Madhav National Park is a national park in Shivpuri District of Gwalior division in northwest Madhya Pradesh, India. It was established in 1956 with as Shivpuri National Park. In 1958, it was renamed Madhav National Park after Madho Rao Scindia and was finalized the following year.
History
The dense forests of Sipri later came to be known as Shivpuri doubled up as hunting grounds for Mughal emperors since the 16th century. Since then Mughal princes, Rajputana rulers, Gwalior royals and British dignitaries travelled to this area for hunting sprees. Therefore it came to be known as royal hunting park or Majestic Park due to high movement of Kings and high ranking british officials including British Monarch and Viceroys.
thumb|George Castle
George Castle was built in 1911 at an elevation of . It was built for George V who had intended to stay there during his visit to India.
After the independence of India, the area suffered degradation.
On 1 December 2024, the technical committee of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) proposed to recognize Madhav National Park as a Tiger Reserve which will span featuring a core area of and a buffer area of . Furthermore, the committee has also approved the release of one tiger and one tigress into the park.
Geography
There are several small ponds in this national park, but the largest body of water is Sankhya Sagar, a reservoir, constructed for Madho Rao Scindia when it was still his hunting grounds. this national park has a varied terrain of forested hills and flat grasslands around the reservoir and is thus rich in biodiversity. The average rainfall is 816 mm.
See also
- Wildlife of India