Tiger reserves are specially protected forest areas in India, managed under Project Tiger with a strictly protected core and a surrounding buffer zone, and there are now more than fifty of them spread across the country’s tiger states. Together they shelter the great majority of India’s wild tigers, which in turn make up roughly three-quarters of all wild tigers left on Earth. Last reviewed: 4 November 2026.
The tiger reserve system is one of the most ambitious conservation efforts in history. Launched in the 1970s when the species was sliding toward extinction in India, it has helped bring tiger numbers back, even as it has raised hard questions about people who live in and around the forests. This explainer covers what tiger reserves are, how they are organised, how tigers are counted, where the system has worked, and where it faces trouble.
Quick Facts: India’s Tiger Reserves at a Glance
| Launch of Project Tiger | 1 April 1973, with nine initial reserves |
|---|---|
| Governing body | National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), a statutory body set up in 2006 |
| Legal basis | Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, as amended |
| Number of reserves | More than fifty, in the range of 55 to 58 in recent official counts |
| Zoning model | Core (critical tiger habitat) plus buffer zone |
| Latest national estimate | About 3,200 tigers at minimum in the 2022 cycle, with a higher estimated range |
| Counting method | Camera traps, sign surveys and statistical capture-recapture modelling every four years |
| Share of world’s wild tigers | Roughly 75 percent |
| Tiger subspecies | Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) |
Key Takeaways
- Tiger reserves are protected landscapes run under Project Tiger, where a core area is kept free of human settlement and extraction and a buffer zone allows regulated human use.
- Project Tiger began in 1973 with nine reserves and has grown to more than fifty, overseen since 2006 by the National Tiger Conservation Authority.
- India’s tiger population has risen over the past two decades, from a low of about 1,400 in 2006 to around 3,200 or more in the latest national estimate.
- Tigers are counted using thousands of camera traps and statistical models, which makes India’s tiger census one of the largest wildlife surveys in the world.
- Success has come with problems, including tigers dying outside protected areas, conflict with villagers, poaching, and disputes over relocating people from core areas.
- Because tigers need large territories and sit at the top of the food chain, saving them also protects forests, watersheds and countless other species.
What Are Tiger Reserves in India?
Tiger reserves in India are legally notified forest tracts set aside mainly to protect tigers and their prey, run by state governments with technical and financial support from the central government. Each one is built around a core area with the strongest protection and is surrounded by a buffer meant to bridge the reserve and the human landscape beyond.
Many tiger reserves include a national park or wildlife sanctuary, and some, such as Corbett, Kanha and Bandipur, are among the best-known protected areas in the country. Others are less visited but equally important, like Satkosia in Odisha or Nagarjunsagar-Srisailam in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, the latter among the largest in India by area. They cover a wide range of habitats, from Himalayan foothill sal forest and central Indian teak, to grasslands, hill forest and the tidal mangroves of the Sundarbans.
Together these reserves account for only a small slice of India’s land area, perhaps two percent or a little more, but they hold the core breeding populations that supply tigers to surrounding forests.
Why Was Project Tiger Launched?
Project Tiger was launched in 1973 because tiger numbers had collapsed through hunting, loss of habitat and loss of prey, and the species was believed to be heading for extinction in India. A 1972 count had put the national population at only around 1,800 animals, a fraction of the many thousands thought to have lived there a century earlier.
Tigers had been hunted heavily for sport during the colonial era and after, and their skins and bones were traded. Forests were cleared for farms, dams and settlements. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s government acted on the advice of conservationists and an expert task force, banned tiger hunting, passed the Wildlife (Protection) Act of 1972, and started the project with nine reserves in different regions: Bandipur, Corbett, Kanha, Manas, Melghat, Palamau, Ranthambore, Similipal and the Sundarbans.
The idea was simple but radical for its time. Rather than protecting tigers alone, the project would protect whole forests, because a big predator can survive only if its prey and habitat survive too.
How Does the Core and Buffer Model Work?
The core and buffer model works by dividing a tiger reserve into a strictly protected core, officially called critical tiger habitat, and a surrounding buffer zone where human activity is allowed under controls. The aim is to keep a safe breeding area for tigers while reducing hostility from the neighbouring communities.
