Kanha National Park

Total Area : 1945 sq. kms. / 1,94,000 hectares of national park.
Established In : 1933 as a sanctuary.
                             1955 as a National Park.
                             1975 as a Tiger Reserve.
Location : 170 kilometres from Jabalpur in Mandla & Balaghat district of Madhya Pradesh.

Description :
Kanha is Kipling country and the nearby forests were the setting for the "Jungle Book" by Rudyard Kipling. It's an outstanding national park of Central India, noted for its last remaining population of the hard-ground race of the Swamp Deer. Spotting wild animals is always a matter of luck, but Kanha National Park is so rich in wildlife that the odds are tilted in your favour. There are a healthy numbers of the Tiger found over here, which may be seen during the day, and is one of the best places left to see them. There are herds of spotted deer to be seen. With a little luck, you could also spot the timorous barking deer. There is also a very strong possibility that you will see the rare hard-ground Barasingha, the Swamp Deer. Once there were only 66 of these in Kanha National Park, but careful conservation and management raised their population to over 400. It was in Kanha National Park that the eminent zoologist George Schaller studied the relation-ship between predators and its prey and came out with the book 'Deer and The Tiger'.

Kanha National Park has two main rivers, Halon in the east and Banjar in the west, and the grassy 'maidans' (often old village sites), dotted with clumps of forest harbor large numbers of herbivores. The hills offer support to sizeable plateaus (locally called 'Dadars') and are characterized by extensive grasslands and scant trees. These 'Dadars' are much favoured by Gaur and Four-horned Antelope.

Visiting Season:
Months from November-June are favorable for visiting the park; still the best period is February-April.

Temperature:

Months
October-March - 20-25 º Celsius
April - 30-35º Celsius
May-June - 40-45 º Celsius

Park Safari Timings:
Visitors can enter the core area only in the mornings on a jeep or in the afternoon. One needs to take a forest department guide to help one enjoy the park better. Touring is usually allowed on jeeps, which are available locally. Because of the rush of the tourist season hiring jeeps can become troublesome, so reserve the vehicle well in advance during the peak season.

The visitor's information centre and museum are located inside the forest and in the grounds of the old forest rest house.

Months
01 November - 15 February - Morning 0600-1220, Afternoon - 1500-1830 hrs
16 February - 30 Apri l- Morning 0600-1220, Afternoon - 1600-1830 hrs
01 May - 30 June - Morning - 0600-1100, Afternoon - 1700-1845 hrs

Access:
Air: Drive from Nagpur (270 kms 6&1/2 hours drive) or Raipur (265 kms 6 &1/2 hrs) and Nagpur from other airports in India. From these airports one has to drive to the park.

Rail: The most convenient railheads for Kanha National Park are Jabalpur and Nagpur. These two are well connected by fast and super fast trains to other destinations in India.

Road: To access the Kanha National Park there are two ways, via Khatia or via Mukki. From Jabalpur there are daily bus services to these places. From Jabalpur, Bilaspur and Raipur one can hire taxis to the park.

Tiger Show at Kanha National Park :
The Forest authority of Kanha National park organizes a Tiger Show for tourists through tokens on strictly on first-come-first-serve basis. The vehicles take it in turns to drive to the location where one is taken by elephant to view the tiger. The elephants can approach the tigers at very close proximity, often as close as 3-4 metres without seemingly causing any distress to either animal.

Note: Tiger shows can't be guaranteed since they are strictly subject to the successful tiger tracking.