Kanha's sal and bamboo forests, rolling grasslands and meandering streams stretch
over 940 sq km in dramatic natural splendour which form the core of the Kanha
Tiger Reserve created in 1974 under Project Tiger. The park is the only habitat
of the rare hardground Barasingha (Cervus Duvaceli Branderi).
This
is original Kipling country of which he wrote so vividly in his Jungle Book.
The same abundance of wild life species exists today in Kanha National Park,
as it must have when Kipling roamed these parts.
The Kanha National Park, stretching over 940 sq km, the vegetation, chiefly
made of sal and bamboo forests, grasslands and streams, this park is the sole
habitat of the rare hardground barasingha.
The forests of the Banjar valley and Halon valley, respectively forming Kanha's
western and eastern halves, had even , at the turn of the century, been famous
for their deer and tiger population. By a special statute in 1955, Kanha National
Park came into being. Since then, a string of stringent conservation programmes
have been launched, for the overall protection of the park's fauna and flora.
It is one of the most well-maintained National Parks in Asia, and a major attraction
for avid wildlife buffs all over the world.