At a glance In the Maikal hills of the Satpura Range in eastern MP About the city Kanha is so wild that seeing a tiger here is almost like a tame trailer. There is much more waiting to happen here for you like it did for us, only in Kanha. Like the tall grasses from where a swarm of antlers belonging to a company of barasingha (swamp deer) emerged, announcing affirmatively that theyre back in their highest recorded numbers right from the edge of extinction. And, in the famous meadows, a pack of dholes (wild dogs) careening and carousing after a feral hunt and feed of chital. A sighting so rare that even Kipling didn't write about it in his Jungle Book, the inspiration for which the great author found at Kanha. How to reach Road: NH2 to Agra; NH3 to Biaora; NH12 to Jabalpur via Bhopal; state roads to Kanha via Mandla (22 hrs) Rail: Nearest railhead: Jabalpur (175 km/ 5 1/2 hrs). Taxi costs Rs 2,500-3,000 Journey Time Road: 22 hrs Distances 980 km South East from Delhi Best Seasons The park is closed from July to October during the monsoons. Any other time, barring summers. Places in and around There are two ways of doing Kanha. The classic way is arrive in the jungle in jeeps, with your senses on high alert, accompanied by a sharp-eyed guide. You track tigers by following pugmarks, watching for dragged kill, listening for alarm calls... Or, you can register for what some sarcastically call the 'tiger show, but which to my mind are orchestrated encounters. In this case, the mahouts drive their herd of tracker elephants into the forest, using a sophisticated radio system to communicate the coordinates of the tiger. All this happens while visitors buy their tickets and sip coffee at the visitor centre. And then it's just the traditional coupon system by which you get your turn to ride on an elephant into the jungle to see a tiger 'that could be cavorting with her cubs, taking a soak in the waterholes or lying supine after a feed. We were atop an elephant, nine feet above a tiger whod just hunted and eaten a 30-lb chital, of which only a carcass, hooves and bones remained. We watched the tiger's chest heaving, his belly distended and his whiskers twitching. He was so desperate to rest and digest his food that he lazily lifted his head just twice, even as three elephants hovered above him. And straight from this encounter, we drove off in the direction of where the radio had communicated the location of dholes. Slim, red and bushy-tailed, they are the most feared pack of savages in the jungle. A pack of them had taken down three chital in barely an hour. They were moving through the grasses close to Shravantal, an eye-catching water body in the park. Entry fee Indians Rs 20, foreigners Rs 200 Cameras Still camera Rs 25, video camera Rs 200 Guide Rs 90 Elephant Indians Rs 60, foreigners Rs 300 Timings dawn to noon, 4.30 pm to sunset