Kanha National Park

About the Park

Kanha National Park is one of the most striking national parks in the Maikal range that proves to be the most inspiring place for the creative creatures. Creatures that don’t live in the jungles but have great fascinations for the jungles, the intelligent creatures, the human being, who have great alluring for the wildlife and natural bewilderment. Among those intelligent creatures, the most notable writer and novelist of 18th century Rudyard Kipling once visited this place, the place which is the perfect home to magnanimous counts of Barasingha, the Swamp Deer. And to the curiosity of many, the invention of “The Jungle Book” by Rudyard Kipling was the result of the perfect inspiration of Kanha and the nearby areas.

With tropical based climate, summers at Kanha are so rigorous to be reached up to 43° C but the central highland area of Madhya Pradesh is also uniquely being doused with heavily monsoon pours with the average rainfall of 1800 mm to make the surrounding more scenic and greenish. On the contrary, winters can be found more shivering in the dense jungles of Kanha to drop the mercury level by -2°C.

History

Originally a part of the Gondwanas (i.e. the land of the Gonds) in the year 1880, the Kanha Tiger Reserve (at an altitude range of 600m-870 m) was inhabited by two major tribes of Central India, the Gonds and the Baigas which is still being captured by these tribes at its outskirts and then later was entranced by two major sanctuaries, the Hallon and the Banjar sanctuaries by covering the areas of 250 sq km and 300 sq km respectively. In the year 1862, Kanha was inhibited by the forest management rules where many illegal acts were prohibited in the jungle. Further, in 1879, the area was declared as a reserve forest by extending its parts into 1949 sq km and with the introduction of “The Jungle Book”, the amazing landscape of Kanha and Pench came into recognition in 1880. The history of Kanha National Park became more interesting when in the year 1933, Kanha was declared as a sanctuary after receiving notable appreciation from worldwide due to its unmatchable landscape and amazing highland beauty. Gradually, many naturalists found Kanha as the premier national park in India and in 1991 and in 2001 Kanha National Park was honored as the most tourism friendly national park in India by the Dept. of Tourism, Govt. of India.