India’s biggest tiger reserve is not Corbett or Ranthambore. It sits in the Nallamala hills of Andhra Pradesh. This lesson covers its size, its split from Amrabad, the Chenchu people, its tigers, the Srisailam temple and the UPSC 2020 question.
Contents
Must know: the largest-reserve records
What makes it India's largest tiger reserve?
Two different records belong to this reserve. It has the largest total area. It also has the largest Critical Tiger Habitat, the core zone kept for tigers.
What are the official figures?
The National Tiger Conservation Authority lists the Andhra Pradesh reserve at 3,296.31 square kilometres. Of that, 2,595.72 square kilometres is core, and 700.59 is buffer.
The reserve’s own website gives a larger total of 3,727.82 square kilometres, about 3,728. The practice question below uses this figure.
How does it rank by core area?
No other reserve has a bigger core. Amrabad in Telangana comes second with 2,166.37 square kilometres. Guru Ghasidas-Tamor Pingla comes third with 2,049.23.
How does it rank by total area?
It is first by total area too. Manas is next with 2,837.10 square kilometres. Then come Guru Ghasidas-Tamor Pingla and Indravati.
How many tiger reserves does India have?
The authority’s list shows 58 tiger reserves. This reserve tops the list on both counts.
Sources: NTCA, list of tiger reserves; Nagarjunsagar-Srisailam Tiger Reserve.
Good to know: the landscape and the split
Where does it lie, and why is there an Amrabad?
The reserve lies in the Nallamala hills, an offshoot of the Eastern Ghats. Its story changed in 2014, when one state became two.
What was it before 2014?
The Andhra Pradesh government declared it a tiger reserve by G.O. Ms. 66 on 25 February 1983. It covered land that later fell in both states.
The authority’s list gives 2007 as the tiger reserve notification year. A brief note from the authority describes five revenue districts. The note has no date.
How was it split?
Telangana became a state on 2 June 2014. Telangana then notified its part as Amrabad Tiger Reserve by G.O. Ms. 3 on 6 February 2015.
Amrabad has 2,166.37 square kilometres of core and 445.02 of buffer. Its total is 2,611.39 square kilometres.
Which districts does each reserve cover?
Amrabad lies in Mahabubnagar and Nalgonda districts. AP Tourism lists Prakasam, Kurnool and Guntur on the Andhra side. WII and the NTCA note say five revenue districts but do not name them.
The reserve’s website now names Prakasam, Nandyal and Palnadu districts. It has two sanctuaries, Rajiv Gandhi and Gundla Brahmeswaram.
What does the forest look like?
Andhra Pradesh Tourism describes tropical mixed dry deciduous and moist deciduous forest, with bamboo and grass below. The Wildlife Institute of India page adds ridges, plateaus, gorges and deep valleys.
Sources: Telangana G.O. 3 of 2015, via NTCA; NTCA, list of tiger reserves.
NTCA brief note on the reserve; Nagarjunsagar-Srisailam Tiger Reserve.
AP Tourism, Nallamala Hills; Wildlife Institute of India, reserve page.
Which river and dams shape the landscape?
The Krishna is the reserve’s river. Two big dams on it, at Srisailam and Nagarjunasagar, lie within the reserve area.
How does the Krishna cross the reserve?
The reserve’s website says the Krishna flows through it for about 270 kilometres. The tiger report of 2022 says it runs 130 kilometres through the critical habitat.
The same report says the river separates this reserve from Amrabad. The report does not say why the two lengths differ.
What is the Srisailam dam?
Srisailam is a gravity dam, finished in 1984. The Central Water Commission gives its height as 145 metres and its length as 512 metres.
The Krishna board says it stands between Mahabubnagar in Telangana and Kurnool in Andhra Pradesh. It has 12 radial gates.
What is the Nagarjuna Sagar dam?
Nagarjuna Sagar was finished in 1974. It is 124.66 metres high and 4,865 metres long. Its body is earth with a masonry section.
The Central Water Commission says both dams are common to Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
Sources: Central Water Commission, large dams register; Krishna River Management Board, Srisailam.
NTCA, tiger status report 2022; Nagarjunsagar-Srisailam Tiger Reserve.
Who are the Chenchu?
The Chenchu are a forest community. Many live in the reserve core. The government classes them as a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group.
Why are they called a PVTG?
The reserve’s website calls the Chenchu a particularly vulnerable tribal group. The Andhra Pradesh tribal welfare department lists them among the state’s such groups.
The Andhra Pradesh tribal department calls them the most vulnerable tribal group in the state. It says they still depend on hunting and food gathering.
How many Chenchu are there?
The 2011 Census counted 25,095 Chenchu in present-day Andhra Pradesh. Prakasam had 10,824, Kurnool 7,943 and Guntur 6,036.
No official page gave a combined count with Telangana. The old figure of over 50,000 could not be confirmed.
Where do they live inside the reserve?
The reserve’s core holds 16 villages with about 3,285 people. Most are small Chenchu hamlets called gudems.
The reserve’s website says numerous Chenchu, a particularly vulnerable tribal group, stay in its core area.
What role do they play in protection?
Many forest watchers are Chenchu. The reserve website lists 63 base camps where such local people work. The NTCA brief note says 60.
Sources: Reserve website, home page; AP Tribal Welfare, PVTG note.
Wildlife Institute of India, reserve page; Reserve website, protection.
Great to know: tigers, temple and law
How many tigers live here?
A large area does not mean a large tiger count. Prey and habitat quality matter as much as size.
What did the 2022 count find?
The 2022 tiger report counted 57 unique tigers. The survey covered the reserve landscape, including nearby protected areas. That gives 0.77 tigers per 100 square kilometres.
Camera traps used 886 points and 36,600 trap nights. They took 2,443 tiger photographs.
