Pench April 2007

How to go : PenchNational Park ( Madhya Pradesh ) is near Khwasa which is 90 km from Nagpur on Nagpur - Seoni road .Nagpur is well connected by Rail,road,Air . Regular buses from MP bus terminus / taxis are available .Get down at Khwasa .

Go to Turia gate by private vehicles . It is preferable to arrange one earlier .

Area - 758 sq km ,of which 293 sq km is core area .

Accomodation and food : Private hotels at Turia gate and Forest department accommodation at Karmazari gate .

Season - Oct to June .

We got into the Gypsy that was waiting for us at Khwasa and took us 12 km to Turia gate . Here after taking entry passes we went to our accommodation at Karmazari gate ,20 km into the beautiful forest ,out of range of Mobiles and away from civilization .

According to local authorities this is the actual place where Rudyard Kipling penned his famous :Jungle book featuring Mowgli ,the boy brought up by wolves .

This is a dry deciduous forest which was nearly leafless at this time allowing good visualization .

Among trees the most striking were those with white gnarled tree trunks Caraya gumtree ( also called Ghost tree ) whose gum is used as a food additive . Also there was the Mahua tree whose fleshy sweet flowers are used by the tribals Gonds , as food and as a beverage after fermenting.

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We could go for two trips daily in the available Maruti gypsies along with a guide .

Entry and exit timings are enforced strictly . ( fine of Rs 1000/- for reaching late)

In the first trip itself we saw several herds of Cheetal and Sambar deer, Nilgai , Gaur (Indian Bison) and Wild boar . Common Langur were plentiful . Rhesus macaque monkeys were seen occasionally .

Buzzards , Crested Serpent eagle and Crested Hawk eagle could be seen during nearly every trip . We saw a pair of dark ashy green crow sized birds with green bills - Malkoha which is a rare sighting . We saw a couple of Jungle Owlets sleeping in boles of trees .Peacocks dancing in front of peahens were a common sight .Blue Jays were beautiful blue birds seen frequently.

In afternoon trips we invariably came across Jackals trotting along the jungle roads

which allowed us to follow them for long time .

Once we saw a funny spectacle of a langur slapping a Barking deer when it intruded upon their troop at a salt lick .

One evening at dusk we followed a Civet cat rambling in the campus garden .

Nights were exciting ,more so when there was power cut and the whole campus enveloped in darkness. .A Herd of Cheetal used to come to rest in the grounds inside the campus . Frequently we heard their alarm calls when they detected presence of carnivores nearby . A leopard was said to prowl in the vicinity .

We sighted the Grrrr..eat cat the tiger ,on several trips ,once just near Turia gate walking in full view of all people at the gate .

The guide and the gypsy driver were adept at tracking tigers by alarm calls and tracing pugmarks . We were amazed at their prowess when they spotted a resting tiger hidden in the tall grass while driving along the winding road . Then emerged four tigers which we followed for several minutes till they crossed the road in front of us on a run and entered into a dense thicket .

Tigers could be seen in another way - The Tiger Shows . Here a pair of elephants with experienced mahouts would trace a tiger and follow it till it would lie down to rest .

Then a wireless message would let all Gypsy drivers know the location . They converge at the nearest road from where Tourists are taken on elephant back to the sleeping tigers .

The leopard eluded us for several trips though it was regularly being sighted in an area called Kala Pahad .

Once we waited for hours near a kill which was hidden in rocks. The Leopard did not come and the entire kill was devoured by a herd of Wild boar .

Then one day at last we saw this elusive cat in a deep ravine . It was crouching and then pounced upon a cheetal deer . It was a lucky day for the deer .It escaped and ran up the hill sounding alarms on the way .

The final day was the most exciting one . We went for a jungle trail on foot into the buffer zone near Karmazari . We spotted a large Porcupine running for cover . Further in a ravine we caught foul smell of a rotting kill and followed it . We came across the carcass of a large Gaur . Nearby were lying a tigress with three cubs . The larger cub

snarled at us. We stood rooted to the spot and could not even take decent pictures before all of them ran up the hill .This is what happens when you see a tiger close by on foot .

We visited a couple of nearby villages expecting to see Gond Tribals in their traditional

Dress with Bows and Arrows . The fields were empty ,paddy having long been harvested

People were staying in large clean whitewashed huts with tiled roofs .They were wearing clothes that the usual rural people wear .The only thing traditional were Mahua flowers spread for drying in front of every house . There was a wedding in the village but all guests had already left for the bridegrooms village .On such occasions ,young and old, ladies and gentlemen all would drink (Mahua liquor),dance and rejoice whole day and night .

We left Pench much happier with lot of good memories and pictures to share . But Mowgli is still beckoning us in our dreams .

Caraya gum ( Ghost ) tree

Tiger resting in mid day heat

Gaur

A Gaur killed by a tigress

Cheetal stag