Introduction

Ken Gharial Sanctuary is a popular tourism spot near Khajuraho temples and Panna national park. It is located on the confluence of Ken river and Khudar river and spread over an area of 45.201 sq.kms. It is located in north-east of Khajuraho temples and North of Panna national park. It lies in Chhatarpur district of Madhya Pradesh and lies in north of state in Central India. Most of the tourists from Khajuraho and Panna national park visits gharial sanctuary as excursion tour. It is usually visited along with Raneh water fall site as both are close to each other. Ken gharial sanctuary can be visited by your own vehicle by paying fee for vehicle entrance and taking paid guide who will accompany you during visit. Guide service is mandatory as he will ensure all the rules are followed in ground and provide valuable information of gharial sanctuary, its history, about gharials etc. It is closed for visitors in Monsoon season.

Ken Gharial Sanctuary is adjoining to Panna national park forest. Their landscapes are almost of similar type with features like green forests, rocky outcrops, deep gorges, long canyons, waterfalls etc. These type of landscapes are very photogenic and also adventurous too. Raneh fall is famous tourist attraction nearby Khajuraho and mostly visited by tourists. It lies in Ken Gharial Reserve area. November to April is good time to visit it as after monsoon when water recedes, we can have better view of waterfalls, deep canyon, natural rocky structures. Here colorful rocky shades are unique attraction in which we can see grey, pink, yellow rocks of Sand-stone and granite-stones. It offers good chance to see innumerable gharials sun basking. Here sighting of wild animals is also very common. We have see Spotted Deers, Wild boar, Nilgai etc. In addition to these birding is also good at Ken Gharial Reserve. Here Shaheen Falcon is easily seen during visit.

How to reach

By Air :

This Sanctuary lies in Chhatarpur/Panna district of Madhya Pradesh. Nearest airport for reaching Ken Gharial Sanctuary is Khajuraho airport. Distance from Khajuraho airport to Ken Gharial sanctuary is about 25kms. This journey is to done by taxi vehicle. We offer Khajuraho airport taxi service for visiting this site along with Khajuraho temples and Panna national park.

DISTANCE CHART
From	Distance (in Kms)
Khajuraho to Ken Gharial Sanctuary	20
Panna National Park to Ken Gharial Sanctuary	55
Orchha to Ken Gharial Sanctuary	220
Satna Railway Station to Ken Gharial Sanctuary	150
Bandhavgarh to Ken Gharial Sanctuary	270
Chitrakoot to Ken Gharial Sanctuary	230

 

By Train:

Nearest railway station for reaching Ken Gharial Sanctuary is Satna station at a distance of 150kms/03:00hrs. It is located in south-east of sanctuary. Satna railway station have good train connectivity with cities and tourist destinations like Howrah, Mumbai, Delhi, Agra, Gwalior, Gaya, Bhopal, Jabalpur, Katni, Nagpur etc. Second option is Jhansi railway station at a distance of 220kms in north-west direction. It is also a important railway station with good train connectivity. For further journey, we offer tourist taxi service.

By Road:

Ken Gharial reserve is close to Panna city and Khajuraho temples site. It is well connected by road and accessible by all kind of vehicles. Its nearby cities and towns are Panna city (30kms), Chhatarpur town (70kms), Satna (150km), Khajuraho town (20kms) etc. For visiting Ken gharial reserve by road, route goes via Khajuraho - Rajnagar and Panna city.

Tourist Attractions

Ken Gharial sanctuary is a wildlife sanctuary, attached to Panna tiger reserve thus wildlife can be enjoyed while visiting this place. Here sighting is spotted deer, sambar is common. In addition to this, while passing through this forest area, we can enjoy birding also thus wildlife lovers will definitely appreciate visit to this place. Popular Raneh fall is located inside this sanctuary which is an added advantage. In order to visit this sanctuary, tourists are required to pay the visitor fee, guide fee and vehicle entry charges. This fee is determined as per number of visitors.

Climate and Weather

Ken Gharial sanctuary is very close to Khajuraho temples site and Panna national park. Thus its climatic conditions are very much similar to Panna national park. Here majority of tourism occurs in winter season which prevails from November to mid of February. From March month we will experience rise in temperature in which we will experience considerable difference in day and night temperature. Peak summer period is on April-May-June months which heat waves poses challenge in day sightseeing. In Summers, day temperature goes above 40 deg. cel. which makes sightseeing difficult thus in this period, tourists mostly do sightseeing in early morning or in evening hours.  Monsoon is expected from mid of July month. During monsoon season, this sanctuary remains closed for visitors.

Best time to visit

Best time to visit Ken gharial sanctuary varies with the intention of visit. If you are casual tourist, just want to see the place then winters is the good time to visit. Birding also remains good in winters. Majority  of tourists prefers this period. If your interest is on wildlife mammals sighting and gharial sighting, then summer period is considered good. In summers, water level in river recedes due to which, gharials are believed to be easily visible on river bank, resting on rocks. Here best time is from December to April. It is a half-day sightseeing destination thus after visting Khajuraho temples or morning safari in Panna national park, tourists can visit this sanctuary and can complete their day sightseeings.

Accommodation

Their is no good accommodation facility at Ken Gharial sanctuary. Tourists visiting this place, comes either from Khajuraho or from Panna national park. It means, Khajuraho hotels or Panna national park resorts are the ideal for night stay with variety of accommodation options.

Next to Ken Gharial Sanctuary

After completion of Ken gharial sanctuary visit, tourists can visit to Panna national park to enjoy jungle safari, visit Khajuraho temples site, Chatrasal museum. These places can be visited as excursion tour. If you have already visited all these places and wish to visit other new destination then we can drive to Bandhavgarh national park (250kms), Chitrakoot temples, Sanjay Dubri national park and Orchha cenotaphs. These are the popular surrounding places to visit from Ken gharial sanctuary.