While I guess mine was the craziest trips to Kanha. We had Gone to meet some relatives in Eastern MP , district Shahdol and planned to make our trip to Mandla from there. It was about a 600 Km drive; And trust me the stretch from Shadol to Mandla is southern MP is one of the most beautiful drives I’ve been till yet. Initially our way uptill Amarkantan, which is a water fall in the eastern side only, had an amazing road, much like the Jaipur-Delhi Highway. But thereon it got really bad .... a thin stretch with amazing field on either side. Infact it’s a biker’s dream to be on that route. amazing huts, serene land ....I really think the Idea of village tourism would do wonders in a place like this. One could easily spend a month covering that stretch. But Well we did it in 12 hrs. It was night when we’d entered the Kanha region. We had got our reservations done in the forest reserve guest house, which was really bad, but not a bad deal for money....we just paid about 600 Rupees for a dorm of 8.
But honestly speaking the first outlook at Kanha was one that was very disorganised. They only allow you to take petrol 4 wheel drive vehicles inside the sanctuary. Well we had a diesel vehicle which means we had to hire a Gypsy. Madhya Pradesh tourism has done a very bad job at getting things organised there. As you reach the Park, Scores of men surround you, coaxing you to hire there vehicles. Rates are not standardised, You just need to bargain a good deal, the tourism chaps though have an office right there seem least bothered to attend you...infact it seems as if they’ve got some fixing done with the other guys.
I think Ranthambor in Rajasthan is much more orgainsed a place. We’ve always had such a wonderful experience there. Well we left early in the morning around five, it was really chilly, the guide told us it cud go well below zero in winters.
Kanha’s Key is the huge landscape one gets to see while driving in the park. It’s a beautiful jungle, it’s not very dense though. We could spot a Bison, wild cats, wild boar, peculiar birds and a variety of trees. It’s no doubt a beautiful place to be, I just hope it was a bit more organised for people to avoid managing it, from being a spoilt sport.