Best time to visit
Open October to June. This is high, hilly Satpura forest that stays cooler than the plains reserves, and the dry months give the best wildlife movement.
About Gugamal National Park (Melghat Tiger Reserve)
Gugamal is the core of the Melghat Tiger Reserve in the Satpura range, with rolling forested hills, deeper and more remote than the Vidarbha reserves. The Chikhaldara gate is the main safari entry.
- Setting
- Satpura Hills, Amravati district
- Best season
- Oct – Jun
- Nearest hill station
- Chikhaldara
- Sessions per day
- Morning, Afternoon
Gates: Chikhaldara (Core)
Tap any green slot to book it on WhatsApp. We confirm the gate, date and session in one chat.
Available Waitlist / RAC Booked ClosedM = morning · A = afternoon · MD = mid-day
Gugamal National Park (Melghat Tiger Reserve)
| Gate | Wed02Sep | Thu03Sep | Fri04Sep | Sat05Sep | Sun06Sep | Mon07Sep | Tue08Sep | Wed09Sep | Thu10Sep | Fri11Sep | Sat12Sep | Sun13Sep | Mon14Sep | Tue15Sep | Wed16Sep | Thu17Sep | Fri18Sep | Sat19Sep | Sun20Sep | Mon21Sep | Tue22Sep | Wed23Sep | Thu24Sep | Fri25Sep | Sat26Sep | Sun27Sep | Mon28Sep | Tue29Sep | Wed30Sep | Thu01Oct |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vairat (Chikhaldara) | Gate Closed | Gate Closed | Gate Closed | Gate Closed | Gate Closed | Gate Closed | Gate Closed | Gate Closed | Gate Closed | Gate Closed | Gate Closed | Gate Closed | Gate Closed | Gate Closed | Gate Closed | Gate Closed | Gate Closed | Gate Closed | Gate Closed | Gate Closed | Gate Closed | Gate Closed | Gate Closed | Gate Closed | Gate Closed | Gate Closed | Gate Closed | Gate Closed | Gate Closed | M20A20 |
Plan your visit to Gugamal National Park (Melghat Tiger Reserve)
How to reach
Reached via Amravati district, with the hill station Chikhaldara as the base for the Chikhaldara gate. Nagpur is the nearest major airport.
Before you book
- This is more about deep forest and scenery than guaranteed big-cat sightings.
- Pairs well with a stay at the Chikhaldara hill station.
- Book on the Maharashtra Forest portal and carry the matching government photo ID.
- Confirm the weekly closed day and gate timings when booking, as remote zones can vary.
Frequently asked
How do I find an available safari slot quickly?
Use the Reserve dropdown to focus on one park, then scan the matrix for green pills. Those are the gate, date and session combinations with vehicles still available, and the number on each pill is how many vehicles are still open.
What do the colours and labels mean?
- Green with a number: vehicles still available, and the number is how many.
- Amber "WL": Reservation Against Cancellation or Waitlist. You can register and take a slot if a booking is cancelled.
- Red "✕": fully booked.
- Grey "Gate Closed": that gate is not operating that day. When both morning and afternoon are closed, the cell shows one combined label.
How do I see different dates on a phone?
Swipe the matrix left or right. The Gate column on the left stays in place while you scroll through the date columns, so you always know which gate you are looking at.
Can I narrow the matrix down to just what I want?
Yes. Use the filters above the matrix to pick a Reserve, a specific Date, a Status (e.g. only Available), or type part of a gate name. Cells that do not match a Status filter are dimmed instead of removed, so you keep your bearings.
What do M and A in each cell mean?
M is the morning safari session, A is the afternoon session. Most parks run two sessions per day. The pills on top show morning, the ones below show afternoon.
Which gate should I pick for the best chance of a tiger?
The Recent sightings section ranks every reporting gate by how many animals were logged there over the last 30 days, next to how many of those days produced a sighting at all. Consistency and volume are different things: a gate can post a big total from two exceptional drives while another produces something on most days. The ranking refreshes with the data, so read the top rows rather than relying on a gate's reputation.
Should I book a morning or an evening safari?
Every gate in the sightings ranking has a Best drive column worked out from where that gate's own sightings actually came from. It only names a drive when one side leads the other by a clear margin, and says Both when the split is close. The difference can be large: some buffer gates produce roughly twice as much in the evening as they do at dawn.
What do the green squares in the day-by-day grid mean?
Each square is one gate on one day. The number is how many animals were reported and the name under it is the individual that was identified, so a count of five reads as a named tigress with four cubs rather than an unexplained number. Hover a square for the full morning and evening breakdown. Darker green means more animals, on a fixed scale so a quiet month cannot repaint two animals as a busy day. A pale empty square means nothing was logged that day.
How accurate are the sighting counts?
They are a record of what was reported from safari drives, not a census. A gate with no entry on a day may still have had animals; it only means nothing was reported. Counts are read conservatively, so a report naming a tigress with four cubs counts as five animals while an unnumbered mention of cubs counts as one.
What is the difference between Core and Buffer zones?
Core zones are the strictly protected interior of the reserve where only limited safari activity is permitted. Buffer zones surround the core and have mixed-use forest with safari access. Tiger sightings are still common, and slots are usually easier to get.