The Kanha National Park lies at a distance of 164 km from Jabalpur in the state Madhya Pradesh and is one of the best known national parks of India. In Kanha, Rudyard Kipling let himself inspired to his unforgettable Jungle Book. Around 1910, Kanha was the hunting ground of the British viceroy. In a day, at least 30 tigers were shot. It was established in 1955 and covers an area of 940 square kilometers in both districts Mandla and Balaghat. Together, with the surrounding 1009 km² widespread buffer zone and the 110 km² large Phen protectorate it forms the Kanha Tiger Reserve.
The Kanha National Park harbors yet today a quite large tiger population. This park along with Bandhavgarh National Park offers you the oppurtunity to see the tiger on sitting back of the elephant. Already, since 1865 some forest protectorates existed in the zone of the current Kanha National Park, in which the gathering of fire wood and the grazing of house cattles was permitted. Also the hunt on the quite numerous wild animals of the zone was permitted with authorisation. In May 1933 a zone of 252 km² was established for the first time in the Banjar valley and in 1935 a further 500 km² large zone was constituted in the Halon valley as a wild protectorate, in which the hunt of wild animals was forbidden with exceptions of wild pigs and birds.
The conservation status of the Halon zone was canceled however little later based on strong forest damage and crop damage through wild animals again. On the 1st of June 1955, the 252 km² large wild protectorate was declared as the national park, whose area was expanded to 318 km² in 1964. Until 1970, the national park was restricted to the Mandla district, but in this year 127 km² of the adjoining Balaghat district was annexed, which led to a total area of 446 km². With the beginning of the Project Tiger in 1973 once again area of 500 km² in the zone of the Halon valley was added, whereby the park reached its current size of 940 km². In addition, 1009 km² of the surrounding area was designated as a buffer zone and was declared to the tiger reserve together with the zone of the national park . In 1983, 110km² large Phen protectorate was established, that however not borders directly at the park. The total protected area of Kanha National Park amounts to therefore 2059 km².
Kahna is part of the centrally Indian highlands. The landscape is marked through chain of hills and some valleys, as well as through even high plateaus. The Banjar and the Halon are both most important rivers. The three main vegetation forms are Sal forests, mixed deciduous forests and grass zones. Some of these grasslands have developed on plains, which were once used agriculturally.
Animals in Park: Kanha is well known for its large mammals. The park possesses a good tiger population (131 tigers as on June 2006) and counts as one of the finest wild reserve with the largest probability to see the tiger and other animals in the wild. Other most important animals of Kanha National Park are leopards, the sloth bear, Indian wild dog, barasingha or swamp deer (this is the hardground swamp deer (Cervus duvauceli branderi), found only in Kanha, barely 1200 survive in the wild), three other kinds of deer (barking, hog, Black buck and chital), four-horned antelopes, wild pigs.
Further larger mammals of the park are rhesus monkey, gold jackal, wolf (rarely), Bengal fox, Indian fish otter, honey roof, small Indian civet cats, Indian mongoose, striped hyena, leopard cat, indian spotted chevrotain, indian pangolin, indian porcupine und indian hare.
Safaris: The Jungle Safaris are carried out not only in jeep but also with elephants in company of a Rangers of the park administration. This permits you to observe tigers from close range. The Safaris last about 2 ½ hours and conducted in early morning (at around 6 a.m.) and in afternoon after lunch (at around 2.30 p.m.). Per day, 2 Jeepsafaris are usual. Entrance fees and camera fees are obligatory.
Best trip time: From November until June. The park is closed from July to October because of the monsoon. In the hot summer months, the chances are especially good for animal observations because then the animals come often to the waterholes. Lodging facilities are excellent in Kanha. There are many star rated nature resorts.
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