Jungles of Central India

Growing up we have all heard of stories of Mowgli and his adventures. We all have either read them or better still caught some version of this marvellous adventure in form of an animation or motion picture. This experience we have planned for you takes you to these jungles of central India.

The Jungle Book was originally published in magazines in the form of a collection of short stories in 1894 and these contained illustrations by Rudyard Kipling’s father John Lockwood Kipling. It is said that Rudyard Kipling initially wrote these for his eldest daughter Josephine who died at the age of 6 in 1899.

The Jungle Book was originally published in 1894 in the form of a collection of short stories in magazines and contained illustrations by Rudyard Kipling’s father John Lockwood Kipling. It is said that Rudyard Kipling originally wrote this for his eldest daughter Josephine, who died at the age of 6, in 1899.

Jungles of Central India offer one of the most unique and diverse experiences in the subcontinent. The parks offer a diversity like none other – with about 350 species of birds and the region is an ideal destination to look for the following key species – Tiger, Leopard, Sloth Bear, Dhole (Indian wild dogs), Gaur (Indian Bison), rusty spotted cat (the smallest wildcat in the world), Indian Skimmer and the Russell Viper to name a few.

The park we have envisaged for this experience is Kanha Tiger Reserve – the largest national park in Central India.

Kanha Tiger Reserve

Kanha is one of the oldest tiger reserves in the country today. It is also the largest national park in Madhya Pradesh spreading across 2000 sq.km. including the buffer area. The park today is divided into 4 zones – Kanha zone – this is in the heart of the park and is the premium zone, Kisli, Mukki and Sarhi.

Kanha along with Pench forms what we call “Kipling country”.  The park Park is home to over 1000 species of flowering plants. The lowland forest is a mixture of Sal 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. The Indian ghost tree can also be seen in the dense forest (Gum tree).

Until last year Kanha was the only forest where one could find the hard ground Barasingha (swamp deer). The species was on the brink of extinction and was bred in an enclosed area within the park. Today the population has since increase and the Barasingha today roams freely in Kanha. This species has recently been reintroduced into Satpura tiger reserve.

Singinawa Jungle Lodge

Recommended lodges: Singinawa Lodge – Spread over 110 acres they organize a vast variety of experiences including nature walks for lesser fauna and photography – insects, amphibians, reptiles etc. They also organize interactive experiences with Gond artists and Baiga tribes. The other lodge I would recommend is Kipling Camp which has an old world charm and organizes tribal interactions, elephant interactions however, lacks the quality of naturalist that you have in Singinawa. However, its still a fantastic experience.