Kanha National Park

Kipling Country

Rudyard Kipling immortalized the forests in Madhya Pradesh with his jungle book and stories of Mowgli, Balu and Bhaghira. These forests hosts two National parks that are preserve pockets and a spread across the Central India.


Kanha National Park
Kanha meadows shimmer in the winter sun in November. The park reopens after the monsoons for the public. It is closed for four months starting from July up to October every year. The new season means again a meeting place for humans and the rich wildlife of the National Park. The rains rejuvenate Kanha, and the park in turn nourishes and renews its guests. Meadows are wrapped in a gentle and silvery mist and you can spot a small party of chital sauntering daintily amidst the forest and ambling towards the Partak Nallah. The majestic stag can also been seen following the chitals emerging from the long grass. He carves a silhouette against grasslands and the trees against the ghost like sun in the middle of the low hills and horizon.

Geography & Climate

Kanha National Park has now been officially acclaimed as Kanha Tiger Reserve. It is situated in the Maikal range that lies on the eastern side of the Satpura Hills of the Central Indian Highlands. The park falls 160 km (100 miles) on the southeast part of Jabalpur, MP. From the city of Nagpur, Kanha lies 270 km or 170 miles northeast. Nagpur currently acts as the nearest air link to the Kanha Park. You can get direct flights from Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, that are well connected to other cities of India. Kanha lies on 22° 7' to 22° 27'N latitude and longitude: 80° 26' to 81° 3'E.

KANHA: PORTRAIT OF AN INDIAN NATIONAL PARK

Kanhar is the local term for the clayey soil found in the region of valley bottoms from where the park derives its name, Kanha. Some also say that Kanha gets its name from the holy man who once lived in the nearby villages of the park. The Banjar and the Halon are the two prominent river valleys of the region, which are actually tributaries of the main River Narmada. The main river flows through the district of Mandla that lies 64 km away from park’s west entrance. Dadar are the locally called closed plateaus that surround the park.

Dry deciduous forest, moist deciduous forest, plateau meadow and valley meadows are the four main principal vegetation types of the Kanha National Park. 27 percent of the area is covered in moist moist deciduous trees or the sal tree (Shorea robusta). Park’s headquarters is on the western end located at Kanha Village, which is approximately about 600 m above sea level. The park is surrounded by 870 m high plateau at Bamhni Dadar. The park forms a rough figure of eight on its sides spread across 80km from west to east and is 8 to 35 km.

The park consists of a core area of 940 km2, which is surrounded by a buffer zone of 1,005 km2, thus comprising a total area of 1,945 km2. The core area of the park and most of the buffer zone are located in two districts: Mandla to the west and Balaghat to the east. In addition, a small section of the buffer zone in the southeastern sector is part of Rajnandgaon District. There are nearly 150 villages in the buffer zone and over 260 villages within a radius of 10 km wide.

The park is dividen into 5 main ranges for easy management. Mukki, Kanha and Kisli form the western block while Supkhar and Bhaisanghat form the eastern end. The eastern end is closed completely for the public. Moreover, in western range also certain areas are barred from tourist visits. Approximately 227 sq.km area is open for the visitors which is only 25 percent of the total area. The park is well maintained with a vast network of roads running across the whole are.

Park Season, Excursion Timings, and Fees:

The park timings are usually open from 1 November to 30 June. However, the rights remain with the forest administration to close the park early if there is an early onset of the monsoon. Mostly the opening timings are according to the weather conditions and climatic changes that largely depends upon the length of the day. The mid-day break allows the employees a time to have their lunch break and also gives the animals some respite.
Opening hours are as follows:

1 May-30 June Sunrise to 10 AM. S P.M. to sunset
1 November-IS February Sunrise to 11 AM. 3 P.M. to sunset
16 February-30 April Sunrise to 11 AM. 4 P.M. to sunset

These timings are mostly indicative. Special conditions like heavy showers make made the park roads treacherous to tread into the jungle. There are certain official activities as well like consensus tally may be scheduled. Vehicles are admitted around 6:30 am i.e. dawn or the sunrise. The guards are particularly strict about the exit of the vehicles as the dusk sets in early in this part of the country.