Jaldapara safari booking has gone online, allowing visitors to reserve jeep safaris up to one month in advance at the North Bengal national park ahead of the Durga Puja travel season. The facility covers 912 safari seats each day across five tourist routes and also includes advance booking for 48 elephant-riding seats.
Divisional Forest Officer Parveen Kaswan said the daily safari capacity would be distributed across the Salkumar, Madarihat, Lankapara, Chilapata and Kodalbasti routes. The online system is intended to give visitors more certainty while planning trips to Jaldapara, a major wildlife tourism destination known for its biodiversity and one-horned rhinoceroses.
The change is particularly relevant during the festive season, when North Bengal attracts a large number of tourists. Earlier, visitors who wanted to take a safari had to depend more heavily on last-minute arrangements. Advance online reservations will allow them to select a preferred route and schedule their visit before reaching the park, according to the information released about the facility.
The booking system also changes how tourism-linked businesses can plan around visitor demand. Hotels, homestays, tour operators and transport providers may now have greater advance visibility of safari-related travel plans. These businesses form part of the local tourism economy around Jaldapara, where visitor spending supports people working across accommodation, transport, guiding and other services.
The facility could also make it easier for international visitors travelling through the nearby Jaigaon border with Bhutan to include Jaldapara in their itineraries. The park’s location in North Bengal places it within a wider regional travel circuit connecting wildlife tourism, border movement and local hospitality services.
For visitors, the immediate change is that safari planning can begin before arrival rather than being settled entirely at the destination. The available daily capacity remains fixed at 912 safari seats and 48 elephant-riding seats, with bookings open up to one month in advance. The five routes covered by the system are Salkumar, Madarihat, Lankapara, Chilapata and Kodalbasti.
Jaldapara’s online booking rollout comes as tourism operators prepare for increased festive-season travel. Its implementation will determine how smoothly visitors can access the available routes and how effectively businesses across the surrounding tourism network can use the advance booking information.
