Editor’s note: Night safaris in the buffer zone of Kanha National Park have been discontinued as of December 2025. However, guests may still encounter nocturnal wildlife in and around the park while returning to Outpost 12 after their afternoon safari.

A Night to Remember: My Unexpected Encounter with the Rusty-Spotted Cat

Night safaris always hold a certain kind of magic, but this one in the Khatiya Buffer Zone of Kanha turned out to be unforgettable. The weather was absolutely perfect; the sky was crystal clear, and thousands of stars glittered above us like scattered diamonds. Under that enormous, glowing sky, we ventured deeper into the forest, searching for some of its shyest nocturnal residents. Our goal was to spot creatures like the pangolin, the porcupine, and the flying squirrel.

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At Outpost 12 we love sharing the rhythms of the forests that surround us. Our naturalists spend long hours in the field, observing the wildlife that makes Central India one of the most biodiverse regions of the country. This report comes from Ravi Naidu on his first full-day safari in Kanha as part of "The Winter Light Atelier" photography workshop mentored by Canon Maestro Phillips Ross. What he witnessed is the kind of experience that reminds us why these landscapes matter and why we return to them.

A Day of Surprises in Kanha

There are days in the forest when everything feels tuned to the right frequency. My first full day in Kanha this week was one of those rare ones. The light was soft, the air smelled of sal and bamboo, and every bend in the trail seemed to hold a story waiting to be told.

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Inside Kanha’s Newest Sustainable Sanctuary

In the heart of Madhya Pradesh, where the Sal forests whisper stories of Kipling and the tiger remains king, the definition of luxury is shifting. For decades, "five-star" meant opulence that stood apart from the wild; closed rooms, roaring generators and imported comforts. But at Outpost 12, the new sustainable bio-lodge initiative in Kanha, luxury has been reimagined. Here, the ultimate indulgence isn't gold plating; it is silence, darkness and structures that bow deeply to the land it occupies.

Built on a non-negotiable "forest-first" principle, Outpost 12 is more than a hotel; it is an honest attempt to create a retreat with the lowest environmental impact.

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The Interpreters of Silence

At Outpost 12, the day begins long before the first rays of the sun. While the guests are tucked under duvets, the naturalist team is already awake. Their job is often romanticised as simply "driving through the jungle", but the reality is a grueling, exhilarating 18-hour cycle of tracking, analysing and interpreting the complex language of the wild.

Here is what it takes to be the bridge between the human world and the secrets of Kanha.

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Winter settles into Kanha slowly, almost as if the forest is preparing for a performance. The mist begins to rise from the waterholes at first light, drifting gently across the sal forest. As the morning grows colder, a thick layer of frost forms on the grass, turning the entire meadow into a sparkling white carpet. On a good chilly winter morning, you can even see the whole grassland covered in frost. The landscape of Kanha changes.

Kanha National Park, being one of the most famous parks in India in terms of tiger sightings and sal forest, has one more gem of a species, the Barasingha or Hard Ground Swamp Deer (Rucervus duvaucelii branderi). A species which went on to the brink of extinction a few decades back now thrives in the meadows of Kanha National Park. In the 1960s the Barasingha population went down to just 66 individuals here and was the only population left in the world. All thanks to the MP Forest Department’s extensive efforts to save this species. Now there are over 1000+ individuals in Kanha, and some of them have been relocated to Van Vihar Bhopal, Satpura Tiger Reserve and Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve.

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