Phato Eco Tourism Zone - Tourist attraction in Aampokhra Range - Udam Singh Nagar, India

Phato Zone is at a distance of 25 kilometers from Ramnagar.We stayed the night in the tree house here.We also did two safaris here, morning and evening.We saw three tigers here in two safaris.Our experience here was very good.

In this zone, the forest is not as beautiful and without rivers. But there are some small ponds beside roads. When we visited this zone, the road leading towards two ponds where you can find tigers very easily, this road was closed and that was disappointing. That's the most important part of this zone. This way the Corbett people are looting money from you with a half open jungle safari. So, we returned without seeing the tiger and with lots of dust and disappointment.

The rates for entry to Jim Corbette by the government have been exorbitantly increased and there are no facilities. Over this, forget about sighting a tiger, you may not even get a chance to see a dear or an elephant as well. Be ready to waste your money if you are eagerly looking to sight a wild animal. So it can be real disappointing!

This zone, being new, is really dense. However, the chances of you sighting a tiger is pretty seasonal. We spotted few animals we had never seen, but spotting a tiger wasn't possible. It's just luck by chance. The forest here is really beautiful anyways. Don't recommend visiting during core winters though.

Extremely disappointing for multiple reasons: 1. This is a last minute permit zone which means the first 50 jeeps will get to go in. We had a permit and our number is 12 so ideally our safari should have been started at 2.45 PM. But the form-filling and red tapism and late arrival of Shri Ravi Kumar from forest dept made our safari begin at 3.30 PM. 2. There was no animal sighting. We saw a slight view of spotted deer and a female wild boar with her her 3 kids. That's it. No fauna of any other kind. And everyone just kept each other when the jeeps crossed "Kuch dikha kya?" 4. The flora was quite dense due to rains and we couldn't see very far but the trees were mainly sal, sagaon, eucalyptus and guess what, curry leaves!! Our safari ended at 5 PM only and nobody wanted to go inside again due to limited routes and no animal sightings. 5. In case you have been to Kanha National Park, you are in for a solid disappointment so you can skip Jim Corbett Phato Zone like I have skipped point no. 3. Now the pros: A. Lush green forest but paying 5500 INR sjust to see trees ain't a very good idea. B. Ms. Meena was our guide and she was sweet and humble. She also informed that Phato is the only zone which is open the complete year, no matter what the weather is. C. The scenic beauty of Ramnagar anf other regions of Uttarakhand in general. I visited evening safari on 20-08-2022 it also rained heavily up until 8am of the day of the safari. So people in the morning safari, when it rained, also didn't get to see anything. From what i heard the local people talking, there are a couple of zones named Bijrani and Jhirna are better but then some also say that Dhela is best so god knows! Also, Corbett does not have fencing and is spread over a huge area so animals might be too scattered to be seen. All I know is, Phato is something I would not recommend.

Gr8 experience...enjoyed evening safari ...fortunately got a glimpse of tigress ...dears..birds

Phato is a newer zone of the jungle open to safaris. We went without advance booking and had to wait for a long time before entry. This zone is most famous for the birds and tigers. Our nature guide was very knowledgeable and passionate about the jungle. Overall great experience!

Not worth the exorbitant money they charge. Though jeep ride through jungle was nice, but actual safari time was less than an hour.They just killed time by driving very slow from ramnagar to Phato,stopped 2-3 times and asked you to have tea(all within the 4 hours safari time). Because of 50 jeeps and lot of noise, chances of animal sighting is less. Me being a biologist was quite amused at the information that nilgai is a cow and the pink pond is due to red algae. Should not think everyone is a layman.