Pench: Where Tigers Still Own the Earth!

I am just back from an amazing 5 day holiday at Pench National Park. I never knew that one could see so many animals in such a short time. Pench is about 90 km away from Nagpur and is one of the lesser known parks- though it is part of the same forest as Kanha. In fact, its right in Seonii district- where Kipling's Jungle book is set. We were in a resort that has 5 star tents - with pukka bathroom, hot and cold water, etc.

We made 8 trips to the Park over the 5 days that we were there- since travel to and fro takes away quite a few hours. We had heard that tiger and leopard sightings at Pench are a common occurrence, and that was definitely our major motivation in choosing it (My mother had done lot of reading and research!) In the first 5 visits to the Park we saw lots and lots of chital, sambar, peacocks (including 2 dancing ones), neelgai, gaur or Indian bison (rather impressive), langoor, jackal, wild dog, jungle cats, and many many birds (including spotted and spectacled owls).

The big cats were very much on our mind and with 3 trips to the forest remaining; we wondered whether we would see them at all.

On Saturday morning (on our 6th visit) we came across an elephant belonging to the forest dept. They had spotted 4 tigers! (This is litter that was born about 18 months ago, so they are full grown, but still stay with their mother). So we hopped on to the elephant and finally saw a tiger in the wild….. (Amma-Baba have been looking for tigers since 1963 when they were in Corbett for 13 months. This was their first!) It was amazing. There were two males lounging on a rock and the two females walking around. They were so close that one could see every whisker clearly....

On Saturday afternoon, we were in high spirits. On the way out of the Park at around 6.20 pm (it closes at 6.30pm) we spotted a leopard on the road way ahead- about half a km ahead. It walked on the road right up to us and then crossed over in front and continued to go along its way. Of course we followed! Unfortunately they take closing time in these places very seriously and so after about a 1 km we said our goodbyes!

On our last trip in the Park,, we told our driver to take us to beautiful parts of the forest which would have relatively less cars, given that it was a Sunday morning. So we drove through gorgeous terrain. And then heard a sambar call. Then we saw a huge tiger- walking alongside in the grass. We watched him for a while and then there was one more. And then one more. We then realised that these were the 4 "cubs" once again!

On Saturday morning (on our 6th visit) we came across an elephant belonging to the forest dept. They had spotted 4 tigers! (This is litter that was born about 18 months ago, so they are full grown, but still stay with their mother). So we hopped on to the elephant and finally saw a tiger in the wild….. (Amma-Baba have been looking for tigers since 1963 when they were in Corbett for 13 months. This was their first!) It was amazing. There were two males lounging on a rock and the two females walking around. They were so close that one could see every whisker clearly....

On Saturday afternoon, we were in high spirits. On the way out of the Park at around 6.20 pm (it closes at 6.30pm) we spotted a leopard on the road way ahead- about half a km ahead. It walked on the road right up to us and then crossed over in front and continued to go along its way. Of course we followed! Unfortunately they take closing time in these places very seriously and so after about a 1 km we said our goodbyes!

On our last trip in the Park,, we told our driver to take us to beautiful parts of the forest which would have relatively less cars, given that it was a Sunday morning. So we drove through gorgeous terrain. And then heard a sambar call. Then we saw a huge tiger- walking alongside in the grass. We watched him for a while and then there was one more. And then one more. We then realised that these were the 4 "cubs" once again!



We went to Pench hoping to see a tiger, but never in our wildest dreams did we think that we would or indeed could, see so many!