Kanha National Park is

one of the biggest park in Madhya Pradesh, India.'Kanha National

Park' is a national parkand a Tiger Reserve in
the Mandla and Balaghat districts of Madhya Pradesh, India. In the
1930s, Kanha area was divided into two sanctuaries, Hallon and
Banjar, of 250 and 300 km . Kanha National Park was created on 1
June 1955. Today it stretches over an area of 940 km in the two
districts Mandla and Balaghat. Together with a surrounding buffer
zone of 1,067 km and the neighboring 110 km Phen Sanctuary it
forms the Kanha Tiger Reserve.
[1]
This makes it the largest National
Park in Central India.
The park has a significant population of Royal Bengal Tiger, leopards,
the sloth bear, Barasingha and Indian wild dog. The lush sal and
bamboo forests, grassy meadows and ravines of Kanha provided
inspiration to Rudyard Kipling for his famous novel "Jungle Book "
Contents
[hide]
1 Flora
2 Fauna
3 Tigers of Kanha
o 3.1 Transport & facilities
4 Reintroduction of Barasingha
5 General information
6 Transportation
7 See also
8 References
9 External links
Flora[edit]
Kanha National Park is home to over 1000 species of flowering
plants.
[2]
The lowland forest is a mixture of sal(Shorea robusta) and
other mixed forest trees, interspersed with meadows. The highland
forests are tropical moist dry deciduous type and of a completely
different nature with bamboo on slopes (Dendrocalamus strictus). A
very good looking Indian ghost tree (bulli kaat doonga) can also be
seen in the dense forest.
Kanha Tiger Reserve abounds in meadows or maidans which are
basically open grasslands that have sprung up in fields of abandoned
villages, evacuated to make way for the animals. Kanha meadow is
one such example. There are many species of grass recorded at
Kanha some of which are important for the survival
of Barasingha (Cervus duvauceli branderi). Dense forested zones with
good crown cover has abundant species of climbers, shrubs and
herbs flourishing in the understory. Aquatic plants in numerous "tal"
(lakes) are life line for migratory and wetland species of birds.

Meadows at Kanha National Park

Open forest at Kanha

Tiger at Kanha hiding in bamboo
Fauna[edit]
Kanha national park has species of tiger, leopards, wild dogs, wild
cats, foxes and jackals. Among the deer species Swamp Deer or Hard
Ground Barasingha is pride of the place as it is the only sub species of
swamp deer in India (Cervus duavcelli branderi). The animal is
adapted to hard ground unlike swamp deer of the North which live in
marshy swamps. Kanha National Park has been instrumental in
rescuing the Swamp Deer from extinction. Indian Gaur (Bos
guarus), belonging to the ox genus, is found in Kanha but seen mostly
as winter ends. In summer gaur inhabit meadows and water holes in
the park.
Other commonly seen animals in the park include the spotted deer,
sambar, barking deer and the four-horned deer. The latter can be
seen at Bamni Dadar climb. Recently, mouse deer have also been
discovered in the tiger reserve.
Black buck were once found in Kanha, but became very rare for
unknown reasons.
[3]
They vanished completely, but have been
reintroduced recently inside a fenced area in the park. Nilgai can still
be seen near the Sarahi Gate, while the Indian Wolf once commonly
seen at Mocha is a rare sight now. Hyena and sloth bear are seen
occasionally. Langurs and wild boars are common, but the
pugnacious rhesus macaque is seen less often.
Nocturnal animals like fox, hyena, jungle cat, civets, porcupine, ratel
or honey badger and hares can be seen outside the park confines.
Reptiles like pythons, cobras, krait, rat snakes, vipers, keelbacks and
grass snakes are nocturnal animals, and are therefore rarely seen.
There are many species of turtles as well as amphibians found in or
near the water bodies.
Kanha and Satpura forest being a part of Gondwana, now famous as
tiger reserve, once upon a time were ruled by wild Indian
Elephants [1]

Kanha is most famous for its tigers

A male tiger at Kanha National Park

The gaur is the largest wild animal in the park

Two dholes at Kanha

Kanha is the last refuge of the rare hard ground barasingha

A male hard ground barasingha
Tigers of Kanha[edit]
Currently one of the dominant male tigers of Kanha National Park is a
tiger named Munna. Munna is famous for his large size, big head and
has symbol "CAT" written on his head.
Transport & facilities[edit]
Jabalpur, the most convenient place to approach the Park from, has
the nearest airport (175 km), Nagpur (260 km) and Raipur(219 km)
have other airports, Mandla(70 km) has a good connection with
Kanha and there is a tourist taxi service from Jabalpur to the national
park. From Jabalpur, the best way to travel is
via Mandla andNainpur - perhaps with an overnight stop - then
taking the diversion at Bamhni. Mandla, Nainpur and Seoni all have
sports clubs, Internet cafes, guides, Christian churches and some
beautiful temples.
There are three gates for entrance into the Park. The Kisli gate is best
accessed from Jabalpur and stops at the village Khatia, inside the
buffer area. The second gate is at Mukki and the third, most recently
opened, gate is at Serai.
Reintroduction of Barasingha[edit]
An exciting conservation effort in this national park is the
reintroduction of Barasingha. The Gaur will be relocated
to Bandhavgarh and some Barasingha will be relocated to Satpura
Tiger reserve The objective of this project is to introduce about
500 Barasingha in this national park to eight or nine different
locations. There is also a project to capture about twenty tigers and
relocate them to Satpura Tiger reserve.
[4]

General information[edit]
Area: (core) 940 km
Terrain: sal and bamboo forests, plateaus, meadows and
meandering streams
Best Season: February to June
Morning Visiting Hours: 6:30 am to 12:00 noon
Evening Visiting Hours: 3:00 pm to 6:00 pm
Closed: 1 July to 15 October
Transportation[edit]
Air : Jabalpur Airport ( 175 km/04:30hrs).direct flights for Delhi and
Mumbai. It is the best option for reaching kanha National Park as it
connected with 02 important cities: Delhi & Mumbai . In between
these flight options AirIndia, SpiceJet flight is operating daily
Rail : Jabalpur is major railway stations with good train connectivity
across India
See also[edit]
Arid Forest Research Institute
References[edit]
1. Jump up^ "Kanha Tiger Reserve". Madhya Pradesh Forest
Department. Retrieved 14 April 2010.
2. Jump up^ "Kanha National Park". Reservation Portal Madhya
Pradesh Forest Department. MPOnline Ltd. , JV between
MPSEDC of Govt. of Madhya Pradesh & TATA Consultancy
Services. Retrieved 14 April 2010.
3. Jump up^ A. P. Dwivendi: Protected Areas of Madhya
Pradesh,Government printing Press, Bhopal 2003
4. Jump up^ Reintroduction of Barasingha: Kanha National Park
Satpura Tiger Reserve
K.K.Gurung, Gopal awasthi & Raj Singh: Field Guide to the
Mammals of the Indian Subcontinent, Academic Press, San
Diego, ISBN 0-12-309350-3
External links[edit]

Wikimedia
Commons has
media related
to Kanha
National Park.
Kanha National Park travel guide from Wikivoyage
Official Site
Safari Booking