Ratapani was declared as a wildlife sanctuary 1976.[4] In accordance with the directives issued by Chief Minister Mohan Yadav in December 2024, the Ratapani forest has been designated as the eighth tiger reserve in the state.[2]
Geography
The road through Ratapani Tiger Reserve
Ratapani Tiger Reserve is located in Raisen district of Madhya Pradesh. It encompasses a total area of 1,271.465km2 (490.915sqmi), which includes a core area of 763.812km2 (294.909sqmi) and a buffer zone of 507.653km2 (196.006sqmi).[2] The landscape is undulating, with hills, plateaus, valleys, plains and some seasonal streams. Water is retained in some pools along these streams in the summer. Barna Reservoir and Ratapani Dam are among the major waterbodies. The Bhimbetka rock shelters were inhabited by people hundreds of thousand years ago, and some of the rock paintings of the Stone Age are more than 30,000 years old. It has been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.[5]
Flora
A view of the sanctuary
The forest of Ratapani is dry deciduous and moist deciduous type, with teak (Tectona grandis) as the main tree species. About 55% of the area is covered by teak. The remaining mixed forests consist of various dry deciduous species. Bamboo (Dendrocalamus strictus) overlaps the two aforementioned forest types and covers about one quarter of the forest area.[5]
Ratapani Wildlife Sanctuary harbours more than 150 bird species including the common babbler, coppersmith barbet, black drongo, blue jay, rock dove, bulbul, bee-eater, cuckoo, kingfishers, kite, lark, Bengal vulture, sunbirds, white wagtail, crow pheasant, jungle crow, egrets, myna, jungle fowl, parakeets, partridges, hoopoe, quails, woodpeckers, dove, flycatcher and flower pecker.[5]
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