National Parks in Madhya Pradesh :

The state of Madhya Pradesh is located in central India. The geographical terrain of this state is characterized by a plateau streaked with the hill ranges of the Vindhyas and the Satpuras, rivers, lakes and dense forests. The natural beauty of Madhya Pradesh, along with world heritage sites, several cities, hill stations, etc draw tourists to this state. National Parks of Madhya Pradesh are no exception in this regard. Some of these national parks are described below :

Pench National Park  :

Pench National Park is in Seoni and Chhindwara districts of Madhya Pradesh in India and includes Pench Tiger reserve. It derives its name from the Pench River that flows through the park from north to south dividing the park into almost equal western and eastern halves, the well-forested areas of Seoni and Chhindwara districts respectively. It was declared a sanctuary in 1965 but raised to the status of national park in 1975. In 1992, it was established as a tiger reserve. The national park consists of dry deciduous forests and much fauna and flora including tigers, various types of deer and birds. In 2011, the park won the "Best Management Award". This park is accessible from Pauni on National Highway 7 and has two famous entry gates, Turiya and Karmajhiri.

Kanha Tiger Reserve :

Kanha Tiger Reserve, also called Kanha National Park, is one of the tiger reserves of India and the largest national park of Madhya Pradesh, state in the heart of India. The present-day Kanha area is divided into two sanctuaries, Hallon and Banjar, of 250 and 300 km2 respectively. Kanha National Park was created on 1 June 1955 and in 1973 was made the Kanha Tiger Reserve. Today it stretches over an area of 940 km2 in the two districts Mandla and Balaghat.

Together with a surrounding buffer zone of 1,067 km2 and the neighbouring 110 km2 Phen Sanctuary it forms the Kanha Tiger Reserve.This makes it the largest National Park in Central India. Kanha Tiger Reserve was ranked among the top 10 Famous Places for Tourists.The park has a significant population of the Royal Bengal tiger, Indian leopards, the sloth bear, barasingha and Indian wild dog. The forest depicted in the famous novel by Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book is based on jungles including this reserve. It is also the first tiger reserve in India to officially introduce a mascot, "Bhoorsingh the Barasingha". Kanha is situated in both the districts, It is around 30 km far from Mandla and 80 km far from Balaghat.

Sanjay National Park :

Sanjay National Park is located in Sidhi district and Singrauli district. It was established in 1981 and occupies an area of about 466.657 square kilometers. This park is occupied by sal forests, tiger, leopard, spotted deer, sambar deer, wild boar, monitor lizard, golden hooded oriole, racket-tailed drongos, etc. It is located in the Narmada Valley dry deciduous forests ecoregion. The national park is mostly composed of tropical forests of Sakhua (Shorea robusta) trees

Satpura National Park :

Satpura National Park is housed in Hoshangabad. It was established in 1981 and occupies an area of about 524 square kilometers.The terrain of the national park is extremely rugged and consists of sandstone peaks, narrow gorges, ravines and dense forests. The altitude ranges from 300 to 1,352 metres (984 to 4,436 ft). It has Dhoopgarh peak as high as 1,350 metres (4,430 ft) and the almost level plains of Churna. The nearest town to the national park is Pachmarhi and the nearest rail-head is Piparia 55 kilometres (34 mi) away. The state capital Bhopal is 210 kilometres (130 mi) away. Satpura National Park is rich in biodiversity. The animals here include leopard, sambar, chital, Indian muntjac, nilgai, four-horned antelope, Chinkara, wild boar, bear, black buck, fox, porcupine, flying squirrel, mouse deer, and Indian giant squirrel. There are a variety of birds. Hornbills and peafowl are common birds found here. The flora consists of mainly sal, teak, tendu, Phyllanthus emblica, mahua, bel, bamboo, and grasses and medicinal plants.

