Bandhavgarh National Park, Bilaspur

History

Bandhavgarh National Park is a park with a rich historical past. Prior to becoming a national park, the forests around Bandhavgarh had long been maintained as a Shikargah, or game preserve, of the Maharajas and their guests. In 1947, Rewa state was merged with Madhya Pradesh; Bandhavgarh came under the regulations of Madhya Pradesh. The Maharaja of Rewa still retained the hunting rights. No special conservation measures were taken until 1968, when the areas were constituted as a national park. Since then, numerous steps have been taken to retain Bandhavgarh National Park as an unspoilt natural habitat. Project Tiger was constituted in 1972, and then the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972 came into force. It was realized that protection of just the 105 km2 of prime Bandhavgarh habitat was enough, so in 1982, three more ranges were reduced, namely Khitauli, Magdhi, and Kallawah were reduced to Tala range (the original Bandhavgarh National Park) to extend the area of Bandhavgarh to 448 km2. As Project tiger decreased its activities and area of influence, Bandhavgarh was taken into its folds in 1993, and a core area of 694 km2 was established including the previously named ranges and the Panpatha Sanctuary along with a buffer area of 437 km2 which was declared as the Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve.