Madhya Pradesh National Parks, Tiger Reserves, Wildlife Sanctuaries & Ramsar Sites

Bandhavgarh National Park, Tiger Reserve

It is located at Vindhya Range. It was the former hunting preserve of the Maharaja of Rewa. India’s first white tiger was captured here in 1951. The density of the tiger population at Bandhavgarh is one of the highest in India.
Vegetation: Moist and mixed deciduous forests.
Major Fauna: Bengal tiger, elephant, leopard, sambar, barking deer, Indian wolf, striped hyena, nilgai.
Major Avifauna: Indian grey hornbill, lesser adjutant stork, lesser spotted eagle, Bonelli’s eagle.
The Indian bison was reintroduced from Kanha.

Dinosaur (Ashmadha) Fossils National Park

It is located in the Narmada Valley.
Dinosaur eggs and fossils and fossilized trees dating back 60 million years were discovered in the site.

Durgavati Tiger Reserve (Proposed – In-Principle Approval Received)

Durgavati Tiger Reserve will be the 7^th Tiger Reserve of Madhya Pradesh. (Madhya Pradesh has the highest number of tigers in India, followed by Karnataka and Uttarakhand)
A green corridor linking Panna Tiger Reserve with Durgavati Tiger Reserve will be developed for movement of tigers to the new reserve.
The Ken-Betwa River linking project is going to submerge areas of Panna Tiger Reserve. So, the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has asked the UP and MP governments to notify new Tiger Reserves. Following it, Uttar Pradesh approved its 4^th Tiger Reserve in the Ranipur Wildlife Sanctuary, and the Madhya Pradesh approved Durgavati Tiger Reserve.

Indira Priyadarshini Pench National Park, Tiger Reserve

It is located in the Satpura Range. Pench River (that emerges from Mahadeo Hills) flows through the park dividing it into two halves.
Pench Tiger Reserve straddles across Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. It comprises the Indira Priyadarshini Pench National Park (MP) and the Jawahar Nehru Pench National Park (Maharashtra).
Vegetation: Moist and dry deciduous forests.
Major Flora: Teak
Major Fauna: Royal Bengal tiger, Indian leopard, four-horned antelope, barking deer, chital, sambar.
Threats: Habitat loss and fragmentation (e.g., widening of NH 44 which runs along its eastern boundary).
Collarwali (‘The One With a Collar’), the first tigress in the park fitted with a radio collar recently died.
Pench National Park was the inspiration for Rudyard Kipling’s ‘The Jungle Book’.

Kanha National Park, Tiger Reserve

It is located in the Maikal Range of Satpuras. It is the largest National Park of Madhya Pradesh and Central India.
The present-day Kanha area is divided into two protected areas, Hallon and Banjar.
Tribes displaced from the region: Baiga tribe (a semi-nomadic tribe of Central India) lost their forest rights & were not properly compensated.
Vegetation: tropical moist and dry deciduous forests.
Major Flora: Sal, bamboo forests.
Major Fauna: Bengal tiger, gaur, barasingha (swamp deer; VU), dhole, spotted deer, sambar, chausingha.
Major Avifauna: Black ibis, Indian grey hornbill, lesser adjutant, steppe eagle.

Q. Which one of the following protected areas is well-known for the conservation of a sub-species of the Indian swamp deer that thrives well in hard ground and is exclusively graminivorous (grass-eating)?

Kanha National Park
Manas National Park
Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary
Tal Chhapar Wildlife Sanctuary

Madhav National Park

It was named after Madho Rao Scindia belonging to the Scindia dynasty of the Marathas. Sakhya Sagar and Madhav Sagar are two important reservoirs within the park built by Madho Rao Scindia. Sakhya Sagar has been designated as a Ramsar site since 2022.
Vegetation: Dry deciduous forests and grasslands.
Major Fauna: Chinkara (Indian gazelle), chital, nilgai, sambar, chausingha (four-horned antelope).

Mandla Plant Fossil National Park

It is situated in the Narmada Valley. It has plant fossils that existed in India between 40-150 million years ago.
Ghughua Fossil Park is just a few kilometres from it.

Panna National Park, Tiger Reserve

Panna National Park along with Ken Gharial Wildlife Sanctuary, form a significant part of the catchment area of the Ken River (a tributary of Yamuna) which runs through the park.
In the Ken Wildlife Sanctuary, gharials (fish-eating freshwater crocodiles) are bred in captivity and then released.
Vegetation: Fragmented deciduous forests.
Major Fauna: Tiger, leopard, chital, chinkara, sambar.
In 2012, no tigers were left in the reserve. A tiger each from Bandhavgarh National Park and Kanha National Park were translocated to Panna Tiger Reserve.

Ratapani Tiger Reserve, Wildlife Sanctuary (Proposed – NTCA Approval Received)

It is located in Vindhya Range in Central India.
The MP government is keen on declaring Ratapani Wildlife Sanctuary as Tiger Reserve. It received approval for the same from NTCA long ago. The final approval yet to be given by the state government (state wildlife board).
Threats: Tiger deaths due to accidents and poaching.

Sanjay National Park, Sanjay-Dubri Tiger Reserve

Already covered under Chhattisgarh.

Satpura National Park, Tiger Reserve

It was India’s first reserve forest.
It is located in the Satpura Range. It has Dhoopgarh peak (1,350 m) and level plains of Churna.
Panchmarchi is the closest city to the park.
The terrain is rugged and consists of sandstone peaks, gorges, ravines and dense forests of sal and teak.
Major Flora: Sal, teak, tendu, mahua.
Major Fauna: Bengal tiger, leopard, sambar, chital, Indian muntjac, nilgai, chausingha, chinkara, blackbuck.

