Chambal
A riverine refuge for reptiles & birds
The area of Chambal lies between three states of India, namely Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, and is thus named due to the river that flows by. The Chambal river, finds mention in ancient scriptures as a place where thousands of animals were sacrificed by a king, whose skins littered the banks – today, the river supports some rare, endemic species of biodiversity, notably the gharial – a long-snouted, fish-eating crocodile, and the mugger crocodile, the Gangetic river dolphin, as also several species of turtles and water birds. The National Chambal Sanctuary has been created to protect the wildlife, and the river flows into other wetland habitats further downstream, like the Keoladeo National Park.