Park is one of India's largest tiger reserves, covering roughly 2,750 square kilometres of the Mayurbhanj hills in northern Odisha. The landscape is a rolling mix of sal forest, open grassland, rocky hills, and river valleys — the kind of varied terrain that supports a genuinely wide range of wildlife. Royal Bengal tigers, Asian elephants, gaur (Indian bison), leopards, and four-horned antelopes all live here, along with over 300 species of birds.
The best time for wildlife viewing is between February and May, before the monsoon closes the park. Visitors enter through one of three zones: the northern zone (Pithabata gate) gives access to the most dramatic scenery and the major waterfalls; the southern zone (Jashipur gate) is more accessible from Baripada. The forest rest houses inside the park — at Chahala, Joranda, and Lulung — need to be booked in advance through the Similipal Tiger Reserve office in Baripada. Staying inside is worth the effort: dawn and dusk at Chahala, where animals come to water holes, are the best wildlife-watching windows.