Kanha National Park
General Information | ||
Total Area | 940 sq. km. |
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Best time to visit | July - October. | |
Accommodation | Hotels & Restaurants. | |
Nearest Town | Mandla (65 km). | |
How to get there | Train: Jabalpur (44 km), Air: Jabalpur (175 km). | |
Species found | The Chinkara, Dear, Blackbuck, Wild Boar, Striped Hyena, Jackal, Common Langur, Porcupine, Hare, Black Buck. |
The Kanha
National Park, in Madhya Pradesh, forms the core of the Kanha Tiger
Reserve created in 1974, under Project Tiger. Stretching over 940 sq
km, the vegetation, chiefly made of sal and bamboo forests,
grasslands and streams, this park is the sole habitat of the rare
hardground
The forests of the Banjar valley and Halon valley, respectively
forming Kanha's western and eastern halves, had even , at the turn
of the century, been famous for their deer and tiger population. By
a special statute in 1955, Kanha National Park came into being.
Since then, a string of stringent conservation programmes have been
launched, for the overall protection of the park's fauna and flora.
It is one of the most well-maintained National Parks in Asia, and a
major attraction for avid wildlife buffs all over the world.
Kanha boasts of about 22 species of mammals. Some of the inhabitants
of this park are the gaur, the largest of the world's cattle; the
sambar, the largest Indian deer; and the chausingha, the only
four-horned antelope in the world. Other frequent visitors include
the Nilgai antelope, the sloth bear, the dhole, or Indian wild dog,
and an occasional panther. Some 200 species of birds inhabit the
park, that include the cattle egret, black ibis, hawk eagle, and the
red-wattled lapwing. Shravantal is an old, earthenbound tank in the
central Kanha meadows, which happens to be an important watering
hole, for a large number of water fowl in winter. Bamni Dadar, known
as Sunset Point, is the most beautiful section of the park, and the
view of the sunset from this spot is absolutely mesmerising. Quite a
few animals can be sighted around this area which include the sambar,
gaur, the four-horned antelope and the barking deer.
It is necessary for all of us to express our concern and strongly
oppose the proposed decimation of one more of our wildlife habitats
by both the 4-laning of the highway and the railway line.