Panna National Park is located in Panna and Chhatarpur Districts in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It covers an area of 542.67 km² (209.53 square miles). The park was established in 1994 as India’s 22nd Tiger Reserve and the fifth in Madhya Pradesh. In 2007, it received the Award of Excellence from India’s Ministry of Tourism for being the best-maintained national park. In 2009, the reserve faced a difficult time when nearly all its tigers were lost to poaching. A recovery program that followed helped restore the tiger population, which grew to as many as 80 tigers within the park.
Geography
The forests of Panna National Park, along with Ken Gharial Sanctuary and nearby areas, are part of the drainage basin of the Ken River. This river is 406 kilometers (252 miles) long and flows northeast for about 72 kilometers (45 miles) through the national park.
Panna National Park and the surrounding North and South Panna forest areas are the only large remaining wildlife habitat in northern Madhya Pradesh. These areas are located at a place where the continuous stretch of tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests ends. Beyond this point, the moist deciduous forests of the Upper Gangetic Plains begin. This region marks the northernmost edge of natural teak forests and the easternmost edge of natural Kardhai (Anogeissus pendula) forests.
Fauna
The park has many animals, such as the Bengal tiger, Indian leopard, chital, chinkara, nilgai, Sambar deer, sloth bear, rusty-spotted cat, and Asian palm civet. The park also has more than 200 types of birds, including the bar-headed goose, crested honey buzzard, red-headed vulture, plum-headed parakeet, changeable hawk-eagle, and Indian vulture.
Tiger Reserve
Panna National Park was chosen as a tiger reserve in India in 1994/95 and protected by Project Tiger. In March 2009, two female tigers were moved to Panna from Bandhavgarh National Park and Kanha National Park. However, the last male tiger in the area had already disappeared. A committee was created to investigate the disappearance of the tigers.
In June 2009, it was officially reported that the reserve, which had more than 40 tigers six years earlier, no longer had any tigers left. Only two female tigers remained, which had been moved to the reserve earlier. By February 2012, three years later, the tiger population in the reserve was considered completely gone. The government of Madhya Pradesh did not assign responsibility for this situation, and it did not send the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation, despite requests from the Ministry of Environment and Forests and the Prime Minister's Office.
The Ministry of Environment and Forests approved a plan to move two tigers and two female tigers to the reserve. One female from Bandhavgarh National Park (T1) and one from Kanha National Park (T2) were relocated to Panna Tiger Reserve. A male tiger (T3) was brought from Pench Tiger Reserve but left the park in November 2009. The tiger traveled toward its original home in Pench National Park, showing a natural instinct to return. It moved through areas with human activity without causing problems. Forest department staff followed the tiger for over a month and eventually returned it to Panna Tiger Reserve. The tiger settled, claimed territory, and began mating.
The female tiger, T1, from Bandhavgarh National Park gave birth to four cubs in April 2010, and two of them survived until now. The second female tiger, T2, from Kanha National Park gave birth to four cubs later, and all four survived until now. A third female tiger, T4, who was an orphaned cub, was reintroduced to Panna in March 2011. She learned to hunt with the help of the male tiger and mated with him. T4 was found dead on September 19, 2014, due to an infection caused by her radio collar. Her sister, T5, was released in Panna in November 2011.
Panna Biosphere Reserve
Panna Biosphere Reserve was named by UNESCO in 2020. It covers an area of 2,998.98 square kilometers (1,157.91 square miles). This area includes Panna National Park, three sections of Gangau Wildlife Sanctuary (I, III, and IV), and protected forests in the North Panna Forest Division. These lands include more than 300 villages, forests, woodlands, wetlands, and farms. The reserve has a core area of 792.53 square kilometers (306.00 square miles), which is surrounded by a buffer zone of 987.2 square kilometers (381.2 square miles) and a transition zone of 1,219.25 square kilometers (470.76 square miles).
Effect of Ken Betwa River Linking Project
The governments of India, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh have planned to connect the Ken River with the Betwa River. This project includes building a 283-meter-long Daudhan Dam. The goal is to move extra water from the Ken River basin to the Betwa River basin, providing water to the drought-prone area of Bundelkhand.
The construction will flood 400 hectares of land within the 4300-hectare Panna Tiger Reserve. Environmentalists are worried this may harm the tiger population in the region.