Out of the estimated 5, 000 - 7, 000 tigers remaining in the world’s wildernesses, two-thirds exist on the Indian subcontinent. And of the 164 protected areas spread across 12 countries where tiger sightings have been recorded, 66 are in India. No wonder then that the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh has chosen to brand itself as India’s “tiger state”, not only because across its large expanse stretch substantial swathes of healthy tiger habitat but also because within these nestle two world-famous tiger reserves, namely Bandhavgarh and Kanha National Parks.

Bandhavgarh lies 240 km north of Kanha by road, and is more easily accessible of the two by rail as well as by air from Delhi. However, as a single convenient base to explore the two, the town of Jabalpur, approximately equidistant from both at 165 km, serves well. Jabalpur’s airport is currently closed but the town’s good rail service links from Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai are points in its favor. As a plus, the town traces its history down to prehistoric times, having passed through Mauryan, Gupta, Kalchuri, Gond, Maratha and British control through the centuries. During the Maratha and British period, Gondwana, as the region was known, was infested with thugs, the infamous ritual bandits and murderers vivified in John Masters’ classic The Deceivers. Long purged of that menace, Jabalpur is now a cantonment town with sundry sites of interest marking its hoary past. Amongst them, the 12th-century Madan Mahal fort and Rani Durgavati Memorial Museum are well worth a visit.

Bandhavgarh, covering 448 sq km, is smaller of the two national parks. (The total area of the tiger reserve of the same name, of which the park forms a part, is 1,162 sq km.) However, in terms of history, it is much richer than Kanha. Most of this revolves around the massive Bandhavgarh fort, with origins fading back into the mists of myth and reality. The fort is part of the park and indeed one of its big attractions. Natural walls of sheer rock, painted with the droppings of nesting raptors, soar 1,000 feet sheer above ground level before crowning out into a 560-acre plateau. Scattered across this overgrown mess is virtual Indiana Jones country. Sculptures, crumbling monuments, desolate temples, broken walls and water tanks emerge out of and disappear into the foliage as one tries to pick one’s way over winding, barely discernible paths. Signs of big cats are not uncommon — droppings, pug marks, maybe a half-eaten kill, and if you’re lucky, even a glimpse of a leopard or a tiger is possible. The more remarkable and visible sculptures in and on the peripheries of the fort area are of various manifestations of the Hindu god Vishnu. Starting with a reclining Vishnu at the foot of the climb, from whence emanates one of the park’s perennial streams, the one-hour trudge up to the main (and only functioning) temple of the fort brings up the Tortoise, Boar, Narasimhan (half-man half-beast) and Fish avatars (incarnates) of the Preserver hewn in granite.

Bandhavgarh is more densely populated with tigers than any other park in India, an attribute that also results in very positive sighting odds of the magnificent cat. 1997 census figures pegged tiger numbers at 46 (figures from the latest census are still being compiled). Of course, this is a far cry from earlier in the century when the forests were the private hunting preserves of erstwhile Rewa State. Each rampaging Maharaja on a tiger shoot contributed to the feline’s decline. Mercifully, in 1968 the jungles were handed over to the government and declared a national park thereby preventing the tiger’s inevitable extermination in the area. The Rewa forests also hold the distinction for producing Mohun, a white (albino) tiger cub captured by Maharaja Martand Singh in 1951, from which all white tigers in the zoos of the world are descended.

The two possible modes of travel and tracking wildlife inside the park are by four-wheel drive or on elephant back. The latter, of course, affords the option of venturing into otherwise impenetrable sections of forest and maneuvering relatively close to the wildlife, when spotted. Both at Kanha and Bandhavgarh, mahouts often take their elephants into the forest in the wee hours of morning to track down a tiger. If they succeed, passengers on the morning elephant ride are taken straight to the spot where the striped beast has been pinpointed.

Kanha is Kipling country. In the rolling terrain, particularly pleasing to the eye and the camera in the green garb it attains during the cool months, Rudyard found inspiration to create Mowgli, Bagheera, Akeyla, Sher Khan and the other delightful characters immortalized in The Jungle Book. In the present context, it is one of nine national parks first designated as tiger reserves under Project Tiger, a conservation plan initiated in 1976 that brought back India’s national animal from the brink of oblivion. Thereafter, many a victorious battle of similar nature was fought across its 1945 sq km area. The hard ground barasingha or swamp deer, for example, bounced back to a respectable 1, 000, from a pitiful 66 in 1970. Today Kanha is acknowledged as the country’s best-managed national park.

Unlike Bandhavgarh’s prominent hill protuberances, Kanha’s undulations are more continuous. Game proliferates the vast plateaus and sprawling grasslands quite evenly though there are “best areas” to view specific species. Thus the park’s mighty gaur (Indian bison) that frequently exceed a ton in weight and the dhole (Indian wild dog) are most likely seen at Bamni Dadar, Bishanpura, Sondhar or Ghorella. Bamni Dadar is also a favorite for catching spectacular Kanha sunsets and a balcony view of fold upon fold of luxuriant forests galloping towards the horizon. Leopards are best hoped for on the forested plateau slopes. For all types of ungulates, which at Kanha include sambar, chausingha (four-horned deer), nilgai, barking deer, swamp deer, chital (spotted deer), wild boar and a handful of blackbuck, the main Kanha valley and its grasslands are the ideal range. This is also the park’s central court, so to speak, where all visitors spend maximum time roaming.

Kanha’s avifauna is at least on par with Bandhavgarh. Near about 300 species wing around the grasslands, forest clearings and the park’s numerous water bodies. Sravantal, a pool situated in the central meadowland, is the popular birding area. Those who’ve visited some of India’s other protected areas, such as the great parks of the terai, or even those in the immediate neighborhood, might find Kanha — especially the rides — a trifle more expensive. Note though also that all the money collections in Kanha are ploughed right back into the development of the park, something that cannot be said of most wildlife reserves elsewhere in the country..

NOTEBOOK: Bandhavgarh and Kanha are open from June 1 to November 30 every year. Winter weather is agreeably cool though temperatures can drop down close to freezing. Summer is hot, peaking at 45° Celsius or more. A range of high quality accommodation can be found at both places. For more information contact:
Madhya Pradesh State Tourism Development Corporation Ltd (Head Office),
4th Floor, Gangotri Complex, TT Nagar, Bhopal-462 003.
Tel: (0755) 778 383, 774 340/ 42/ 43.   Fax: (0755) 774 289, 772 384
E-mail: mail@mptourism.com. Website: www.mptourism.com