Kanha

Kanha lies in the Maikal hills of the Satpura range, across Mandla and Balaghat districts, and its core of about 940 square kilometres has been protected since 1955, one of the first nine Project Tiger reserves in 1973. What makes it different is the landscape: sal forest that stays green through the summer, bamboo on the slopes, and a string of grassy maidans, the largest being Kanha meadow itself, once village fields, now grazed by chital, gaur and barasingha. The hard-ground barasingha survived nowhere but here; from 66 animals in 1970 it has climbed past 800 through decades of meadow management and a predator-proof enclosure, enough to seed new herds in Satpura and Bandhavgarh.

Tigers use the maidans on winter mornings, and Kanha's leopards, wild dogs and sloth bears show more often than in most parks. Entry is through Khatia gate near Kisli or Mukki gate on the southern side; the Kanha, Kisli, Mukki and Sarhi zones each have a different feel. A morning drive ends at Bamni Dadar, the Sunset Point, with the forest rolling to the horizon; the Kanha Museum at the interpretation centre near Kisli is worth an hour.

Stay in lodges along the Banjar river, walk buffer trails with a naturalist, and watch a Gond village at dusk when cattle come home through the dust. The Jungle Book was set in the Seoni hills to the south-west, but it is Kanha's maidans and sal that most readers picture.