Sloth Bear

Sloth bear

On our first evening in the jungle, we got really lucky. We were clicking photos of a Crested Hawk Eagle, when I happened to turn around to find a sloth bear foraging on the forest path, a few metres away.

The sighting of the sloth bear is a rare possibility. You might see ten tigers before you might come across a sloth bear.

A deceptively gentle animal indeed, the sloth bear can attack unprovoked. So you better keep your distance. As we watched quietly from the jeep, the sloth bear roamed around for atleast half an hour on the road ahead of us. Then it silently disappeared into the forest.

That evening we also sighted a bison, and the racket tailed drongo.

Kanha is extremely touristy. Too many jeeps roll through the jungle with only one purpose, that of sighting the tiger. I hated seeing the forests get so crowded, except for the fact that Kanha has proved to be a success in management, and the tiger population is growing and thriving. At the time of my visit to the park, a female tigress with her three cubs had taken up residence in the area immediately surrounding the park entrance. So let Kanha be touristy, if it is helping the tiger remain safe. Better tourists than poachers. But there has to be a limit to the number of visitors, and I think Kanha has already reached that limit.


Racket-tailed drongo



Bison