Meandering a kilometre behind Shergarh is the Banjaar River, the natural boundary between Kanha’s core zone, where safaris take place, and its contiguous buffer forest, where we can take you for a beautiful, guided walk.
The trail spans around 8 kilometres with various loops that allow for short or longer (3-4 hour) walks. Being on foot offers a slow-paced, close-up experience of the forest as we stop regularly along the narrow tracks to observe small wonders: the orb-weaver spider’s decorative stabilamentum woven into its web; a gathering of owl moths deep in a tree hollow; termites busily repairing their home after the destructive feast of a sloth bear; attractive rosette patterns created by leaf miners; the sloughed skin of a snake; a ‘dried leaf’ that suddenly opens its wings.
Boulders of mica-schist and quartzite, strewn along the riverbed and forest interiors, provide ideal rest stops to sit in silence and listen to the calls and songs of the forest denizens. Few visitors explore this route, and you are just as likely to follow a trail of big-cat pug impressions as human footprints.
