Among the first nine tiger reserves, Kanha is a great conservation landscape. The PA supports a diverse floral and faunal species, some of them endangered and iconic like the barasingha and tiger. Managed under a core-buffer strategy, the Kanha management carries out a number of conservation practices to achieve stated goals and objectives of management. Behind this tremendous success is a dedicated team of officers and field staff.

Pench tiger reserve in MP is one of the finest protected areas in the country. I was posted there around 40 years back. The article contains my wonderful memories of those years.

It was a very fortuitous encounter on a late November afternoon at Kanha. The slanting rays of the setting sun were falling on the ground through the lush leafy vegetation. I had seen the predator from a distance amid langur’s guttural calls, and stopped the vehicle to watch through the field glasses the finer nuances of the concluding part of its hunt. The sturdy leopard was dragging the chital across the forest road, and became wary for a moment to see the approaching vehic