Last weekend was a long one I decided not to go to Bangalore. I decided to put the weekend to good use and we planned to go to Pench. Hemanth and priyanka readily agreed and soon we were booking our bus tickets . Called up Dr Ghosh and he readily agreed to get the accommodation and the safari tickets done. With that in place we were all set for Pench.
Pench is one of the few tiger reserves we have in India, located in MP around 200 km from Nagpur. It is also the place that inspired Rudyard Kipling to write the famous Jungle Book. Pench is one of the safe havens for tigers with active forest gourds and a healthy tiger population of around 35 tigers supported by around 3000 animals of the deer family including chital(spotted deers), Sambars and the Neelgai. Tigers here have been able to successfully reproduce in the wild and there are instances of tigresses having multiple litters. Thanks to the forest management here and the supportive villages around. Forest guards patrol the forest armed with just a lathi stick. Not sure how they would tackle a poacher if they ever encounter one.
From Nagpur we hired a taxi which took us straight to our resort. The spirit of Sankranthi was infused in us thanks to the continuous 'Til Gud Laddu and Gud Gud Bole ' over the radio. Not sure what the second part means though. The resort where we had booked was called the S Kumar 999. With such a shady name we had our hopes low. But after reaching the place, it was a pleasant surprise. With beautiful lawns and cute cottages the place had a nice comfy feeling. They also had tent accommodations which we did not dare trying because the nights were quite cold. After a yummy lunch, topped with rassogolla and gulab jamuns we were ready for our first drive into the forest.
In Pench the open jeep safaris are well organized. There is a fixed set of 5 routes and you would be assigned a route on first come basis. On each route they would have around 10 vehicles. So a total of 50 vehicles are allowed into the forest for each trip and 40 of these slots can be booked online at the MP tourism website www.mptourism.com. The rest 10 are on first come first serve basis.
As we entered the forest all of us were quite excited and started looking around. The first to greet us where the spotted deers and the langurs. Each set of spotted deer had a langur accompanying them and the relation between these 2 species is symbiotic. The Langur warns the deers of predators and deers eat of the leaves that the langur drops off the trees. Watching a langur eat is quite interesting. They pluck small stalks from the tree, suck the sap from the stalk and throw the stalk down. These stalks are then eaten by the deers.
Pench is mostly comprised of teak trees. Some portions are completely grassy. These are mostly the areas which once were villages and now turned into the forest reserve. There are other interesting trees like the crocodile bark tree and the ghost tree - this truly looks ghostly.
We roamed all along our route trying to listen to alarm calls but in vain. We saw more Chitals and langurs and quite a few peacocks. A couple of sambar deers were spotted too. We returned slightly unhappy. Back in the resort, the cold had started to set in and we huddled around a small bon fire set up for us with Hot tea and pakodas. Stories of cruel managers, older trips dominated the conversations.
The next day we had an early morning safari and so woke up by 5:00 am. The forest gates open by 6:30 and its important to be the first vehicle going in because there are higher chances of seeing animals on the path before the rush into the deeper forest troubled by the Gypsys haunting them. Though the morning was freezing cold we reached the gate on time and were the first vehicle to go in. Again we were welcomes by the deers, this time not many langurs around. We drove round and round. Our guide Subhash was very informative. He kept telling us the little nuggets about the forest. We were looking out for alarms calls either by the langurs or the chitals. At one particular stretch, we suddenly heard the langurs become restless and hopping from tree to tree and calling out. the chitals too held their heads up in attention. All of us had a feeling that the tiger would walk in anytime now. But all that remained was silence and no sight of the tiger.
The silence in the forest is kind of a numbing sensation. There are times when it is so silent you don't hear even the birds nor a twig move. It kind of brings about a feeling of self realization or introspection. Its a strange feeling but a nice one for sure. Reminded me of my nephew hindi translation for 'pin drop silence' - 'Sui patak sannata'.
