All About Kanha Kisli National Park | Tiger Reserve |A Two Day & one Night Trip to Kanha - What all to Do

Kanha Kisli National Park |Tiger Reserve 
The MP tourism website proudly announces "The Largest Park with the Biggest Cats" with some real correlation between the area encompassed by Kanha National Park and plethora of flora,fauna & number of tigers that it has to offer to whosoever can manage to reach these finely managed deep forests. These forests also boasts of being the inspiration behind the legendary"Jungle Book" written by Rudyard Kipling. Overall park is spread across 940 Sq. Km between two districts Mandla & Balaghat in Madhya Pradesh and is considered to be the largest tiger reserve of central India. Having given you some significant notes about the geographical and historical essence let me embark upon the awesome trip that I made to these jungles during the first week of february.

We started from Delhi NCR via Indian Railways "Sampark Kranti" train which took off from Hazrat Nizamuddin Station in Delhi in the evening and ensured a timely arrival at Jabalpur junction during early morning hours. This being a family trip we paid a quick visits at one of relative's place as we were in the city after years. Post meeting & greeting we had an opportunity to refresh ourselves that followed by a fine breakfast of "Poha" & "Jalebi" ( famous snacks in North/central India). Around 12 in the afternoon we left the Jabalpur city in a family car towards Kanha Kisli (More famously known as Kanha Tiger Reserve these days). Kanha is about 200 KM away from Jabalpur however, we had to reach Mukki Gate that happened to be about 240 Kms.

  Travel Tips:

• You can reach up to Jabalpur/Raipur via Flights or Indian Railway as it is well connected to all major cities in India and there after need to travel via car/taxi
• You can also start your road journey from Raipur (Chhattisgarh) , or Nagpur (Maharashtra) which are also well connected by air/railway if you are travelling from south or western India
• You must have your own car or hired taxi since Kanha is located at remote place where you hardly get public transport after a certain point
• It is also recommended that you reach by early evening to avoid any commuting issues as you tend to lose internet connectivity & you'll hardly get people on the way as these are remote areas. 
• Make sure to purchase permit to enter forests from - https://forest.mponline.gov.in/  (Costs around 260/Head including taxes for adult)
• For info related to trains operated by Indian Railway please go to  https://enquiry.indianrail.gov.in/ntes/index.html or http://www.indianrail.gov.in
• Average per person cost from Delhi NCR would be around 4500/ if you are travelling in a group of 3-5

We took the route via Mandla and utilized the Google GPS navigation to save time as we got different opinions around different routes from locals in the outskirts of Jabalpur/Mandla. Majority of the route was found to be alright except a certain stretch before Mandla on national highway ( due to work in progress).  At times we got to travel via single lanes amid rural hamlets which was a treat to eyes. By the evening we reached on the outskirts of Kanha and within an hour we reached our resort that was in close proximity to "Mukki gate" of Kanha Tiger Reserve. ( Kanha Tiger Reserve has three main gates for Jungle Safari Khatia, Mukki & Sarhi). Khatia is the nearest & easily accessible but based on feedback from people about the quality of forests we decided to book our safari from "Mukki Gate".


From Jabalpur it took about five and half hours to reach Mukki. It was dark & cold by the time we reached our resort however, the tranquility, weather and hospitality of the staff made us forget the travel fatigue of more than 20 Hrs ( Delhi to Kanha). Rooms were extremely spacious and much bigger than big city resorts with all basic amenities at our disposal except INTERNET. ( You'd hardly get internet in this locality, though some mobile networks like Idea are available) .

Grand Tiger Resort

Grand Tiger Resort

Dining Area @ Resort

Reception - Grand Tiger Resort

After refreshment we had our dinner in the Restaurant which was absolutely tasty and like home. Post that we had a quick word with Manager about the safari timings/charges and routines since we had a booking for Morning Safari. ( you have an option to choose from Morning or Evening Jungle Safari. Though Morning Safari is for 4 hours - 06:30-11 AM, while evening is for about 3 hours only). Resort staff advised us to be ready by 6 AM and collect our breakfast which could be done in between Jungle safari at Breakfast point amid the Jungle. We took a round about of the resort and soaked in the atmosphere before gleefully hopping onto the bed. It was no time before we were fast asleep only to be awaken by the staff in the wee hours of the next morning. It was 5 AM and it took about an hour for the entire family to be ready for the "Jungle Safari". We picked our basket of breakfast from the kitchen and moved towards "Mukki Gate" that was 2 minutes away from the resort. We parked our vehicle in the designated area reported at the gate reception. Post verifications of permits/ID we paid for Safari ( about 2500/ for Gypsy & 300 for guide ). We were allotted a gypsy & Guide and soon around 06:30 Am we started the exciting journey of the famous jungle.

Mukki Gate - Reception

 It was extremely chilling while we entered the forests and no one could afford to bring out their palms out of pockets/shawls. We were amid the dark, deep and green forest. We were told by the guide that Kanha National Park has almost all varieties of deer, a significant population of Royal bengal tiger along 300+ species of birds and flora. No sooner did we enter amid one of the bylanes we saw male & female peacock, barking deer and Barasingha which is found in good numbers here. This park is also known for saving Barasingha. Forests were found to be mixture of Sal and a mixture of other exotic forest trees blended in between with meadows. On the way we spotted barking deer, spotted deer, sambar and four horned antelope who were grazing in the meadows.

Kanha Meadows

The scenic journey continued for about two hours while we searched for Tiger/Tigress however the king of jungle was in no mood to show his glimpse ( May be due to cool weather as well). Guide took us to the various parts of the Jungle and we got to see numerous varieties of flora and fauna along with Shravan Tal ( According to mythological story "Ramayana" the devoted son "Shravan Kumar" used to fill water for his blind parents from this very pond).

Shravan Tal (pond)

After a couple of hours Sun shone and we got some respite from the cold. It was brighter and after about 2 and half hours since we began our safari Guide took us to the "Breakfast Point" which an absolutely neatly managed place with modern washrooms. We got ourselves some relaxed time and had our healthy breakfast that we got from our resort. Place was a treat to eyes due to its location, serenity and tranquility.

Breakfast Point

Having spent about 30 minutes with others who were also there for Jungle Safari we resume our trip in the deep forest. Now day was brighter and we could observe a heightened activities by birds and animals. Soon after we started encountering more animals ( Barasingha, Axis and others) but tiger was still away!

It was now post 10 AM and we got some signals by the guide to sense that Tiger/Tigress was in close proximity. It was an exciting view to see a tigress at about 30-40 meters away. It was a big cat relaxing on the bylane without noticing the high attention by the tourist. We captured the moment and moved on. We roamed around for another 40 minutes but couldn't get to see any other big cat. So this was all we could have for the day. Soon it was time to end the safari. 

We were back to the gate, said thanks to driver and the guide and took our vehicle back to the resort. It was a fulfilling experience and we took much needed rest followed by a tasty lunch and began our journey back to Jabalpur.

Tips:

• Make sure you are on time at the gate if you don't have the whole jypsy booked or else you may have to pay for entire vehicle if all standalone travellers have left 
• Start early in the morning based on the distance of your hotel/resort from the respective gate
• If you are connected via internet do travel via GPS as it will save much of your time rather than relying upon the locals.
• Take at least 2 days to encash the opportunity to see the locals/jungles