On a Tiger Trail

Kanha National Park,Madhya Pradesh,

India.May 2014

Located in the heart of the country, Kanha National Park is a four hour drive from the nearest rail and air head, Jabalpur.

If you are planning a visit to this amazing game reserve, home to Royal Bengal Tigers, it makes sense to pre-book everything, your accommodation, transportation, and even the game rides.

Khatiya Gate, at Kanha National Park, the entry to the game reserve. © Moumita Basu

The forest stretches ahead.

The evening park ride commences.

A monkey family rests in the shade to escape the heat.

The first sight of game, a herd of Indian Gaur, and a Spotted Deer sharing a pasture.

Summer sunset and deer are out to feed.

A Serpent Eagle catches the last sunrays.

A colorful jungle fowl makes an appearance.

An Indian Sambhar Deer grazes with his spotted counterparts.

And a lone tigress, in search of water, crosses the path.

The sight of the tigress excites the tourists, click, click, go the cameras.

A lone bison quenches thirst at another part of the reserve.

This is the area of Munna, one of the majestic male tigers of Kanha.

Regal and matured, Munna is almost indifferent to the photographers going gaga on sighting him.

For a wildlife photographer, sighting a tiger is an amazing thrill.

With only around 1400 tigers left in India, we laud the Forest Department of Madhya Pradesh for doing a commendable job of preserving these natural predators.

Kanha National Park remains one of the biggest success stories of Project Tiger.

We, as a country, still have a long way to go to protect our ecology.

A presentation by Moumita Basu.Twitter: @Moumita1