Central India holidays

What are the best options for a Central India holiday?

Kanha National Park is spread over 1,300 square miles of thick forest and savannah plains in the Mandla district of Madhya Pradesh and is the area that inspired the writings of Rudyard Kipling, in particular The Jungle Book.

Elsewhere there is the completely unexploited Satpura National Park in Madhya Pradesh. Spread across the highest stretch of the rugged Satpura mountains, the National Park is classic tiger country, supporting an astonishing array of prey species including gaur, sambar, chital, wild boar, chausingha, nilgai antelope and their predators - tiger, leopard, wild dog, wolf and sloth bear - in such numbers that every foray into the jungle all but guarantees sightings of some impressive beastie or other.

Further south, smaller Bandhavgarh is one of our favourite wildlife spotting destinations thanks to the high density of tigers found here. The park also has great accessibility for 4x4's and those in the know (i.e. us) can even arrange full day jeep safaris which offer unprecedented access into areas of the park tourists usually can't venture. As well as tigers Bandhavgarh is also a great place to spot sloth bears, dholes (Indian wild dogs) and leopards.

Away from the Indian wildlife, the centre of India also boasts some of the country's cultural highlights. In Uttar Pradesh, Varanasi - the city of Shiva - has been a centre of learning for thousands of years, and is one of India's holiest cities, where colourful (and seriously photogenic) religious rituals take place on the ghats by the Ganges.

In Madhya Pradesh, Khajuraho has some of India's best known temples, a thousand years old and covered with erotic carvings.

At Bhimbetka see rock paintings dating back more than 10,000 years, while Ahoka has an ancient stupa, and Gwalior a forbidding fort.