Mukundara Hills

Mukundara Hills National Park, with the Darrah sanctuary, forms the core of Mukundara Hills Tiger Reserve near Kota, Rajasthan. The national park covers 199.55 km²^[1]. It lies across parts of Kota, Bundi, Chittorgarh and Jhalawar districts^[1].

Tiger, Indian wolf and leopard are the main carnivores, with chital, sambar, wild boar and nilgai as prey, plus sloth bear, chinkara, mugger crocodile and gharial^[1]. Tigers were last recorded in 1978 until reintroduction from Ranthambore began in 2018^[1].

Dry deciduous forest with grassland dominates, with dhok (Anogeissus pendula) the predominant tree alongside khair, ber, tendu and karaya^[1].

Two nearly parallel flat-topped hills of the Vindhya Range, 2-5 km wide, run about 80 km from the Chambal to the Kali Sindh^[1].

The area has the hot, dry climate of southeastern Rajasthan, with a summer monsoon.

The forests were the hunting grounds of the Maharaja of Kota, and the hills are named after Maharao Mukund, a former Kota ruler^[1].

Part of the forest was declared Darrah Sanctuary in 1955, Jawahar Sagar Sanctuary followed in 1975, and the tiger reserve was notified on 9 April 2013^[1]. It was enlarged to 1,135.787 km² in October 2023^[1].

The Garadiya Mahadev viewpoint over the hills and the nearby Jawahar Sagar dam are the best-known places in the reserve^[1].

The reserve is administered from Kota, the nearest city^[1].

Tigers were reintroduced from 2018; several have since died or gone missing, but the reserve lists roaming tigers and a tigress released in June 2025^[1]. Eco-sensitive zones were notified around the reserve in 2020 and 2021^[1].