- Location: Madhya Pradesh; spread across Sagar, Damoh and Narsinghpur districts.
- Notification: Notified as a Tiger Reserve in 2023. It is India’s 54th and Madhya Pradesh’s 7th Tiger Reserve.
- Name: Named after Gond queen Rani Durgavati.
- Formation: The reserve encompasses the Nauradehi Wildlife Sanctuary and Veerangana Durgavati Wildlife Sanctuary.
- Area: About 2,339 sq km, comprising around 1,414 sq km core and 925 sq km buffer.
- Landscape: Located in the Upper Vindhyan/Deccan Peninsula region and includes mixed deciduous and teak-dominated forests.
- River Basins: The reserve lies across the Ganga (Yamuna) and Narmada basins, making it an important transitional landscape.
- Connectivity: It functions as an ecological link in the Panna–Satpura tiger landscape and has linkages towards Bandhavgarh.
- Wildlife: Important species include tiger, leopard, sloth bear, wild dog, chinkara, blackbuck, sambar and spotted deer.
- Cheetah relevance: In 2025, the reserve was permitted to be developed as India’s third cheetah habitat after Kuno and Gandhi Sagar.
Prelims Question
Q. With reference to Veerangana Durgavati Tiger Reserve, consider the following statements:
- It is located in Madhya Pradesh.
- It encompasses the Nauradehi Wildlife Sanctuary.
- It lies entirely within the Narmada river basin.
- It was notified as a Tiger Reserve in 2023.
Which of the statements given above are correct?
(a) 1, 2 and 4 only
(b) 1 and 3 only
(c) 2, 3 and 4 only
(d) 1, 2, 3 and 4
Answer: (a) 1, 2 and 4 only
Explanation: Veerangana Durgavati Tiger Reserve is in Madhya Pradesh, includes Nauradehi Wildlife Sanctuary, and was notified in 2023. It is not entirely within the Narmada basin; the reserve spans both the Ganga/Yamuna and Narmada basins.
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