Van Vihar National Park

It is located in Bhopal city. It has the status of a NP, but is developed and managed as a zoological park.
Captive Fauna: Bengal tiger, Asiatic lion, mugger crocodile, gharial, spotted deer (chital), sambar, blackbuck.

Wildlife Sanctuaries of Madhya Pradesh

Bagdara Wildlife Sanctuary

It is located near the Ban Sagar Dam. Ban Sagar Dam is a multipurpose river Valley Project on Sone River.

Bori Wildlife Sanctuary

It is located in foothills of the Satpura Range. It is bounded by Satpura National Park and Tawa River (tributary of Narmada).
The sanctuary, together with Satpura National Park and Pachmarhi Wildlife Sanctuary, forms Pachmarhi Biosphere Reserve.

Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary

It is located between Gandhi Sagar Dam (Madhya Pradesh) and Rana Pratap Sagar Dam (Rajasthan).
Both the dams are built on the Chambal River which passes through the Wildlife Sanctuary dividing it into two parts.
Major Fauna: Mugger crocodiles.

Ghatigaon Wildlife Sanctuary

It is situated near Gwalior and it has a significant population of the great Indian bustard (CR).

Karera Wildlife Sanctuary

It was established to protect the population of the great Indian bustard (CR).
Major Fauna: Great Indian bustard and blackbuck (LC).

Ken Gharial Wildlife Sanctuary

It is located near Panna National Park and Khajuraho Group of Monuments in Panna. Panna National Park along with Ken Gharial Wildlife Sanctuary form a significant part of the catchment area of the Ken River (a tributary of Yamuna).
In the Ken Gharial Wildlife Sanctuary, fish-eating freshwater crocodiles (CR) are bred in captivity and then released.

Kheoni Wildlife Sanctuary

It is connected to the proposed Ratapani Wildlife Sanctuary through corridors. It has a presence of tigers, which have apparently migrated from Ratapani.

Narsighgarh Wildlife Sanctuary

Parbati River (originates in the Vindhya range) flows along the periphery of Wildlife Sanctuary. Parbati River is one of the Chambal River’s three main tributaries, along with the Banas River and the Kali Sindh River.

National Chambal Gharial Wildlife Sanctuary

It is located on the Chambal River near the tripoint of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.
It is a tri-state protected area for the Gharial (CR), red-crowned roof turtle (CR) and Ganges river dolphin (flagship species; EN). It is listed as an Important Bird Area.
Other Fauna: muggar crocodile (marsh crocodile; VU), smooth-coated otter (VU), Indian narrow-headed softshell turtle (EN), three-striped roof turtle (CR), Indian soft shell turtle (VU), Indian roofed turtle (LC).

Noradehi Wildlife Sanctuary

It is the largest Wildlife Sanctuary of Madhya Pradesh.
Three-fourths of the sanctuary falls in the Yamuna Basin and one-fourth falls in the Narmada basin. It is spread over the southern area of the Vindhya Range in which Bandhavgarh National Park and Panna National Park are also located.

Orcha Wildlife Sanctuary

It is situated within an island formed by the Betwa River (tributary of the Yamuna).

Pachmarhi Wildlife Sanctuary

Pachmarhi Biosphere Reserve is situated in the Satpura Range.
It includes three wildlife conservation units: Bori Wildlife Sanctuary, Pachmarhi Wildlife Sanctuary & Satpura National Park

Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary

It is located in Sheopur and Morena districts.
Recently, the Cheetahs from Namibia were released here as part of cheetah reintroduction in India.
It is also a possible site for Asiatic Lion reintroduction in India.

Panna (Gangau) Wildlife Sanctuary

Panna Tiger Reserve = Panna National Park + Gangau Wildlife Sanctuary + Ken Gharial Wildlife Sanctuary.

Panpatha Wildlife Sanctuary

Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve = Bandhavgarh National Park + Panpatha Wildlife Sanctuary

Phen Wildlife Sanctuary

Phen is a buffer zone of Kanha National Park.
It lies in south-eastern region of Kanha Tiger Reserve, close to Madhya Pradesh-Chhattisgarh border.

Ratapani Wildlife Sanctuary

It is located in the Raisen district in the Vindhya Range.
It is a proposed Tiger Reserve with in-principle approval by NTCA. MP government has not yet notified it as a Tiger Reserve.

Sailana or Kharmour Wildlife Sanctuary (BS)

It is home to the ‘Kharmour‘ bird, a very rare species.
Sardarpur Wildlife Sanctuary and Kharmor Wildlife Sanctuary were established on the recommendations of Salim Ali for the protection of the Lesser florican (CR).

Sardarpur Wildlife Sanctuary

It is located in the Dhar district.
Sardarpur Wildlife Sanctuary and Kharmor Wildlife Sanctuary were established on the recommendations of Salim Ali for the protection of the Lesser Florican (CR).

Singhori Wildlife Sanctuary

It contiguous with Ratapani Wildlife Sanctuary in the Vindhyas.
The Narmada River Basin separates the Ratapani Wildlife Sanctuary and the Singhori Wildlife Sanctuary from the Satpura Tiger Reserve.

Son Gharial Wildlife Sanctuary

It was declared a Wildlife Sanctuary to protect the natural habitat of Gharial and marsh crocodile.

Others

Ralamandal Wildlife Sanctuary: Located on the southern periphery of Indore city.
Veerangna Durgavati Wildlife Sanctuary: Located in the Vindhyas of Damoh district.