BANDHAVGARH - It is one of the finest and most picturesque tiger reserves of India, located in the scenic surroundings of the Vindhya hill ranges and the eastern flank of Satpura hill ranges (in all 32 hills surround this beautiful park) in Madhya Pradesh. Spread over an area of around 448.84 sq km, Bandhavgarh Wildlife Sanctuary was notified as a National Park in 1968 and included in the famous Project Tiger in 1993. The Bandhavgarh National Park is known for its tiger population whose number is now estimated between 45-50.
Other important wild animals include Leopards, Wild dogs or Dholes, Sloth Bears, Rhesus Macaques, Sambar, Chital, Indian Muntjac, Chausingha (4-horned antelope) among many others. Bandhavgarh National Park also shelters a sizable population of birds and reptiles.
The thick forest of Bandhavgarh National Park sits in a bowl encircled by cliffs and wooded Vindhyan mountains, and its plains have a number of grass and reed covered wetlands where Kingfishers dive and Egrets sit poised, hunch-backed, in the shallows. Up above, vultures nestle in holes in the sheer cliffs.
Initially, just 105.40-sq-km in area, Bandhavgarh with 25 resident tigers, was noted for its high-density tiger population. Today, it has been extended to an area of 437-sq-km. About half the Bandhavgarh park is covered with fine trees of Sal, while mixed forests are found in the higher reaches of the hills. Stretches of bamboo and grasslands extend to the north. The main wildlife viewing is still done in the core of the park with its 32 picturesque, wooded hills.
Once a hunting reserve of the royal family of Rewa in more recent times, Bandhavgarh was declared a park in 1968. This is also the site where the famous White Tigers of Rewa were discovered.