Tuesday, February 14, 2017

Kanha National Park – Safari Zones and Booking You Should Know

Located in Central India, Kanha National Park is known to be one of the most well known tiger reserves in the country. When it comes to tiger tourism, there are some national parks in central India that come in mind are Kanha National park, Bandhavgarh, Tadoba National Park, Panna, Pench and others. Thousands of tourists from different parts of the world visit Kanha from October to June, which is the tourism season. The traffic of tourists is consistently increasing and park authorities are finding it hard to manage the crowd and meet their needs.

For better management, even distribution of visitors, and tourism management, they have introduced zone system. There are two entrance gates in 2010, i.e. Mukki Gate and Khatia Gate and there are two different zones – Mukki Zone and Kanha Zone. Because of constant increase in tourism, there are certain challenges for authorities like gathering vehicles at some areas are causing chaos and safari vehicles are disturbing the wildlife and violating the rules. To avoid these situations for better tourism, the authorities have opened some of the new areas for visitors and those areas are divided into safari zones.


Currently, there are four zones for Kanha Tiger safari where tourists can take safari vehicles. Tourists can go to only one zone at one drive. This way, they have to take four drives to visit all four zones. Earlier, Mukki and Kanha were the only zones. Later on, the authorities opened Sarhi zone for visitors. Kanha is the most sought after and premium safari zone where ticket price is more than other zones.  Later on, Kisli safari zone was also introduced derived from Kanha safari zone. One can easily book entrance tickets in advance. You can book guide and safari vehicle on arrival. You have to pay a certain fee to hire a guide from entrance gate. 

Kanha National Park – Serene Landscapes Having Great Wilderness

Spread over the Mandla District of Madhya Pradesh, Kanha National Park and Kanha Tiger Reserve India extends over the serene greens of around 1940 sq. km. The important part of the interesting topography is that the whole area of the park is fully covered by the spurs of Mekal and the horseshoe shaped valley. The serene Surpan River wanders well through the central plains of Kanha and grasslands covering the extensive greens. It features the sharp Rocky Mountains to provide the serene vistas of the valley. The lush bamboo and Sal forests, ravines and grassy meadows of the national park are supposed to be the inspiration to Rudyard Kipling’s “The Jungle Book”.

The national park came into existence in the year 1955 and it forms the very core of tiger reserve in 1974 as part of Project Tiger. The landmark achievement of the park is preserving the rare Swamp Deer known as Barasingha and rescuing it from extinction. The park authorities have conducted strict conservation programs for the protection of flora and fauna of the park. Hence, Kanha is one of the Asia’s most well maintained national parks. Also known as Sunset Point, Bamni Dadar is the most sought after tourist attraction here which is offering the awe-inspiring vistas of sunset off the grazing Gaurs and Sambars.

Along with its diverse bird and wildlife population, Kanha is also known for frequent sights of Tigers roaming across the wilderness of Kanha Wildlife sanctuary and it is one of the most popular attractions here. There are several national parks in the country but there is nothing like Kanha National Park. You can easily spot the mighty Royal Bengal tigers. Even if there are zoos and circuses in India, you won’t get the thrill and experience over there that one can get all of a sudden in national parks where tigers roam freely in their natural habitat. 





Kanha National Park – Two Most Important Yet Unheard Attractions

Spread over the landscapes of 940 sq. km in Mandla District of Madhya Pradesh, Kanha National Park is the land of the mighty Royal Bengal Tigers which are found in large numbers here. It is one of the largest national parks in India and is respected widely for rescuing Barasingha from extinction. It is surely one of the most managed parks in Asia as Project Tiger reserve. Tiger safari in Kanha National Park Madhya Pradesh is truly a very exciting experience. But it is known also for other important reasons.

Lapsi Kabar – Devoted to a Lion-Hearted Guide who lost His Life to a Tiger
Lapsi was an expert, brave hearted guide and hunter who lost his life while saving his sportsmen colleagues and fighting against an unruly tiger. In 1930, he was a well known hunter-guide assisting his sportsmen fellows in hunting expedition. He was aware of every corner of the forest and had knowledge about animal nature. They faced a tiger in their expedition that attacked them. Lapsi showed his bravery to fight against the beast to rescue his colleagues. Sadly, he lost the battle. A gravestone was erected in his memory where he fought the animal. Tourists also visit Lapsi Kabar today to pay tribute to the brave guide.

The Untold Story behind Shravan Tal
One of the most ideal sons in epic tale Ramayana, Shravana was killed by King Dashratha as he was mistaken for an antelope. He was the only son to his blind parents. He was taking his parents to a pilgrimage destination. His parents asked him to bring some water from the lake on the route. He carried the pitcher to collect some water. He dipped the pitcher on the water as he didn’t know that someone is hunting for an animal. The sound alarmed the king and he shot the arrow towards Shravan. Later on, he regretted his mistake for killing the guy for a deer.