The core is meant to be inviolate. Settlements, mining, grazing and the collection of forest produce are restricted or prohibited, and the area is managed purely for wildlife. The buffer zone is a multiple-use landscape, where villagers may continue some traditional uses and where development, eco-tourism and livelihoods are supported through schemes that reduce pressure on the core. Corridors and surrounding forests further link a reserve to others, since young tigers must disperse to find territory.
| Zone | Purpose | Typical rules |
|---|---|---|
| Core (critical tiger habitat) | Safe breeding and undisturbed habitat | No settlements, mining or extractive use; limited, regulated tourism |
| Buffer | Cushion between wildlife and people | Regulated grazing and forest use, livelihood schemes, eco-development |
| Corridor | Link between reserves for dispersing tigers | Protected through land-use planning, wildlife-friendly roads and fences |
Who Runs India’s Tiger Reserves?
Tiger reserves are run jointly by state forest departments, which manage them on the ground, and the National Tiger Conservation Authority, which sets standards, funds and monitors the work. The NTCA became a statutory body in 2006, following controversy over the loss of tigers from Sariska in Rajasthan.
Each reserve has a field director supported by forest guards, rangers and often local tribal staff. The NTCA approves a tiger conservation plan for each reserve, releases central funding, and oversees tiger estimation. It also works with the Wildlife Institute of India, a technical partner in scientific monitoring, and with the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau on poaching and trade. Tiger conservation foundations at the state level help channel money and community benefits.
Tools introduced in recent decades include the M-STrIPES monitoring system, which uses mobile patrol apps and satellite mapping to track forest patrolling, and independent management effectiveness evaluations that score each reserve periodically.
How Are Tigers Counted in India?
Tigers are counted in India through the All India Tiger Estimation, a survey held every four years that combines ground sign surveys, remote sensing and thousands of camera traps analysed with statistical models. Each tiger has a unique stripe pattern, much like a fingerprint, which lets scientists identify individuals from photographs.
Surveyors first walk transects to record tiger signs, prey density and habitat. They then place paired camera traps in selected grids so that each animal is photographed from both sides. Using capture-recapture methods, researchers estimate how many tigers live in the surveyed area, and they extrapolate to the larger landscape. In the most recent cycles, the survey has covered an enormous forest area and produced millions of photographs.
Estimates from earlier decades relied on pugmark tracking, which is now regarded as unreliable. The national estimate has moved from roughly 1,400 in 2006 to about 1,700 in 2010, 2,200 in 2014, 2,900 in 2018, and around 3,200 as the minimum in 2022, with the most likely number somewhat higher. These figures are estimates with margins of error, not exact head counts.
Which Tiger Reserves Are the Best Known?
The best-known tiger reserves include Jim Corbett in Uttarakhand, Ranthambore in Rajasthan, Kanha and Bandhavgarh in Madhya Pradesh, Bandipur in Karnataka and the Sundarbans in West Bengal, each representing a different habitat. They are only a handful among dozens, but they illustrate the diversity of the system.
Corbett, in the Himalayan foothills, has roots in India’s first national park, created in 1936, and was one of the original nine reserves. Ranthambore is a dry deciduous forest with old fort ruins and lakes, where tigers are unusually visible. Kanha and Bandhavgarh in central India protect sal and grassland landscapes in the heart of the country’s richest tiger region. Bandipur and neighbouring reserves in the Western Ghats form part of the Nilgiri landscape, with among the largest connected tiger populations in the world. The Sundarbans Tiger Reserve is unique as a mangrove forest, where tigers swim between islands and sometimes come into deadly contact with fishermen and honey collectors.
Kaziranga in Assam, better known for the one-horned rhinoceros, also holds a high density of tigers on its floodplain grasslands, showing how varied tiger habitat can be.
Which States Have the Most Tigers?
Madhya Pradesh has the most tigers of any Indian state, followed by Karnataka and Uttarakhand, with Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Assam also holding significant populations. Central India, the Western Ghats and the Terai belt together hold most of the country’s tigers.
Madhya Pradesh is often called the “tiger state” because of its large reserves such as Kanha, Bandhavgarh, Pench and Satpura. Karnataka benefits from Bandipur, Nagarhole and the wider Western Ghats forests. Uttarakhand has Corbett and the Rajaji landscape in the Himalayan foothills. Maharashtra’s Tadoba-Andhari and other Vidarbha forests have shown strong growth. Some regions have lost tigers or hold few, including parts of Odisha, Jharkhand and the Northeast hills, and conservationists see these as places where much more work is needed.
Has Project Tiger Been a Success?
Project Tiger has been a considerable, though uneven, success, since India’s tiger population has roughly doubled over the past fifteen to twenty years and the country met its pledge to double tiger numbers by 2022 early. At the same time, the gains have not been equal everywhere.
