Tourism in Bandhavgarh National Park in India

In the seventies, I made my first visit to Bandhavgarh National Park in Central India. It was a small park rarely visited by tourists, except for one or two photographers from abroad and a few visitors who had heard about the destination through friends.

Desolate and neglected, there was hardly any spark of tourism to be seen but nonetheless gauging the potential MPTDC had set up a property consisting of four rooms and a small bar with dining area. The place was aptly known as the White Tiger Lodge, as the famous white tiger Mohun was discovered nearby by the then Maharaja of Rewa.

A lonely rest house belonging to the forestry department with an office in Umaria, the district headquarters, was available for lodging at ridiculously cheaper prices. The food was cooked in the kitchen if you had a ration with you. The rest house was well maintained along with a nearby dormitory.

There was no wildlife resort in the picture and he had to rely on the FRH being available for lodging. The Maharani Kothi was the private property of the Maharani of Rewa and off limits to most.

Umaria to Manpur Highway, the entrance to Bandhavgarh at Tala Village was accessible by bus service connected with Katni and Umaria. These townships were well connected to Jabalpur, a major railway station and now an airport connected to New Delhi. A railway station in Umaria at a distance of thirty-two kilometers was connected to New Delhi.

Although connectivity was good, the trickle of tourists was small. The reason was that ecotourism in India had not taken off at that time and the global calculation was absent.

It was from the late 1980s that Indian wildlife films began to become popular thanks to the major film companies. The gradually increasing tourist flow peaked in the 1990s and tour operators/investors were quick to seize the opportunity and start leasing or building properties here with limited facilities.

To this day, Bandhavgarh Reserve is one of the most popular safari destinations in India. With a plethora of bird species, it is slowly becoming a hotspot for bird watchers from all over the world. The National Park is one of the most popular destinations for wildlife and tiger photography in India.

On my subsequent visits, I became aware of the growing popularity of the park and the commercialization of the destination. Bandhavgarh, the land of the tiger, was now in the public eye and had become part of the hotel industry in India.

This brought financial benefits to the local population and empowered the communities, which is still going on. The popularity of the tiger reserve has also enhanced conservation efforts. Tourism infrastructure has improved a lot with good roads, better connectivity and a large number of wildlife resorts.

From the list of resorts in Bandhavgarh on the Internet, you can choose your stay. The resorts offer various services at budget price or luxury rate. There are few star-rated hotels, but for budget travelers, most of the cheap resorts are located on the main road in Tala Village.

Jabalpur offers the best connectivity, but the park is also connected to Kanha National Park and Siddhi Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh.