1 experience in Kanha National Park
Kanha tiger safari 
Kanha National Park
Kanha tiger safari
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Kanha National Park travel guides
Kanha National Park Travel Guide: Zones, Wildlife and Planning Travel guide · Destinations
Kanha National Park Travel Guide: Zones, Wildlife and Planning
Kanha National Park lies in the Maikal ranges of Madhya Pradesh, in the Mandla and Balaghat districts. Its sal forest and open meadows shelter tigers and the hard-ground barasingha. Safaris run in four core zones, Kanha, Kisli, Mukki and Sarhi, each morning and evening, with an official guide in every vehicle. Core zones close from 1 July to 30 September; the buffer zones stay open.
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Frequently asked questions
What can you do at Kanha besides a safari?
Visit the Kanha Museum, run by the state's Forest Department, where skeletons explain the park's wildlife and other exhibits the region's tribal culture; MP Tourism notes it opens all year. In the buffer zone, home to 161 villages, MP Tourism also lists walks, cycle rides and village visits.
What is Kanha Kisli?
Kisli is one of Kanha's four core zones, alongside Kanha, Mukki and Sarhi. MP Tourism also uses the name for the Khatia gate, written "Khatia (Kisli)", and for the park itself, as Kanha Kisli National Park. On a safari permit, Kisli means the zone.
Which gate should you use at Kanha?
The one for your zone. MP Tourism has Khatia, in Mandla district, leading to the Kisli, Kanha and Sarhi zones, and Mukki, in Balaghat, to the Mukki range. The forest department adds that Mukki gives the Kanha zone only on morning drives, and Sarhi the Kisli zone only in the morning.
Is Kanha National Park worth visiting?
Yes, given two to three nights. It is one of India's oldest protected areas, a reserve forest from 1879 and a national park from 1955, and among the first nine Project Tiger reserves. For close to five decades it held the last wild population of the hard-ground barasingha.
About Kanha National Park Tours & Experiences
The best things to do in Kanha are gypsy safaris in its four core zones, Kanha, Kisli, Mukki and Sarhi, watching hard-ground barasingha on the meadows, the sunset from Bamni Dadar and birdwatching. Our Kanha tiger safari books one zone per drive and includes a private naturalist, and a licensed park guide rides in every vehicle.
Reviewed by Experience My India Editorial Team · Updated 21 Oct 2026
Things to do in Kanha
Drive the core zones
Around 20 per cent of Kanha's core, some 184 sq km, is open to visitors in the Kanha, Kisli, Mukki and Sarhi zones, entered from the Khatia, Mukki and Sarhi gates. Each permit covers one zone and one round, morning or afternoon. Our Kanha tiger safari books yours ahead, and the December to March slots go first.
Look for barasingha on the meadows
Within the reserve, the hard-ground barasingha keeps to the core, and by 1970 only 66 were left in the wild. Search the Kanha meadows, where chital, sambar and gaur graze while tigers, leopards and wild dogs keep to the thickets, and the Sonf meadows, where a village was moved out and its grassland became barasingha ground.
Watch the sunset from Bamni Dadar
Bamni Dadar, a plateau inside the park, is Kanha's sunset point, with a view over dense forest, and MP Tourism counts it among a safari's main sights. Birds of prey hunt over it, and grazing animals can be spotted from it.
Hear the stories along the tracks
The tracks pass places with stories: Shravan Tal, a tank in the central meadows tied to the Ramayana story of Shravan Kumar, where animals come to drink, and Lapsi Kabar, the grave of a guide killed by a tiger in 1930 while protecting his party.
Watch birds at the tanks
The reserve counts around 325 bird species. Babathenga tank in the Mukki range draws many birds, and any drive may turn up the Indian roller, racket-tailed drongo, woolly-necked stork or crested serpent eagle.
Choosing between our tours and experiences
The tiger safari is the one trip we sell at Kanha: an experience for travellers who want a big reserve of sal, bamboo and meadow as well as a chance of a tiger, over two or three nights. It is listed on Kanha wildlife safaris. We have no tour package based at Kanha; the safari is often paired with Bandhavgarh.
When to go for these
Kanha's core zones open from 15 October to 30 June in a usual year; through the monsoon months only the buffer zones take visitors. January can bring frost and temperatures below zero, so dawn in an open gypsy is bitterly cold. From March the forest dries and thins, and some visitors prefer April to June, expecting animals near water.
Before you go
Stay near the gate your permits use, dress in muted colours, and pack for frost on winter mornings. Our Kanha travel guide covers the journey.
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