http://gorp.away.com/gorp/location/asia/india/np_intro.htm

For example, Little Rann of Kutch, Gujarat, situated in the Thar Desert, is a sanctuary for the last population of Indian wild ass, and India's greatest bird sanctuary can be found in Keoladeo Ghana National Park, more commonly known by its old name, Bharatpur. Formerly the shooting preserve of the Maharaja of Bharatpur, where in 1938 the Viceroy of India's party shot 4,273 birds in one day, today the park protects 3,000 species of bird.

Some of the rarest wildlife on the planet can be found in India's national parks, such as the golden langur, the world's rarest monkey. Golden langurs can be found only in a small patch of forest on the Manas River, which forms the border between the Manas Wildlife Sanctuary in Bhutan and the Manas National Park in India. Gir Forest holds the last surviving population of Asiatic lion in the world, and Kaziranga National Park in Assam is home to a large population of one-horned rhinoceroses and wild buffalo. For those eager to observe elephants, Bandipur, in the shadow of the Western Ghats, is one of the finest habitats of the Asian elephant.

The parks also are rich in history. For example, at Bandhavgarh National Park, set among the Vindhya Hills of Madhya Pradesh, caves dug into the sandstone of an ancient fort have inscriptions dating from the 1st century BC. Ranthambor derives its name from the fort of Ranthambor, which sits on a rocky outcrop in the forest and dates to the 11th century, when it was a vital citadel for the control of central India. Madhya Pradesh's forests were immortalized by Rudyard Kipling in his Jungle Books.