Early March in 2022, I paid a visit to Pench National Park in Madhya Pradesh, which I'd been planning for some time as a visit to a good forest in Spring season. It would complete my visit to the top 4 national parks in Madhya Pradesh. In fact, this might even be top 3. Without further ado, shortly after Covid 3rd wave was over, I set off on my new adventure.
ABOUT PENCH NATIONAL PARK
It is located in the Seoni and Chindwara districts of Madhya Pradesh spanning 1799 square kilometers. 799 square kilometers of it also lies in the state of Maharashtra. So, the actual forest is split across 2 states. But it is widely believed that Madhya Pradesh is having the better part of it in terms of biodiversity. The forests are largely teak forests in Madhya Pradesh, with traces of mahua, bamboo and other vegetation. Pench river flows through it from north to south - hence the name. It is also believed that Rudyard Kipling's "Jungle Book" was based on the forests of Seoni i.e. in Pench. That's why you'll find some Mowgli figurines here and there. The original "Mowgliland". This is also the forest of the late tigress "Collarwali" who raised a record 8 litters during her lifetime.
Unlike Bandhavgarh and Kanha, this has relatively lesser intersecting roads, which gives you limited 2nd chances in sighting the big cats once they have crossed over deep into the other side of the forest. That's why instances of only a few jeeps sighting something etc are relatively more in Pench.
DAY 1 - ARRIVAL AT PENCH
I had booked a stay at a resort, about a kilometer from the forest entrance gate and arrived in the evening to start off my trip. I arrived at Nagpur by plane and then set off for Turiya gate by car. It was a decent establishment with a swimming pool and a decent area covering 10 rooms. I was alone on my first day at the resort. I had no activities planned for the day and the person at the reception walked me up to the forest gate to show me where I'd have to report the next day and also showed me the museum. It was like some short version of "Museums of Natural History & Sciences" found in Europe. On the way back, he warned me of some areas to keep off late in the evening, where on rare occasions, leopards and tigers were sighted even outside the forest. On select occasions, they had even entered some resort campuses. In fact, he had found footprints of a tiger one morning in the garden behind his resort, when it was relatively empty last year. Having listened to all these exciting stories, I decided to hit the sack.
DAY 2 - MORNING SAFARI
The morning safari started at 6.15 A.M. It was a bit chilly and relatively dark. Things became clearer around 15-20 minutes upon entering the forest. We were greeted by sightings of a kingfisher, a peacock, some langurs and a hasty jackal. Soon after we came upon Junewani waterhole, where we had even better sightings of jackals and some birds, besides the beautiful views. A few peacocks later, upon moving on, we also abruptly came upon a group of cautious wild dogs, who actually belonged to a diagonally opposite side of the park. Subsequently, we were also fortunate to chance upon 4 Indian wild cows, whose sightings had become rarer in these parts. We took a break at the centre point, where I refreshed myself before resuming with the safari. Some good sightings of spotted deer, wild boar, langurs and jackals followed. Not long before the close of the safari, we heard continuous roars of a leopard from nearby and waited for it expectantly to appear. But it did not and my guess was that it may have been mating to account for the continuous roaring as leopards are seldom known to do so, otherwise. That brought my first safari to a close. A promising one!
DAY 2 - EVENING SAFARI
Little did I know that things were about to get way more interesting in the evening. Not long after we'd started off with this jeep safari, we were greeted by some spotted deer, langurs ridding each other of insects, before noticing a leopard resting on a tree. It was well camouflaged and easy to miss, which is why several jeep had just passed by, without noticing. It was initially not in a great position to photograph. But it eventually did change its posture and I got into some good positions to do the needful. The leopard eventually came down, regarded us for a while before walking away. We then had some good sightings of langur, spotted and sambar deer, wild boars, peacocks before chancing upon a tigress and her subadult cubs. Not very bold ones, they were deep inside some dense foliage and it was difficult to get good angles to photograph them. But I think I made the best of what could've been done under the circumstances. After viewing the sunset for a bit, the evening safari came to a close.
DAY 3 - MORNING SAFARI
We had moderate and slow sightings for a while before coming upon a notable big Indian wild cow crossing our path. Some good sightings of wild boar, spotted deer and langurs followed soon after. That was followed by some great sightings of birds - Ibis, eagles, ducks, kingfishers, parakeets. Suddenly, a jumping wild dog also passed us hastily at a distance. Some good sightings of langurs, spotted deer, peacock and jackal brought that safari to a close. Not as exciting as the previous morning. But nice, nonetheless.
DAY 3 - EVENING SAFARI
This was my last safari and more eventful than the morning one. We saw some tiger tracks, a cormorant, some good sightings of sambar deer, spotted deer, a few birds before spotting a leopard at a distance with its back turned to us. We waited a long time, but it seemed to have dozed off with its back turned to us. There being no way for us to see it from another angle, we moved on. We came upon a jeep who claimed to have spotted Langdi, a famous tigress killing a wild dog. We regretted not seeing that. We waited eagerly on another side for it to reappear. But it wasn't to be, on this occasion. Although we came upon a few other sightings after that, we also got to know that there was a sighting of the most dominant male "L-Mark" tiger, relaxing on a large rock. This being my last safari there, I also regretted not photographing both scenarios involving a tiger but was thankful for the opportunities that I had gotten.
DAY 4 - DEPARTURE FROM PENCH
With that, my Pench adventure had come to a close. I packed up and having rested the next morning, set off for my next planned visit to another forest. 2 leopards, 3 tigers - No excuse to complain but would've loved to have a closer sighting of the tiger on the previous day. The forest itself was quite widespread, diverse and beautiful. I believe the buffer zones are also not bad and Maharashtra side of the forest is also worth a visit, although I abstained on this occasion. I had already witnessed the better parts of the forest!
GENERAL COMMENTS ON THE PARK MANAGEMENT
One thing I have noticed on my prior visits to top forests of Madhya Pradesh, especially Bandhavgarh, Kanha & even Panna are that the rules are sensible and they are seriously adhered to. W.r.t. Pench, 1 thing I noticed about people who had booked seats on a single jeep, is that sometimes the person who has reported on time or before time had to wait to be assigned a jeep. Getting a jeep at the earliest possible is imperative so that departure can happen on time because all these allocated start times are linked to sunrise, animal movements etc. A person who has followed the rules should not be penalized for someone who hasn't arrived on time. If a person arrives late, they should be allocated some spare jeep to commence later if they want to. Or they should arrive on time. A spare jeep for latecomers would also give the park management more business. These rules also make sense as the same also holds good for other transport with booked seats like airlines or trains. They wouldn't wait beyond departure time. A movie in a theater wouldn't wait to start just because certain spectators haven't arrived. Another thing I noted about the park management is in the event different people have arrived on time w.r.t. different jeeps, on few occasions they demonstrated flexibility in shifting him/her to a jeep where people had arrived with spare seats e.t.c. Not against it, but maybe the shifted person prefers his/her own seat in his allocated jeep? Better to just follow the rules in place, in my opinion! These are just a couple of things I noticed, even though they didn't impact my experience. In general, their management of safaris was quite sharp and hassle free as in other Madhya Pradesh parks.
The stay was affordable although I will abstain from mentioning any figure as certain things may vary from time to time.
All in all, a good visit! I noticed most visitors here were from state of Maharashtra, the forest being just across the border. It is one of those forests where one feels anything may materialize at any moment with plenty opportunities! I would rate it a 4.5/5. #myopinion
