Kumaon was popular  with the British sahibs and their families as a summer retreat from blistering heat that engulfed the plains. The gentle hills, lush valleys and mild weather reminded them of ‘home’. The sloping, slate roofed stone cottages with ivy-covered walls at many a ‘hill station’ step straight out of the English countryside. Ranikhet is still the headquarters of the Kumaon regiment of the old British Indian Army while names such as Binsar, Almora, Ramgarh, conjure up images of romantic, cloud-shrouded little towns. But before going up into the hills, we traverse tiger country – the dense forests along the banks of the Ramganga river as it skirts the foothills of the mighty Himalaya that comprise the Corbett National Park. Established as a wildlife reserve in 1936, the park covers much of the terrain criss-crossed by Jim Corbet, after whom the park is named, as he tracked the Man-eaters of Kumaon. At the little hamlet near Ramganga you can visit Corbett’s home, which has now been converted into a museum.