Bandhavgarh National Park

When hunting in 1915 the Maharaja of Rewa saw an animal that was so unusual that instead of shooting it he took it as his pet. Years later his son vowed to do the same and began the legend of the white tigers of Rewa.

Bandhavgarh National Park is one of India's most popular destinations because of the high number of tiger sightings. There are almost fifty Royal Bengal tigers (panthera tigris tigris) living in an area of 437 square kilometres giving Bandhavgarh one of the highest tiger densities in the world. It is not just the fact that there are a lot of tigers in the park that makes it so special. Visitors with knowledge of the parks history know that Bandhavgarh National Park was home to the famous white tigers.

Bandhavgarh National Park and the Tigers of Rewa

The first recorded instance of a white tiger being seen by a westerner was in 1820 at the Essex Change menagerie but it wasn’t until 1951 that the Maharaja Shri Martand Singh of Rewa caught a Bengal tiger called Mahon, in what is now Bandhavgarh National Park, that the age of the white tiger began in earnest. Almost all of the white tigers in captivity today are Mohan's descendants.

The white tiger is not a separate species of tiger or an albino, aside from the colouring and a tendency to be large for their subspecies the white tiger is no different from any other Royal Bengal tiger. Unfortunately reports of white tiger sightings are rare and have grown increasingly scarce over the past 100 years. Bandhavgarh is particularly famous for its white tigers because there have been at least two specimen and several unconfirmed sightings.

Wildlife in Bandhavgarh National Park

Aside from its most famous residents Bandhavgarh National Park is home to a host of intriguing wildlife. Species which can call the park's long grasses and tropical forest canopy home include sloth bears and black panthers.

The sloth bear, melursus ursinus, is a peculiar animal. With a long, doglike muzzle, shaggy coat and none-retractable curved claws the sloth bear is a comical looking creature but in parts of India and Nepal the sloth bear is feared more than the tiger. This stems in the bear's unpredictable temperament and tendency to claw at the face when attacked.

Even the largest leopard is less than half the size of the Bengal tiger but they are an intriguing animal nonetheless. Agile and graceful the leopard is a typical cat. During the day they spend most of their time asleep in trees or dozing in the long grass but at night they hunt their prey with devastating efficiency. Leopards have been known to jump up to three metres vertically and are capable of reaching speeds in excess of 60km/h.The cats Bandhavgarh National Park seem to have a tendency to produce oddly coloured animals. Melanistic leopards are not as rare as white tigers but they are equally as famous under their alias of black panthers.