Kanha National Park
| Kanha Tiger Reserve | |
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IUCN category II (national park)
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Tiger in Kanha
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| Location | Madhya Pradesh, India |
| Nearest city | Mandla |
| Coordinates | 22°20′N 80°38′E / 22.333°N 80.633°ECoordinates: 22°20′N 80°38′E / 22.333°N 80.633°E |
| Area | 940 km2 (360 sq mi) |
| Established | 1955 |
| Visitors | 1,000 (in 1989) |
| Governing body | Madhya Pradesh Forest Department |
Kanha Tiger Reserve, also called Kanha National Park, is one of the tiger reserves of India and the largest national park of Madhya Pradesh, state in the heart of India. The present-day Kanha area was divided into two sanctuaries, Hallon and Banjar, of 250 and 300 km2 respectively. Kanha National Park was created on 1 June 1955 and in 1973 was made the Kanha Tiger Reserve. Today it stretches over an area of 940 km2 in the two districts Mandla and Balaghat. Together with a surrounding buffer zone of 1,067 km2 and the neighboring 110 km2 Phen Sanctuary it forms the Kanha Tiger Reserve. This makes it the largest National Park in Central India. Kanha Tiger Reserve was ranked in the top 10 Famous Places for Tourists.
The park has a significant population of royal Bengal tiger, Indian leopards, the sloth bear, barasingha and Indian wild dog. The lush sal and bamboo forests, grassy meadows and ravines of Kanha provided inspiration to Rudyard Kipling for his famous novel Jungle Book.
Kanha Tiger Reserve is home to over 1000 species of flowering plants. 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 with bamboo (Dendrocalamus strictus) on slopes. A very good looking Indian ghost tree (Davidia involucrata) can also be seen in the dense forest.
Kanha Tiger Reserve abounds in meadows or maidans which are basically open grasslands that have sprung up in fields of abandoned villages, evacuated to make way for the animals. Kanha meadow is one such example. There are many species of grass recorded at Kanha some of which are important for the survival of barasingha (Cervus duvauceli branderi). Dense forested zones with good crown cover has abundant species of climbers, shrubs and herbs flourishing in the understory. Aquatic plants in numerous tal (lakes) are life line for migratory and wetland species of birds.
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