We continued roaming around and came across the beautiful Neelgai. They looked so graceful especially the male in the misty back drop of the forest. It reminded me of Harry potter's Patronas. At one particular stretch we spotted the pug marks of tiger. we followed the marks but it ended at one point. Looked like the tiger went into the forest from that point on. After more futile attempts to spot the tiger we returned to our resort.
After some tasty lunch we geared up for our 3rd trip into the forest. We decided to take the same route as in the morning because we had heard alarms calls and were hopeful that we might spot the tiger then. We roamed the same paths over and over again. It was only the chitals, the langurs , the sambar deers and a far off neelgai and yes a jackal that was merciful to us. The tiger was least interested in knowing who had trespassed its territory.
Pench is also a home of different varieties of birds. we saw owls, racket tailed bird, serpent eagle, jungle babblers, kingfishers, woodpeckers, parrots, vulture and the grey hornbill.
We returned to our resort for another cozy night around our bon fire. After some time Dr Ghosh joined us. We went for a short drive in his car. He gave us a basic SLR tutorial and we tried some shots under his guidance.
The next morning was our last chance and last safari. We again reached the spot first. This time Lallan was our driver and according to Dr Ghosh, he was a guy with good instincts. Lallan lives just outside the Pench gate and owns the Lallan Bhojanalay. So with the Dr and Lallan in our jeep, we were hopeful. We drove around looking for pug marks, alarm calls any possible trace. we went to the spots where there were the alarm calls of a sambar deer the previous night. Played the wait and watch game but the tiger was no where in sight. After some more effort and trying others locations, we came to terms with the fact that we are not going to have a tiger sighting in this trip. We saw tigers pic in the docs camera and consoled ourselves. The rest of the safari was spent is trying different shots.
Soon we were on our way back to Nagpur. We had a few hours in Nagpur before we could board the bus. Roamed around near Lohe Ka Pul. Bought sweets - the famous til gud ka laddu that we had heard so much about. Also went into an interesting Bengali Sweet shop, I think it was called Anand. Heard it was around 100 years old. They had pictures of all famous bengali's starting from Raja Ram Mohan Roy to not sure who the latest was. But was interesting to see photos of JC Bose, Sarat Chandra chatterjee, Bankim chandra chatterjee etc etc. Bought some Nolengud ka Sandesh from there and headed back to Hyd
Pench is one of the few tiger reserves we have in India, located in MP around 200 km from Nagpur. It is also the place that inspired Rudyard Kipling to write the famous Jungle Book. Pench is one of the safe havens for tigers with active forest gourds and a healthy tiger population of around 35 tigers supported by around 3000 animals of the deer family including chital(spotted deers), Sambars and the Neelgai. Tigers here have been able to successfully reproduce in the wild and there are instances of tigresses having multiple litters. Thanks to the forest management here and the supportive villages around. Forest guards patrol the forest armed with just a lathi stick. Not sure how they would tackle a poacher if they ever encounter one.
From Nagpur we hired a taxi which took us straight to our resort. The spirit of Sankranthi was infused in us thanks to the continuous 'Til Gud Laddu and Gud Gud Bole ' over the radio. Not sure what the second part means though. The resort where we had booked was called the S Kumar 999. With such a shady name we had our hopes low. But after reaching the place, it was a pleasant surprise. With beautiful lawns and cute cottages the place had a nice comfy feeling. They also had tent accommodations which we did not dare trying because the nights were quite cold. After a yummy lunch, topped with rassogolla and gulab jamuns we were ready for our first drive into the forest.
In Pench the open jeep safaris are well organized. There is a fixed set of 5 routes and you would be assigned a route on first come basis. On each route they would have around 10 vehicles. So a total of 50 vehicles are allowed into the forest for each trip and 40 of these slots can be booked online at the MP tourism website www.mptourism.com. The rest 10 are on first come first serve basis.
