Overview
- Main Attractions: Kanha National Park
- Best Time to Visit: February to April
- Local Specialty: Royal Bengal tigers
- Travelled By: Bus, Jeep
- Cost: $$$
- Duration of Stay: 3 days
- Location: Madhya Pradesh, India
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Summary
Kanha is clearly the number one national park in Madhya Pradesh and perhaps the best in India too. While the chances of spotting a tiger is slightly slimmer than nearby Bandhavgarh, the safari experience is second to none. The Kanha Tiger Reserve conservation project has been so successful that the wildlife here is prolific that even if you don’t see a tiger the safari experience is still magical.
Kanha: Our Experience
6th January, 2014 (Day 1)
The bus dropped us in front of Khatia Gate around five o’clock in the evening and we walked 200 metres to Motel Chandan Resorts to check out their rooms. Apart from the lovely rooms and fabulous location next to the park gate, Chandan Resorts also organise safari trips with other tourists. Being foreigners, we had to team up with other foreigners to reduce the cost of a tiger safari and this was the best place to do so.
After a nice hot shower, the rest of the evening was spent organising our safari trips for the next couple of days with the manager of the hotel. We were required to get a permit for a tiger safari the next day which meant standing in a line at 4am the next morning. Fortunately for us, the manager found someone else who could do it for us which meant we could sleep in. Yay!
Our hotel was situated near Khatiya Gate which is quite far away from the village of Kanha. Apart from the restaurant at our hotel, the other restaurants in the area were a string of dhabas that serve vegetarian dishes. So we walked down the deserted road and picked a dhaba that looked busy enough.
The restaurant was as basic as it comes – plastic chairs and tables, mud walls and thatched roof; even the food was cooked over a wooden fire. We sat next to the wood fire to keep warm as it was a very cold night.
As rustic as it was, the food was good, plenty and cheap. We had a couple of delicious vegetarian meals that evening – Bindi Curry (okra) and Cauliflower curry with chappatis.
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7th January, 2014 (Day 2)
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There was no one to go on a safari with us this morning so instead we decided to go on a Kanha Forest Nature Trail. The Nature Trail is a well-marked 7km trail that leads from just inside Khatiya Gate and skirts along the edge of the park before looping back to the village. Along with a guide, we walked down the trail into the park with excitement. It was 7 o’clock in the morning and the weather was still chilly but the sun was starting to show its face and warm up the air.
The 2-hour nature walk is the perfect way to learn about the forest, its ecosystem and how flora and fauna co-exist with each other in the forest. In addition to seeing several monkeys and many varieties of birds, we also saw some spotted deers at a very close vicinity. The nature trail was a great introduction to Kanha National Park.
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After a long walk in the forest, I was hungry and got the kitchen to cook me some Indian-style scrambled eggs with chapattis (Indian bread). I love scrambled eggs cooked this way as the eggs are cooked with onions, tomatoes, coriander and Indian spices making it really delicious.
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At 2pm, we started to get ready for our evening tiger safari. Being winter, the evening safari was due to start at 3pm so we piled ourselves into the jeep and made our way to Khatiya Gate for our first safari into Kanha Kisli National Park to see the Royal Bengal tiger. Our first safari was into Kanha zone which is the premium zone in the national park. The safari was amazing as we got to see so much wildlife and the scenery was spectacular.
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It was nearly 6 o’clock by the time we returned to our hotel. After we freshened up, we made our way over to the restaurant at our hotel to order dinner. We ordered Paneer Mattar and Malai Kofta with chapattis. Tiger safaris are hard work and we were famished so dinner was deliciously good. The food was actually cooked really well and had lots of flavour. We devoured it in minutes and headed back to our room for an early night.
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8th December, 2014 (Day 3)
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An early morning wake up call got us out of bed before sunrise. It was freezing cold and we had to be ready for a 5:30am start. However, it was all worth it as we ventured into Kisli zone for our first morning safari into Kanha Kisli National Park to spot a Royal Bengal tiger.
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Back at our hotel, we showered and prepared our bags for checkout. We had plans to take the bus at 10am heading for Jabalpur where we had a train to catch at 5:45pm that evening. So, we had an early lunch consisting of Baigan curry (aubergine/eggplant) and Special jeera dal at Kamlesh Dhaba down the road from our hotel before boarding our bus.
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Kanha is clearly the number one national park in Madhya Pradesh and perhaps the best in India too. While the chances of spotting a tiger is slightly slimmer than nearby Bandhavgarh, the safari experience is second to none. The Kanha Tiger Reserve conservation project has been so successful that the wildlife here is prolific that even if you don’t see a tiger the safari experience is still magical. I would recommend Kanha National Park to every and anyone looking for the best safari experience in India.