Its name is derived from the Satpura Range. Satpura is a Sanskrit word, that means seven mountains (sapta – seven and pura – mountain). It was first explored by Captain James Forsyth of Bengal Lancers in 1862 while he was searching for Indian Freedom Fighter Tantya Tope. It is one of the first decleared Reserved Forest Area of India due to its ecological and commercial importance. It was2. Further It was notified as Tiger Reserve in the year 2000 thus also called Satpura Tiger Reserve (STR).

Satpura National Park, with inclusion of Pachmarhi & Bori Sanctuaries, Satpura Tiger Reserve it covers 1427 km2 of Hoshangabad and Chhindwara Districts of Madhya Pradesh. In previous years, there have been sightings of tigers, dholes, Indian gaur and barasingha, although these are rare.

Bandhavgarh National Park :

Bandhavgarh National Park is located in Umaria district. It was declared a national park in 1968 and is spread over an area of about 1,536 square kilometers. Bandhavgarh National Park supports high density of tiger population. Other occupants of the park are sambar, barking deer, nilgai, butterflies, reptiles, sarus crane, etc.

Madhav National Park :

Madhav National Park is situated in Shivpuri District of Gwalior division in northwest Madhya Pradesh, India. It was named after Madho Rao Scindia, the Maharaja of Gwalior belonging to the Scindia dynasty of the Marathas. It is the ancestral home of the line of Ali Khan, a region based in Punjab, and most famous for the laws of commonly credited with defining modern day jurisprudence. Shivpuri town is located at 25°40' North, 77°44' East on Agra to Bombay National Highway-3. Shivpuri is steeped in the royal legacy of its past, when it was the summer capital of the Scindia rulers of Gwalior. Earlier its dense forests were the hunting grounds of the Mughal emperors and Maratha royals. Emperor Akbar captured herds of elephants for his stables while returning from Mandu in year 1564. It has many leopards, also. Two major lakes are also located in this national park .Located in the ecoregion of Kathiawar-Gir dry deciduous forests, this national park has a varied terrain of forested hills and flat grasslands around the lake and is thus rich in biodiversity.

The predominant animal species that inhabits the park is the deer, of which the most easily sighted are the graceful little chinkara or Indian gazelle, and the chital. The national park is open year-round. With a varied terrain of wooded hills – the forest being dry, mixed and deciduous- and flat grasslands around the lake, it offers abundant opportunities of sighting a variety of wildlife. The principal tree species found in the park are khair (Acacia catechu), salai (Boswellia serrata), kerdhai("Anogeissus pendula"), dhawda("Anogeissus latifolia"), tendu (Diospyros melanoxylon) and palash (Butea monosperma).

Van Vihar National Park :

Van Vihar National Park is located in Bhopal. It was declared a national park on 18th of February 1983 and occupies an area of about 4.48 square kilometers. This park serves as a home to cheetal, sambhar, black buck, blue bull, nilgai, chausingha, wild boar, porcupine, butterflies, insects, etc. Van Vihar National Park is a national park in central India. It is located in Bhopal, the capital city of Madhya Pradesh. Declared a national park in 1979, it covers an area of about 4.45 km2. Although it has the status of a national park, Van Vihar is developed and managed as a modern zoological park, following the guidelines of the Central Zoo Authority. The animals are kept in their near natural habitat. Most of the animals are either orphaned brought from various parts of the state or those, which are exchanged from other zoos. No animal is deliberately captured from the forest. Van Vihar is unique because it allows easy access to the visitors through a road passing through the park, security of animals assured from poachers by building trenches and walls, chain-link fence and by providing natural habitat to the animals.

Ghughua Fossil Park :

Ghughua Fossil Park is located near Shahpura. It was declared a national park in 1983. It houses plants, leafs, fruits, seeds, palm fossils, etc. This park contains plant fossils belonging to 31 genera of about 18 families. 

The site was founded during the 1970s by Dr. Dharmendra Prasad, a statistical officer of the Mandla district and honorary secretary of the district archaeology unit. It was declared a National Park in 1983. Numerous plant, leaf, fruit, seed, and shell fossils can be found in this park, some of which dates as far back as 65 million years, the most prominent of which are the palm fossils.