Kanha Tiger Reserve

Kanha Tiger Reserve
Kanha was constituted into a National Park in
1955. Today, it is rated by conservationists as
one of the best maintained parks in Asia.
Kanha's grasslands, sal groves and bamboo
forests are a heaven for wildlife. The tiger
roams free in Kanha National Park, which
forms the core of Kanha Tiger Reserve created
in 1973. The Reserve is also the only habitat of
the rare hardground barasingha.
With all the astonishing diversity in its wildlife
spectrum, Kanha is best known as the habitat
of the tiger. The most picturesque place
nestled in central Indian Highlands is situated
in the districts of Mandla and Balaghat. It has
a long history of conservation and prides itself
for being one of the oldest sanctuaries of the
country since 1935. Kanha has niched a place
on world tourist map. Besides tigers, barasinga
is the jewel of Kanha and this rare animal once
on the threshold of extinction is now abundant
in numbers in its natural habitat in Kanha.
The Tiger Reserve encompasses an area of
2051.74 sq km comprising 917.43 sq km core,
1134.31 sq km buffer zone and 110.74 sq km
of satellite minicore of Kanha. In the core area
of the Tiger Reserve, human activities are
restricted and this is where the elusive tiger
can be viewed roaming about.
Banjar and Halon rivers flow through the park,
of which Halon is perennial. A number of
tanks, dams, constructed are also the major
source of water supply for the wildlife. The
forest cover inside the park is largely tropical
moist deciduous type. Kanha has about 22
species of mammals. Some of the inhabitants
of the park are species of deer and antelope
like chital, sambhar, barking deer, barasingha,
black buck, nilgai, and gaur. Other residents
include the sloth bear and other predators are
wild dog, jackals and the striped hyena.
Some 300 species of birds inhabit the park
which include peafowl, egret, black ibis,
warbler, green pigeons, eagles, falcon, tree pie
etc. Water birds can be seen near the park's
many rivulets and pools. The ideal time to visit
Kanha would be the period between February
and June. The park is closed from 1st July to
15th October in the monsoon season.