Satpura

Satpura National Park was established in 1981 in the state of Madhya Pradesh, in central India, and protects some 524 km² in the heart of the Satpura range, whose highest summit is Dhoopgarh, at 1,352 metres.

It is the core zone of the Pachmarhi Biosphere Reserve, created by the Indian government in 1999 and recognised by UNESCO in 2009, which also takes in the Bori and Pachmarhi sanctuaries as buffer zone, with some 4,400 km² more. The whole is a critical transition zone between the forest species of western and eastern India, and it also holds faunal elements of Himalayan origin and from the Western Ghats, an uncommon combination.

The forests are dominated by teak and include the westernmost stands of sal, the characteristic tree of the forests of eastern India. The relief is rugged, with plateaux, gorges and waterfalls, and the park preserves rock shelters with prehistoric paintings. Its fauna includes Bengal tiger, leopard, gaur, sloth bear, barking deer and the Indian giant flying squirrel, and the territory is home to the Gond community. Satpura is one of the few tiger parks in India where walking and canoe trips are allowed alongside the vehicle safari.