A hidden jewel in the heart of India...Kuno National Park

The land of Central India has long been home to a popular list of jungles...Names such as Kanha, Pench, Panna, Bandhavgarh, are almost household names today...There is however, one park that is slowly emerging from the shadows and becoming a wildlife hotspot..Since the beginning of the Cheetah-reintroduction-program, in September 2022, the name Kuno has been doing the rounds.

So, in the December of 2025 we decided to pay a visit to this jungle to check out for ourselves, what it had to offer and club it with a day in the historical city of Gwalior.

We travelled from Delhi to Gwalior by air. Post a quick check-in at Tansen Residency we headed for the renowned light and sound show of the Gwalior fort. It was a great experience and we returned to our hotel happy albeit our somewhat frozen noses, thanks to the pleasant winter chill that evening.

The Gwalior fort looked surreal under the lights, as Amitabh Bachchan's narration boomed across the fortress - What an immersive experience !

Next morning we went exploring the Gwalior fort, Saas-Bahu temple and Teli-ka-mandir. The temples don’t have any deities today but they were created back in the 11^th century (a neat 10 centuries back). It is hard to imagine how patrons, engineers and labours would have worked to create these structures. Thanks to the Archaeological Society of India, the structures are still standing tall, although much of the artwork has probably been lost to time.

In front of the Teli-ka-Mandir...

Post lunch, we started our journey to Kuno National Forest. It takes about 3 hours on road to reach there. As we left the city and headed closer to the jungle, the landscape changed to huge plots of farmlands.

The sight of clear blue sky, gentle treeline on the horizon and lush yellow fields of mustard was nothing short of a painting from a picture book.

Eventually we crossed couple of giant lakes beyond which the vegetation changed and became rather sparse. Shortly thereafter we reached Pohri where we had planned our homestay. Due to some unplanned circumstances however, we eventually shifted to the Kuno-Jungle-Camp resort. It’s a comfortable 20 min drive from here to the Ticktoli gate. However, we decided to visit the Ahera Gate which was a little away from this resort.

Posing in front of the Ahera Gate of Kuno National Park

After crossing a length of tribal land, we reached the Ahera gate at 7 am with our legs already frozen and our guts feeling the grumble of excitement of entering a new jungle. Unsurprisingly, it took very little time to fall in love with the place. Nestled in the Vindhanchal ranges, the hilly road in the jungle is marked by several naalas. The landscape keeps rolling between grassland patches and tree thickets. While staking out the jungle we suddenly spotted a striped hyena. Hyenas in India are somewhat of a recluse and not easily visible. However, this one was desperate for a sip water and so very hesitatingly, it came forward and allowed us a rare shot.

The Indian Striped Hyenah is a nocturnal animal, and rarely seen during the day time - hence this was an incredibly lucky sighting

A flock of Green Pigeon basks in the early morning sun - We almost mistook them for fruits hanging from a tree

We were blessed with beautiful weather during our trip, and the forest looked sparkling in the backdrop of blue skies and white clouds.

The interesting story of Heera - Kuno has healthy population of feral cattles. They often fall prey to leopards. This big bull is fondly called Heera and spends most of his time near the forest camps - The locals believe, that Heera is a lucky charm, and if you spot Heera during your safari, you are guaranteed to see a Leopard as well😆

A beautiful Cheetal Stag with curved antlers looks dapper in the early morning sun

Talking about the jungle landscape, we went through a zone that smelled of fresh leaves and sported the amazing sight below...

The stunning landscape of Kuno

Having opened with a bumper sighting of a hyena and sneak-peek of a leopard in the thickets, we had to hold our patience until our 4^th safari. The further end of the tourism area is bracketed by the Kuno river.

The Kuno River which serves as the lifeline of the forest and bisects the forest into two zones, Ahera and Ticktoli

A river valley of a lush jungle is a tonic for city-dwellers. While enjoying the landscape our guide suddenly whispered ‘Leopard leopard!!!’… A then we saw it. A handsome male hoping to have some water, scampered away when he saw us looking at him. He gave us few excellent shots while he was hiding and waiting for us to move away.

Finally ! - What a handsome boy he is - While he did not come out in the open, he kept us under his watch all the time

Apart from that we spotted a third leopard who was busy marking her territory.

Our third leopard of the trip - A young female out marking her territory

These sightings marked the end of our rather adventurous trip. Thanks to these leopards and the jungle, our hearts felt full.

A quick picture in front of our stay, the Kuno Jungle Camp

We do hope there is better availability of decent stays near the Ahera gate as well as driving down from the other end on a winter morning can get exhausting. However, the Kuno jungle itself is a delight. It is not yet as-heavy with tourists, and as for us...we shall surely be back to this beautiful jungle soon, and this time we might just spot a Cheetah..Who knows 😊