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Distance : 65km
from Mandla, 169km from Jabalpur, 330km from Nagpur
Altitude : 1,480 to 2,950ft (450-900m)
Temperature : Max 43o, Min 11o celsius
Rainfall : 1,250mm |
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Kanha - Idle
Location For Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book
Kanha Tiger Reserve became famous when the author Rudyard
Kipling wrote The Jungle Book in 1894, setting his story
in Kanha’s forests. While in Kanha National Park, you will
see the dramatic beauty of the forest and the immense
variety of wildlife that must have fired the author’s
imagination, and ample opportunity for elephant safari.
Even before Kipling, Kanha National Park(like many other
National Parks in India) was famous as a preferred hunting
ground for rulers and viceroys. The first effort to
conserve this area was in 1933, when about 250sq km of the
forested Kanha valley was declared a Wildlife Sanctuary.
Another 300sq km of the adjoining Supkhar Sanctuary was
added to the original area, only to be de-notified within
a few years, after which just the original 230sq km of
wilderness remained protected.
Opened As A Hunting Ground
oftentimes, unpleasant incidents have made us sit up and
realise that certain forest areas needed to be protected.
A famous cricketer in the early 1950s, Maharaja Kumar of
Vijayanagram was allowed to shoot as many as 30 tigers in
and around the Sanctuary for the sheer sake of sport. This
incident was followed by a public outcry that forced the
authorities to formulate a special legislation and declare
the area a National Park in 1955. The size of Kanha
National Park increased to 318sq km in 1962, and again to
446sq km in 1970. In 1976, Kanha National Park became a
part of Project Tiger that was launched in 1972, giving
the Park its present area of 940sq km. This is surrounded
by an additional buffer area of 1,005sq km. Project Tiger
was essentially a conservation effort begun by the then
Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Its main objective was to
ensure that the poaching of tigers stopped, and to secure
the tiger’s habitat.
Flora & Fauna
Mammals & Reptiles
Today, Kanha National Park is one of the most famous Tiger
Reserves in India, and it harbours a rich diversity of
plants and animals. A photographer’s paradise, Kanha
offers unlimited possibilities of capturing wildlife on
film. Kanha Tiger Reserve is often called Tiger Land, and
visitors narrate innumerable and unforgettable instances
of tiger sightings. Even in terms of conservation, the
National Park has been a remarkable success, and has
protected a number of species that might otherwise have
been altogether extinct.
Flora
Vegetation in Kanha National Park varies with altitude.
The meadows, speckled with climbs of the great sal tree (Shorea
robusta), are interspersed with larger areas of the great
sal forests. In the higher reaches, bamboo becomes more
prominent till the mixed jungle with almost 70 species of
trees, replaces the bamboo trees. Finally, the flat tops
of the ridges, locally known as dadar, are covered with
grasslands sparingly scattered with trees. |
