Kanha Kisli :

Kanha Kisli National Park

Kanha Kisli National Park is a national park and a Tiger Reserve in the Mandla and Balaghat districts of Madhya Pradesh, India. In the 1930s, Kanha area was divided into two sanctuaries, Hallon and Banjar, of 250 and 300 km² . Kanha Kisli National Park was created on 1 June 1955. 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."Kanha Tiger Reserve". This makes it the largest National Park in Central India.

The park has a significant population of Royal Bengal Tiger, 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 Kisli National Park is home to over 1000 species of flowering plants. "Kanha Kisli National Park". 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 on slopes. A very good looking Indian ghost tree (kullu) can also be seen in the dense forest.

Kanha Kisli Tiger Reserve abounds in meadows or maidens 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 have 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.

Jabalpur, the most convenient place to approach the Park from, has the nearest airport (175 km), Nagpur (260 km) and Raipur(219 km) have other airports, Mandla (70 km) has a good connection with Kanha Kisli and there is a tourist taxi service from Jabalpur to the kanha kisli national park. From Jabalpur, the best way to travel is via Mandla.
There are four gates for entrance into the Kanha Kisli Park. The Kisli gate is best accessed from Jabalpur and stops at the village Khatia, inside the buffer area. The second gate is at Kanha (Premium Gate), third gate is Mukki and the fourth, most recently opened, gate is at Sarahi. The Mukki gate is best accessed from Nagpur, Kawardha, Gondia, Wardha, Raipur, Bhilai, Durg, Bilaspur and Betul.