Kanha Tiger Reserve

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Kanha Tiger Reserve
IUCN category II (national park)
Tiger Kanha National Park.jpg
Tiger in Kanha Tiger Reserve
Map showing the location of Kanha Tiger Reserve
Map showing the location of Kanha Tiger Reserve
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Location Madhya Pradesh, India
Nearest city Mandla
Coordinates 22°13′39″N 80°38′42″ECoordinates: 22°13′39″N 80°38′42″E
Area 940 km2 (360 sq mi)
Created 1933; 89 years ago (as Wildlife Sanctuary)
1955; (as National Park)
1974; (as Tiger Reserve)
Visitors 1,000 (in 1989)
Governing body Madhya Pradesh Forest Department

Kanha Tiger Reserve, also known as Kanha–Kisli National Park, is one of the tiger reserves of India and the largest national park of the state of Madhya Pradesh. The present-day Kanha area is divided into two protected areas, Hallon and Banjar, of 250 and 300 km2 (97 and 116 sq mi), respectively. Kanha National Park was created on 1 June 1955 and was designated a tiger reserve in 1973. Today, it encompasses an area of 940 km2 (360 sq mi) in the two districts Mandla and Balaghat.

Together with a surrounding buffer zone of 1,067 km2 (412 sq mi) and the neighbouring 110 km2 (42 sq mi) Phen Sanctuary, it forms the Kanha Tiger Reserve, which is one of the biggest in the country.[1][2] This makes it the largest national park in central India.

The park hosts Bengal tiger, Indian leopard, sloth bear, barasingha and dhole. It is also the first tiger reserve in India to officially introduce a mascot, Bhoorsingh the Barasingha.[3]

Flora

Forest in Kanha

Kanha Tiger Reserve is home to over 1000 species of flowering plants.[4] The lowland forest is a mixture of sal (Shorea robusta) and other mixed-forest trees, interspersed with meadows. The highland forests are tropical moist, dry deciduous type and of a completely different nature from bamboo (Dendrocalamus strictus) on slopes. A notable Indian ghost tree (Davidia involucrata) can also be seen in the dense forest.[5]

Fauna

Kanha Tiger Reserve hosts populations of Bengal tiger, Indian leopard, dhole, sloth bear, Bengal fox and Indian jackal. The barasingha is adapted to swampy areas. The gaur inhabits meadows and waterholes in the park.[6] Blackbuck has become very rare.[7]

The reserve hosts around 300 species of birds and the most commonly seen birds are the black ibis, Asian green bee-eater, cattle egret, blossom-headed parakeet, Indian pond heron, drongo, common teal, crested serpent eagle, Indian grey hornbill, Indian roller, lesser adjutant, little grebe, lesser whistling teal, minivet, Malabar pied hornbill, woodpeckers, pigeon, paradise flycatcher, hill myna, Indian peafowl, red junglefowl, red-wattled lapwing, steppe eagle, Tickell’s blue flycatcher, white-eyed buzzard, white-breasted kingfisher, white-browed fantail, wood shrikes, warblers, and vultures among many more.[8][9]