We were traveling from Ahmedabad to Mukki ( one of four core zones of Kanha). There are 2 ways to reach mukki zone. One is by road from Jabalpur and other is by road from Gondia. Nearest airports to this place are Raipur ( Chhattishgadh) and Jabalpur (MP). We have traveled by train from Ahmedabad to Gondia ( district in Maharashtra). On day 1 we reached Gondia by 12 noon. From Gondia to mukki one can take private taxi or go by bus or train. Private taxi owners charges 3000 to 3500 rs for single ride. Also there are no any tolls on road yet they charge the toll amount. We have traveled from Gondia to Balaghat by local train. It was nice experience. It took us one and half hour to travel 45 km. To reach Mukki from Balaghat ( 70 km) we took bus from Balaghat. Private buses operate in 20 minutes frequency. After reaching Baihar which is a Taluka place in MP, we took Auto to reach our destination. One can also go by bus to Mukki ( Baihar to Gadi). It took us 5:30 hours to cover 120 km by this mode of travel which can be comfortably completed in 3 hours by taxi. At the end of the day we were resting in our resort - The grand tiger.
It is mainly famous for royal bengal tigers and barasingha. Kanha national park along with some surrounding reserves like Pench and Satpuda are Tiger reserves in Madhya Pradesh. Kanha national park is mainly divided into 4 zones, mukki, kisli, kanha and sarhi. All these 4 are core zones surrounded by buffer zones.
We have planned our jungle safari ride in early morning slot. There are two slots available for a day and you can book permits online from
https://forest.mponline.gov.in/Search.aspx?park=2
We have booked 2 single seat permits. One can book full vehicle ( occupy 6 persons). For single seat permit they charge 400 rs per seat. Also at the time of safari ride you have to pay 3000 rs for open gepsy and 500 rs for guide. Our slot time was 6 AM to 11 AM.
Early in the morning jungle was cool and calm having some mist. Jungle is mainly consists of Sal trees and tropical grass lands. We have spotted deers and one barasingha in morning. Also it is good for bird watching. You can feel serene environment along with birds chirping. Based on calls ( sounds from birds and animals-deers and monkeys) our guide drove us to here and there to spot tigers. Luckily after breakfast we got a chance to spot a male tiger named DJ-5. It was resting near pond and there were 3 deers nearby him. But he didn't attack. we clicked some good pictures and with nice view of royal animal our jungle ride was over at 11:15.
Rest of the day we enjoyed at resort. In evening we went to canopy walk which is a bird watching area made nearby in jungle. It was nice and some fearfull experience to walk alone in jungle by riverside.
On Day 3 we had some time to visit Baigha hat , a place were local people sell hand made indigenous items in huts. Unfortunately it was close. So we took private taxi from Mukki to Gondia to catch our train back to Ahmedabad. ( Taxi cost us 3000 rs).