Bandhavgarh National Park

Bandhavgarh National Park, in the Umaria district of Madhya Pradesh in the Vindhya hills, has one of the highest densities of tigers of any reserve in India — and indeed in the world — which has made it, for many wildlife travellers, the single best place in the country to see a wild Bengal tiger. The park's landscape of sal forest, grassy meadows, and steep sandstone ridges is crowned by the ancient Bandhavgarh Fort, perched dramatically on a hilltop 811 m above sea level at the heart of the reserve, its origins lost in legend (the name links it to Lord Rama, who is said to have given the fort to his brother Lakshmana — "Bandhav-garh," the Brother's Fort) and its ramparts now home to vultures, langurs, and the great reclining Vishnu statue of Shesh Shaiya beside a spring. Bandhavgarh was the private hunting reserve of the Maharajas of Rewa, and it holds a special place in natural history as the region where the white tiger was historically found — all the white tigers in the world's zoos trace their lineage to Mohan, a white cub captured in the Rewa forests in 1951. Today the park is a Project Tiger reserve, and a jeep safari through the core Tala zone — the oldest and richest sector, dense with tigers and overlooked by the fort — is the headline experience, alongside the Magadhi and Khitauli zones; permits are issued through the MP Forest portal. The reserve also shelters leopard, sloth bear, dhole, gaur, chital, and over 250 bird species. For vegetarian travellers, the jungle lodges around the gates serve hearty vegetarian buffets — North Indian and Bundeli veg, dal, paneer, fresh rotis, and thalis — and the approach-road dhabas serve aloo-paratha, poha, and chai. The park is open roughly October to June and closed in the monsoon; March-June gives the best sightings.