Phen Jeep Safari, Kanha National Park - Timings, Safari Cost, Best Time to Visit
#11 of 13 Places to Visit in Kanha National Park
Distance (From Kanha National Park): 75 Kms
Trip Duration (Including Travel): 4-6 Hours
Transportation Options: Cab
Travel Tips: The Kanha National Park remains closed from 1st July to 15th October every year. It is also closed on Holi festival and every Wednesday afternoon safari. The park management may also cancel the safaris due to floods and forest fires and no refund is provided to tourists.
At a distance of 38 km from Mukki and 75 km from Mocha, Phen is a popular buffer zone of Kanha National Park. It is located near Mukki entrance gate of Kanha tiger reserve.
Popularly known as Phen Wildlife Sanctuary, Phen lies in Southern region of Kanha tiger reserve, close to Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh state borders. The Phen forest area was declared as a wildlife sanctuary in the year 1983, by Government of Madhya Pradesh. It is connected to Kanha Tiger Reserve through Motinala buffer range. This forest is an important connective linkage for Kanha - Achanakmar wildlife corridor, through Mawai range in North as well in south and Rajanandgaon of Chattisgarh part.
It is open for tourists from many years but it remained unknown to the tourism world due to lack of publicity. Wildlife experts called it satellite micro core of Kanha tiger reserve. Phen first came into light in the year 2017 as Kanha buffer zone, when all the buffer safari zones were introduced online for safari tickets booking. Phen forest is a very beautiful jungle with varying landscapes and is surrounded by 18 villages within 5 km radius from the boundary.
This forest is well connected to the Mukki core zone and there is no physical boundary in between core zone and buffer zone thus no restriction for animal movements. Here one can have a sighting of all those mammals which are prominently visible in Mukki safari zone like Tigers, Leopard, Wild Boar, Spotted Deer, Sambar, etc. For visiting Phen safari zone, tourists need to choose the hotels which are close to Mukki entrance gate of Kanha National Park.
One can book the entry ticket either online at www.mponline.gov.in or through travel agents or if available one can also get this from the booking window at the entrance gate of the national park. As of now, here sharing safari option is not available, only full-safari is available which means, one will have to book exclusive safari drives for visiting Phen Zone safari. All the visitors are required to carry their original identity document during safari drives as it is verified at the entrance gate. Safari tickets are non-transferable. During safari drive, guide service is compulsory on each safari vehicle.
While booking the safari tickets in Buffer zone, you should be aware of the fact that you need to take hotel close to the entrance gate of that buffer zone otherwise you will face problem in reaching the entrance gate, due to distance problem. For Phen zone, prefer Mukki gate hotels. This zone is open for jungle safari drives from 15th October to 30th June. During the monsoon period i.e. from July to September, it remains closed for tourists.
Safari Timings: 6.30 AM - 11 AM & 2 PM - 5.30 PM from Oct - Feb and 6 AM - 10 AM & 3 PM - 6 PM from Mar - June, Closed on every Wednesday evening, on Holi, Diwali & during monsoon.
Safari Permit Fee: Rs. 250 for Single Seat in Jeep, Rs. 1500 per Whole Jeep (max 6 Persons). Jeep hiring cost & guide cost extra (around 2500 per jeep and 480 per guide).
Note: Safari cost changes frequently