The success rests on strong legal protection, dedicated funding, trained anti-poaching staff, voluntary relocation of villagers from core areas, and a prey base that has recovered in many reserves. India’s tigers have also spread into forests outside the formal reserves, which now hold a large fraction of the total population.
There have been setbacks too. Tigers vanished from Sariska in 2004 and from Panna in 2009 because of poaching, forcing costly reintroductions. Poaching for skin and bones continues, and electrocution, road and rail accidents, and poisoning kill tigers every year. Counting numbers alone also hides the fact that tigers remain confined to a small share of their historical range.
Can Tigers Be Moved Between Reserves?
Tigers can be moved between reserves through translocation, and India has done so to restore populations in places like Sariska, Panna and parts of Odisha and Madhya Pradesh. The approach works when the new site has enough prey, protection and local support, and fails when those conditions are missing.
In Sariska, tigers brought from Ranthambore in 2008 have gradually rebuilt a breeding population. Panna recovered from zero tigers after animals from Kanha, Bandhavgarh and Pench were released. Efforts to establish tigers in Odisha’s Satkosia reserve ran into difficulty after an animal was killed and local people objected. These cases show that relocation is a powerful but delicate tool. Each translocated tiger must adapt to unfamiliar terrain, may wander outside the reserve, and can provoke conflict if nearby communities have not been prepared.
What Challenges Do Tiger Reserves Face?
Tiger reserves face a set of connected challenges: poaching, habitat loss, shrinking corridors, human-tiger conflict, pressure from tourism and infrastructure, and disputes over the rights of forest communities. Success in raising tiger numbers makes some of these problems sharper, because a larger population needs more space.
Many reserves are now close to carrying capacity, and young tigers disperse into farmland and plantations, where they may attack livestock or people. Roads, railways, canals and power lines cut the corridors that connect reserves. Mining and dams also eat into forests that would otherwise support tigers. Tourism brings income but can disturb animals if it is poorly managed, so authorities limit vehicle numbers and zones.
The relocation of villages from core areas is the most sensitive issue. Voluntary relocation with fair compensation has helped, but critics point to cases where families were moved reluctantly or rights under the Forest Rights Act were not properly settled. A lasting tiger conservation system needs local people to feel it works for them and not against them.
Why Do Tiger Reserves Matter Beyond Tigers?
Tiger reserves matter beyond tigers because the forests they protect regulate water, store carbon and shelter thousands of other species, so the tiger acts as an “umbrella” for the whole ecosystem. Saving a tiger means saving a large area of connected habitat.
Many rivers and reservoirs depend on the watersheds inside these reserves, and the forests hold large stocks of carbon and help moderate local climate. The reserves also protect elephants, leopards, dholes, sloth bears, deer, birds and a wealth of plants. Eco-tourism supports local jobs, guides, lodges and handicrafts, and in well-run reserves a share of revenue goes back to villages. Studies have estimated that the ecosystem services from tiger landscapes are worth far more than the cost of protecting them, though such valuations are approximate.
Bottom Line
India’s tiger reserves are the backbone of the country’s effort to save the Bengal tiger, a system of protected cores, buffers and corridors that has helped numbers rise from the brink. The challenge now is not only to protect the animals but to secure connected forests, ease conflict, and make conservation fair to the people who live beside tigers. If it does, the reserves will protect much more than one species.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many tiger reserves are there in India?
India has more than fifty tiger reserves, with recent official counts in the mid-fifties. New reserves are notified from time to time, so the exact number changes.
When did Project Tiger start?
Project Tiger began on 1 April 1973 with nine reserves. The aim was to save the Bengal tiger by protecting its forest habitat.
What is the difference between a tiger reserve and a national park?
A national park is a legally protected area with strict limits on human use, while a tiger reserve is a broader landscape with a core and buffer zone managed specifically for tigers. Many tiger reserves contain one or more national parks or sanctuaries within them.
How many tigers are there in India?
The 2022 national estimate put India’s tigers at a minimum of about 3,200, with the most likely figure somewhat higher. India holds roughly three-quarters of the world’s wild tigers.
How do scientists count tigers?
They use camera traps that photograph each tiger’s unique stripe pattern, together with ground surveys and statistical capture-recapture models. The survey is repeated every four years.
Why are villagers sometimes relocated from tiger reserves?
Core areas are meant to be free of settlement so that tigers can breed undisturbed and conflict is reduced. Relocation is supposed to be voluntary and compensated, though it has been controversial where rights or fair compensation were disputed.
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