How does that compare with the state and the country?
The reserve and Amrabad together form one block with an estimate of 72 tigers. Andhra Pradesh as a whole had 63.
The Press Information Bureau says India had 3,080 unique tigers photographed in 2022. Those in this reserve were under 2 per cent of them.
What do later reports say?
A news report from March 2025 quotes the Annual Report on Status of Tigers, Prey and Other Mammals 2024. It gives 47 tigers in 2018, 74 in 2023 and 76 in 2024, a rise of 61.7 per cent.
The same report mentions about 2,270 cameras and 1.73 tigers per 100 square kilometres. These are not official national figures, so treat them with care.
Which count should an exam use?
Exams usually test the area records, not the tiger count. When a question gives a tiger number, check which survey it comes from.
Sources: NTCA, tiger status report 2022; PIB, tiger estimation 2022.
How do a temple and a tiger reserve share a forest?
The reserve takes half its name from Srisailam. The Mallikarjuna temple here is a Jyotirlinga of Shiva and also a Shakti Peetha.
Why is Srisailam special?
Andhra Pradesh Tourism says it is the only place apart from Varanasi with both a Jyotirlinga and a Shaktipeetham. The reserve’s website calls it one of twelve Jyotirlingas.
The same site counts it among eighteen Shakti Peethas. Other lists give different totals, so avoid quoting a count.
Where does the temple stand?
The reserve’s website says the temple lies inside the core area.
Chenchu people call Shiva Chenchu Mallaya in a local legend. A Chenchu Lakshmi tribal museum stands in Srisailam.
How are visitors managed?
A sign board at the reserve says vehicles are checked and asks visitors not to pay any money. It also says no entry between 9 PM and 6 AM. The reserve website bars light vehicles from 9 PM to 6 AM and buses and trucks from 6 PM to 6 AM.
The tiger report of 2022 notes four state highways crossing the wider forest corridor. They are numbered 31, 34, 56 and 57.
Sources: AP Tourism, Srisailam; Reserve website, Srisailam temple.
Incredible India, Srisailam temple; NTCA, tiger status report 2022.
What does the law say about a core area?
A Critical Tiger Habitat is the core of a tiger reserve. Section 38V of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 governs it.
Who notifies a tiger reserve?
The State Government notifies a tiger reserve on the advice of the National Tiger Conservation Authority. The State then prepares a Tiger Conservation Plan.
What counts as core and buffer?
The core is kept inviolate for tiger conservation. The State notifies it after consulting an Expert Committee, without affecting the rights of Scheduled Tribes and other forest dwellers.
The buffer is the area around the core. Its aim is to let wildlife and people live together.
Can people be moved out of the core?
Only by voluntary relocation. Section 38V(5) is read with the Forest Rights Act, 2006, section 4(2).
One option gives a family Rs 10 lakh. The other is relocation arranged by the Forest Department.
Sources: NTCA, compendium of guidelines; NTCA, list of tiger reserves.
What do examiners keep testing?
Examiners ask which reserve holds a “largest” record. They put better-known names beside it as bait.
What was UPSC CSP 2020, question 100?
The question asked which reserve has the largest area under Critical Tiger Habitat. The options were Corbett, Ranthambore, Nagarjunsagar-Srisailam and Sunderbans.
The Set A official key gives option (c), Nagarjunsagar-Srisailam. The authority’s core areas explain it: Corbett 821.99, Ranthambore 1,113.36 and Sundarban 1,699.62 square kilometres.
Which numbers should you hold?
- 2,595.72 square kilometres: the core of the Andhra Pradesh reserve.
- 3,296.31 and about 3,728 square kilometres: the two totals in use.
- 25 February 1983: the declaration as a tiger reserve.
- 2 June 2014 and 6 February 2015: Telangana formed, and Amrabad notified.
- 57 tigers, 0.77 per 100 square kilometres: the 2022 count.
- Chenchu: a PVTG, with 25,095 counted in present-day Andhra Pradesh in 2011.
How should you read the question?
Check whether it asks for total area, core area or tiger count. Each has a different answer.
Sources: UPSC, CSP 2020 General Studies Paper I; UPSC, CSP 2020 answer key.
Check your understanding
Review the feedback after each answer. The understanding-check score lasts for this page session.
Reset the checks when you want another attempt. This score is separate from the Native Practice score below.
This score resets when the page reloads.
Questions to think through
Why does the largest reserve not have the most tigers?
Area and tigers are separate records. Tigers need prey and good habitat. In 2022 this reserve held 57 of the 3,080 tigers photographed across India.
Why do two sources give 3,296.31 and 3,728 square kilometres?
The reserve’s own website gives 3,727.82. The national authority lists 3,296.31 for the Andhra Pradesh reserve. When a question names a source, use that source’s figure. Otherwise note both.
Why is one old reserve now two?
Telangana became a state in 2014. A reserve cannot be run by a state that no longer owns the land. Telangana notified its part as Amrabad in 2015.
How can pilgrims and tigers share one forest?
Entry is controlled. A sign board at the reserve bars entry from 9 PM to 6 AM and asks for vehicle checks. The reserve website bars buses and trucks from 6 PM, so animals have a clear night.
Native Practice
Apply the area records, the Chenchu, the law and the temple. Read the connected explanation after each answer.
0 of 1 answered
Question 1 of 1
0 of 1 answered
Question 1 of 1
0 of 1 answered
Question 1 of 1
0 of 1 answered
Question 1 of 1
0 of 1 answered
Question 1 of 1
0 of 1 answered
Question 1 of 1
0 of 1 answered
Question 1 of 1
0 of 1 answered
Question 1 of 1
0 of 1 answered
Question 1 of 1
Leave a Reply