Bori Wildlife Sanctuary

Bori wildlife sanctuary in Satpura tiger reserve is counted among oldest protected areas of India. It is existing since British India period and has a great history of animals in which some are extinct like Indian Cheetah. It covers an approx. area of 646 sq.km. area in Hoshangabad district of Madhya Pradesh. The wildlife sanctuary area lies on the foothills of Satpura range. This sanctuary area is bounded by Satpura hills in north and Tawa River in east which is also the life line of this widlife sanctuary.

This overall landscape has good density of wild animals. Here herbivores animal density is high with many meadows and swampy areas thus selected for famous project of Barasingha relocation in which Madhya Pradesh Forest department is trying to make new homes for hard-ground Barasingha, apart from Kanha national park. For jungle safari purpose, as if now it is closed for visitors. It is easily accessible from Bheemkund (Churna) gate of Satpura national park.

Bori Wildlife Sanctuary is one of India’s oldest wildlife sanctuaries. Situated in Madhya Pradesh, it is part of the Satpura Tiger Reserve which is spread over 2,200 square kilometres of mixed deciduous forest and is the largest tiger reserve in Madhya Pradesh. The sanctuary is the lowest-lying region of the tiger reserve and is dotted with meadows and mixed deciduous woodland, making it an ideal habitat for large mammals like sambar, gaur, nilgai, chital and their predators like tiger, leopard and wild dog. Till a decade ago there were several villages dotted in this sanctuary, but with the efforts of the forest department, a successful voluntary relocation program was conducted where close to 40 villages were moved out.

Now meadows have emerged in the erstwhile village sites affording large spaces for the repopulation of wildlife. Most notable of these old village sites are Bori and Churna which, after village relocation have transformed into prime wildlife habitats. Churna is in the tourism zone and the best possibility of seeing wildlife including tigers is here. Bori is out of the tourism zone, but this is where the forest department has conducted the reintroduction program of the endangered hard-ground barasingha. As the barasinghas get released from their enclosures, there is a possibility of their dispersal into the tourism zone.