Swedish royals to visit Corbett tomorrow

Dehradun: The Swedish royal couple, King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia, who are on a visit to India to strengthen bilateral ties, will visit the Jhirna zone of Corbett Tiger Reserve on Thursday and even go on a jungle safari the next day.
According to sources, the royal couple and their entourage would enter the reserve through Pakhro gate in Pauri Garhwal on Thursday and then head to Dhela where they would spend the night.They would then go on a jungle safari the next day for which the security measures have been strengthened. The ministry of external affairs has already issued the directions for the same.
Sources said that the royal couple would reach the reserve via road and not by helicopter. A senior district administration official, who attended a recent high-level meeting at Dehradun, said, “The royals were offered chopper service directly to Ramnagar and given the option of visiting popular Dhikala. However, they chose Jhirna over Dhikala due to personal reasons and decided that they will reach there by road.”
Highly placed sources said that the plan to visit Jhirna instead of Dhikala was made by the Swedish ambassador to India Klas Molin and not forest officials. Foresters said that Jhirna is a newly-developed grass landscape equally rich in tigers and elephants as compared to Dhikala.
Ahead of the royal visit, Jhirna zone has been made out of bounds for commoners. CTR director Rahul said, “As a security measure, we have to sanitise the entire zone. We already have two gypsy bookings for December 6 which we are trying to reschedule. We have frozen other bookings for the safety of the royal couple.”
Meanwhile, another forester said that the ambassador declined the Dhikala option and chose to arrange the stay at a private resort in Dhela due to security and lodging reasons.
Corbett reserve is said to have the highest density of tigers in the world. The latest annual tiger estimate found that the 1200 sq km reserve is home to around 260 big cats.