Saketi Fossil Park

Twenty to one million years old Siwalik rocks border the northern limit of the Indo-Gangetic plain. It is highly fossiliferous and particularly famous all over the world for its rich collection of mammalian fossils. The Saketi Fossil Park, developed by the Geological Survey of India in collaboration with the Himachal Pradesh (HP) Government in 1974, displays life size fibre glass models of six pre-historic animals that thrived in the area about 2.5 to 1 million years ago. Follwing model are displayed:

1. Colossochelys atlas (an extinct giant land tortoise)

2. Gavialis browni (an extinct gharial)

3. Sivatherium giganteum ( an extinct four-horned giraffe)

4. Paramachaerodus (sabre-toothed tiger)

5. Stegodon ganesa (an extinct large-tusked elephant)

6. Hexaprotodon sivalensis (extinct hippopotamus)

A large and rare collection of vertebrate fossils recovered from Siwalik hills in Saketi and adjacent area is displayed in a field museum in the park. The site has been developed to give a glimpse of terrestrial life during the Plio-Pleistocene period (about 2.5 million years ago) through massive afforestation which has provided a green cover to the Saketi Fossil Park besides enhancing scenic beauty.

Fossils displayed in the museum include skulls, teeth, jaws, horn cores, limb bone fragments, vertebrae, etc. of various animal groups mainly mammalian, reptilian and fish. Among mammals, the fossils of proboscids (elephants), equids (horses), hippopotamids, rhinocerocerotids, bovids (cattle and antelopes), cervids (deer), suids (pigs), giraffids and carnivores are the common exhibits. There are also a large collection of stone artefacts used by Early Palaeolithic Man and collected from the vicinity. Collections in the museum are periodically updated. Geological maps of the Saketi area showing various fossil locations are also displayed.

Location : About 5 km from Kala Amb on a fair weather road (Kala Amb-Bikramabad road) in Sirmur district, (Himachal Pradesh)

Approach : 22 km from Nahan (headquarters of Sirmur district)

85 km from Chandigarh

65 km from Ambala

110 km from Dehra Dun

Timings : 9.00 A.M. to 5.00 P.M. (Tuesday closed)

Many indian and foreign tourists, including researchers and students, visit the Park throughout the year. A field chowkidar well versed about the details of the exhibits normally guides the visitors. Additionally, numerous fossil sites exist in and around the park for examination by the scientists and entusiasts interested in knowing as to how the fossils occur in nature and are preserved.

An Assistant Tourist Officer of the HP Government has an office within the park. A guest house of the Kandi Project of the Irrigation Department of HP Government is located in the park Several hotels with modest accommodation facility are available at Kala Amb.

	Gavialis browni (an extint gharial) This is a life-size restoration. The animal had a long and slender snout that was at least three times as long as broad at the base. It had 25 to 30 slightly curved and pointed teeth of nearly uniform size on each side of the jaw. The Siwalik form Gavialis browni resembles much in shape and size with the living form Gavialis gangeticus.
	Colossochelys atlas (an extint giant land tortoise) It was a gigantic tortoise with a thick protective shell measuring over 3 m across and with proportionately enormous limbs tucked within the large carapace. Present day land tortoise is of much smaller dimension.
	Sivatherium giganteum (a four-horned giraffe) Giraffes are not presently found in India but the Siwaliks preserve fossils of four genera. One of the most interesting giraffes of Plio-Pleistocene (5 to 1 m years ago) period was a giant sized giraffe standing nearly 4 m high with enormous horns. Males had four horns, an anterior conical pair arising from the frontals, and a posterior palmate pair situated on the parietals; the neck was relatively short than that of the present day giraffes.

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