By Carroll Moulton

A jewel in the crown of India's national park system, Kanha Tiger Reserve is the best-monitored, best-protected park in the subcontinent; it's probably also the best place left in the world to see the critically-endangered tiger in the wild. Located in the Central Indian Highlands, it was the setting for Rudyard Kipling's jungle books and, more recently, the venue for the first modern research on tiger behavior, carried out by George Schaller in the mid-1960s

Although Ranthambhore National Park has captured the headlines for its stunning scenery and high-profile VIP visits, Kanha's larger area and varied landscape afford travelers a more relaxed, natural setting. Kanha now boasts the most sophisticated infrastructure of any Indian Park, with a wide variety of accommodations. Home to approximately 100 tigers, Kanha also offers visitors a chance to see the rare, hard-ground barasingha — one of the most majestic of all large deer — as well as leopard, gaur, dhole (Indian wild dog), langur monkeys, chital, barking deer, sloth bear, and over 200 species of birds.

Carroll Moulton, and colleague Ernie Hulsey, have a ten-year association with the reserve, logging hundreds of encounters with tigers and other spectacular animals of Kanha.