Corbett safari

Jim Corbett safari guide: zones, booking, night stays

Published 5 November 2026Updated 5 November 2026

Book a Corbett safari only on corbettgov.org, the reserve's own site. Jhirna, Dhela and Garjia are open all year, Bijrani from 15 October and Dhikala from 15 November. On 5 November 2026 both booking portals showed "All bookings have been paused by the department!", so check the portal before you plan dates.

Sourced 5 Nov 2026. Zones, booking rules, ID rules and the night stay schedule are from corbettgov.org (read 5 November 2026), and routes, distances and park rules from the Nainital district page on Corbett Tiger Reserve (undated). We could not read any fee on an official page, so this guide prints none.

Bookings were paused on 5 November 2026

Both the safari booking portal and the night stay portal displayed "All bookings have been paused by the department!" on 5 November 2026. Neither page gave a reason or a date to reopen, and we found no report that explains it. Check the portal before you fix travel dates.

The only official booking site

corbettgov.org calls itself the official website and says: "Protect yourself from booking scams by booking directly through the ONLY official Corbett Tiger Reserve website". It publishes a list of 19 websites and mail IDs it names as unauthorised. The portal sells three permit types: Jeep Safari, Canter Safari and Night Stay.

Zones and seasons

From the zone table on corbettgov.org:

The Nainital district page still gives Sonanadi as 15 October to 30 June. We follow the official portal's 15 November date, but ask the reserve if you are going in the first half of November.

How booking works

• "A mandatory 180-second waiting period applies on the Visitor Details page during Night Stay and Safari booking."
• On the day of the visit, the last online booking is at 6:30 AM for the morning session and 4:00 PM for the afternoon session.
• Bots and autofill extensions are prohibited, and permits booked with them are invalidated.
• Bookings through agents that break the terms "may result in ticket cancellation without prior notice and without refunds".
• A day visit to Dhikala is allowed only on the conducted tours run by the reserve, per the district page.
• Permits are issued for a maximum of three days, per the district page.

ID rules from 22 September 2026

corbettgov.org lists these rules, effective from 22 September 2026:

• "A clear copy/photo of both the front and back sides of the Group Leader's valid ID must be uploaded on the portal."
• "For all other tourist members included in the group, only their valid ID number shall be entered."
• "At the time of entry, the Group Leader must produce the original and valid IDs of all group members."
• A mismatch can lead to entry being restricted.

The portal does not name which IDs count. To compare ID rules for trains, flights and other permits, use our travel ID checker.

Night stays

corbettgov.org opens forest rest house bookings 45 days ahead, in blocks. Its schedule names the New Dhikala, Dhikala and Jhirna Forest Rest Houses. "The foreigner booking for stay is open 90 days in advance. The Indian booking for stay will open on 4th Oct 2026 at 10:00 AM IST."

The district page allows a maximum of two adults and two children below 12 per room, and says cooking is not allowed at the Dhikala and Bijrani tourist complexes. corbettgov.org says the canteen "offers limited options".

Rules inside the reserve

• "Use of mobile phones within tourism zones of the core habitat of tiger reserves is not permitted", under a Supreme Court order (corbettgov.org).
• No firearms of any kind and no pets (district page).
• "Driving inside the Tiger Reserve after sunset is prohibited" (district page).
• Carry a litter bag (district page).
• Private buses may not enter the Bijrani zone (district page).

Getting to Corbett

From the Nainital district page:

• Rail: "The nearest rail head is Ramnagar which is the terminus of Delhi-Moradabad-Ramnagar broad gauge branch". Check when booking opens with our train booking date calculator.
• Air: "The nearest airport is at Pantnagar about 80 Kms. from Ramnagar".
• Road from Delhi: Delhi, Moradabad, Kashipur, Ramnagar: 240 km.
• Road from Bareilly: 160 km via Kicha and Haldwani, or 145 km via Kicha, Rudrapur and Kashipur.
• From Nainital: Ramnagar is 60 km via Kaladhungi. The same page also says the park is 118 km from Nainital via Kaladhungi and Ramnagar.
• Inside: Dhangarhi, the main entrance, is 19 km from Ramnagar, and Dhikala is 35 km from Dhangarhi.

About the park

The district page says it was India's first national park, set up in 1936 as Hailey National Park and renamed Corbett National Park in 1957, with an area of 521 sq km.

Traveling with children

At the forest rest houses a room takes two adults and two children below 12 at most, per the district page. We found no official minimum age for a safari.

What we could not confirm

• Every fee: safari permits, vehicles, nature guides, canter seats, forest rest house tariffs and foreigner rates. The pricing and safari pages returned errors and the nature guide rate PDF did not open on 5 November 2026. News figures exist, but we print none.
• Why bookings were paused on 5 November 2026, and when they reopen.
• Safari session times per zone, the minimum age, how many people per jeep, and the safari booking window (the 45 days is stated for night stays only).
• Flights into Pantnagar, Ramnagar train names and fares, and taxi fares from Ramnagar.

Want another Uttarakhand trip? See our Rishikesh trip guide, or find a short break by distance with the weekend getaway finder.

Sources

• Corbett Tiger Reserve, official website (zone table, ID rules, booking rules, night stay schedule): corbettgov.org, read 5 November 2026
• Corbett Tiger Reserve, safari booking portal (paused banner): booking.corbettgov.org, read 5 November 2026
• Corbett Tiger Reserve, night stay portal (paused banner): stays.corbettgov.org, read 5 November 2026
• Nainital district, Corbett Tiger Reserve (undated): nainital.nic.in, sourced 5 November 2026
• Share image photo: Ashok.delhi17, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons, cropped, headline added.

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