Navegaon National Park

Navegaon National Park lies in Gondia district, in its Arjuni Morgaon subdivision, in eastern Maharashtra. It takes in the Dr Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary, which is home to about 60 per cent of all the bird species recorded in Maharashtra, and every winter flocks of migratory birds arrive on its lake. The vegetation ranges from dry mixed and southern tropical dry deciduous forest to moister patches.

The name means new village, and the area is also known as Navegaon Bandh because of its dam and lake. Local history credits the lake to two brothers of the Kohali community, Kolhu and Chimna Patil, said to have built it around 1300 under the patronage of the Gond queen Rani Durgawati, resettling the people of 12 villages and using cattle to pack the earth wall. The region was long ruled by Gond kings and is still largely tribal.