Melghat tiger reserve is located in the Amaravati district of Maharashtra. Melghat Tiger Reserve is located on the southern offshoot of the Satpura Hill Range in Central India, called Gavilgarh Hill. It is 225 km west of Nagpur. It was established as a wildlife sanctuary in 1967, and was declared a tiger reserve in 1974. It was among the first nine tiger reserves notified in 1973-74 under Project Tiger, a wildlife conservation project initiated in India in 1972 to protect Bengal tigers. It was the first tiger reserve of Maharashtra. It is still one of the biggest tiger reserves in the country in terms of area. The name 'Melghat' means the confluence of various 'ghats' or valleys as is typical from the landscape of this tiger Reserve.
Apart from Tigers the other prominent animals are Sloth Bear, Indian Gaur, Sambar deer, Leopard, Nilgais, etc. The endangered and 'back from extinction' Forest Owlet is also found in various areas of Melghat.
Tourism in Melghat is distributed along 4 centers/villages. Semadoh, Chikhaldara, Harisal & Shahnur. There are some additional stay facilities at Kolkas which is 14km ahead of Semadoh.
The nearest railway station to reach Chikhaldara, Semadoh, Kolkas, Harisal in Amravati. Shahnur is closest to Akola. The nearest airport is at Nagpur some 250 kms away.
Tourists can explore Melghat in all seasons but the monsoons starting mid July till end of September offers the best views. The winters are cold with night temperature dropping below 5 degrees. The summers are good for animal sightings.
Accommodation facilities in Melghat are mostly run by forest department except the hotels and resorts at Chikhaldara which are operated by private. Facilities are comfortable and basic in nature suiting the forest atmosphere where it is located.
The area shown below in the table of Melghat, Wan and Ambabrwa sanctuaries includes non forest area also but in the notification issued for the respective sanctuaries, the non forest area is excluded. The Melghat, nestling in the Satpuda hill ranges of Forsyth’s and Dunbar’s Central India’s vast tracts of inviolate natural forests, consisting of unique and representative ecosystems with rich biodiversity and varied habitats offered by deep valleys (locally known as khoras) and high hills (locally known as Ballas), daunted with rivers and nallahs having water all the year round in the ‘doh’, was the natural choice for the community of foresters in Maharashtra, when it came to choose an area for preserving it for posterity and for ensuring that the ‘Tiger’ the most magnificent and flagship of the Indian wild species.
Please follow the rules and regulation as per the wildlife protection act 1972 to avoid impose punishment for violating the same. The schedules give absolute protection to certain species and these cannot be infringed on any account.Offences related to trade and commerce in trophies, animals articles etc. Derived from certain animals attracts a term of imprisonment up to three years and/or a fine up to Rs. 25,000/-.
Melghat Tiger Reserve offers various activities like day safari, Night Safari, Full day Safari, Night Machaan Stay, Kayaking, Elephant ride, Trekking, Adventure activities like zorbi ball, Burma bridge, River crossing, Parallel bridge and many more. These various activities are available at tourist destination like Aamzari, Semadoh, Kolkas, Harisal, Shahanur. The tribal dance show can be arranged on request. Home stay facility is also provided to experience the culture & day to day life style of tribal.
Melghat tiger reserve has many places to explore. The popular destination for the tourism point of view are Chikhaldara, Aamzari, Semadoh, Kolkas, Harisal & Shahanur. Please find the details in 'How to reach" to these various destination in Melghat Tiger Reserve
Melghat keeps organizing various event for all. The list of popular events -Be a Naturalist, Mel-Con, Ephil Dodo, Bird Race, Monsoon Trek, Logo banao Logo, Photography competitions etc. To get updates about these events please follow our page Melghat Tiger Reserve on facebook.
Honey badgers have been listed in the Guinness Book of World Record as "the most fearless animal on the planet"!! Their thick skin helps protect them from the deadliest of all snakebites. they are very aggeressive manmmals and known to fight off lions and leopards on a few occasions.Its diet consists of beetles,scorpions,tortoises,lizards,snakes,rodents as well as monogoose.They also like to eat roots, berries and bulbs.
Hoplobatrachus tigerinus. It is also known as Indus Valley Bull frog.It is a large species of frog found in India. They inhabit holes and bushes near permanent water sources.the frog does not stay in water for a long time;it spends most of its time and feeding in surrounding vegetation.
It is a medium to sized macaque of southern india Lion-tailed macaques are found in dense forests along the western Ghats. The call of this monkey is like a human and sounds like 'Coyeh' or a coo.
Snow leopards can't roar. Snow leopards are found at atitudes between 3000 and 5,200 meters (9,800 and 17,000 feet) in the high, rugged mountains of Central Asia including the himalayan mountains. Snow leopards can kill prey weighing as three times their own body weight. Cubs are born blind and don't gain their sight until they're nine days old. Snow Leopards are an endangered species.
(Tyto alba) Barn Owls can see an object at 2 meters with an illumination of 0.00000073 foot candlles. This is equivalent to a person seeing an object by the light of a match a mile way.They have also super sensitive heaieing.They usually hunt at night.
