Pench Tiger Reserve, which straddles across two Indian states, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, has been a sanctuary since 1977, a national park since 1983, and a tiger reserve since 1992. It has not been very popular with tourists and few people are aware that it was the background setting for Richard Kipling's 1897 novel Jungle Book. This book provides information on the historical characters that Kipling drew on, and describes the current environment of the park and the problems it faces.