Ratapani Tiger Reserve

Ratapani in Raisen district, Madhya Pradesh, became a wildlife sanctuary in 1976 and was named the state's eighth tiger reserve in December 2024. It covers about 1,271 square kilometres, with a core of 764 square kilometres, across rolling country of hills, plateaus, valleys and seasonal streams whose pools hold water in summer. Barna Reservoir and Ratapani Dam are its main waterbodies, and the Bhimbetka rock shelters, a World Heritage Site with Stone Age paintings, belong to the same landscape.

Teak covers about 55 per cent of the dry and moist deciduous forest, and bamboo about a quarter. Tigers, leopards, dholes, striped hyenas and sloth bears share the reserve with chital, sambar, nilgai, wild boar and the four-horned antelope. More than 150 bird species have been recorded, from coppersmith barbets and hoopoes to vultures, kingfishers and parakeets.