Madhya Pradesh

Central India

Khajuraho's temples were built over two centuries by the Chandela dynasty and rediscovered by a British officer in 1838, overgrown and mostly forgotten by the world beyond the forest that had grown around them. Their carving — architectural, devotional, and famously intimate — remains some of the finest stone work in India.

A few hours away, the forests of Bandhavgarh and Kanha hold one of the densest tiger populations left anywhere. Sal forest gives way to open meadow and back again; a jeep track through it can mean nothing for hours, then everything in a moment.