As we entered the forest all of us were quite excited and started looking around. The first to greet us where the spotted deers and the langurs. Each set of spotted deer had a langur accompanying them and the relation between these 2 species is symbiotic. The Langur warns the deers of predators and deers eat of the leaves that the langur drops off the trees. Watching a langur eat is quite interesting. They pluck small stalks from the tree, suck the sap from the stalk and throw the stalk down. These stalks are then eaten by the deers.
Pench is mostly comprised of teak trees. Some portions are completely grassy. These are mostly the areas which once were villages and now turned into the forest reserve. There are other interesting trees like the crocodile bark tree and the ghost tree - this truly looks ghostly.
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| croc tree |
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| Ghost Tree |
We roamed all along our route trying to listen to alarm calls but in vain. We saw more Chitals and langurs and quite a few peacocks. A couple of sambar deers were spotted too. We returned slightly unhappy. Back in the resort, the cold had started to set in and we huddled around a small bon fire set up for us with Hot tea and pakodas. Stories of cruel managers, older trips dominated the conversations.
The next day we had an early morning safari and so woke up by 5:00 am. The forest gates open by 6:30 and its important to be the first vehicle going in because there are higher chances of seeing animals on the path before the rush into the deeper forest troubled by the Gypsys haunting them. Though the morning was freezing cold we reached the gate on time and were the first vehicle to go in. Again we were welcomes by the deers, this time not many langurs around. We drove round and round. Our guide Subhash was very informative. He kept telling us the little nuggets about the forest. We were looking out for alarms calls either by the langurs or the chitals. At one particular stretch, we suddenly heard the langurs become restless and hopping from tree to tree and calling out. the chitals too held their heads up in attention. All of us had a feeling that the tiger would walk in anytime now. But all that remained was silence and no sight of the tiger.
The silence in the forest is kind of a numbing sensation. There are times when it is so silent you don't hear even the birds nor a twig move. It kind of brings about a feeling of self realization or introspection. Its a strange feeling but a nice one for sure. Reminded me of my nephew hindi translation for 'pin drop silence' - 'Sui patak sannata'.
We continued roaming around and came across the beautiful Neelgai. They looked so graceful especially the male in the misty back drop of the forest. It reminded me of Harry potter's Patronas. At one particular stretch we spotted the pug marks of tiger. we followed the marks but it ended at one point. Looked like the tiger went into the forest from that point on. After more futile attempts to spot the tiger we returned to our resort.
After some tasty lunch we geared up for our 3rd trip into the forest. We decided to take the same route as in the morning because we had heard alarms calls and were hopeful that we might spot the tiger then. We roamed the same paths over and over again. It was only the chitals, the langurs , the sambar deers and a far off neelgai and yes a jackal that was merciful to us. The tiger was least interested in knowing who had trespassed its territory.
Pench is also a home of different varieties of birds. we saw owls, racket tailed bird, serpent eagle, jungle babblers, kingfishers, woodpeckers, parrots, vulture and the grey hornbill.
We returned to our resort for another cozy night around our bon fire. After some time Dr Ghosh joined us. We went for a short drive in his car. He gave us a basic SLR tutorial and we tried some shots under his guidance.
The next morning was our last chance and last safari. We again reached the spot first. This time Lallan was our driver and according to Dr Ghosh, he was a guy with good instincts. Lallan lives just outside the Pench gate and owns the Lallan Bhojanalay. So with the Dr and Lallan in our jeep, we were hopeful. We drove around looking for pug marks, alarm calls any possible trace. we went to the spots where there were the alarm calls of a sambar deer the previous night. Played the wait and watch game but the tiger was no where in sight. After some more effort and trying others locations, we came to terms with the fact that we are not going to have a tiger sighting in this trip. We saw tigers pic in the docs camera and consoled ourselves. The rest of the safari was spent is trying different shots.
Soon we were on our way back to Nagpur. We had a few hours in Nagpur before we could board the bus. Roamed around near Lohe Ka Pul. Bought sweets - the famous til gud ka laddu that we had heard so much about. Also went into an interesting Bengali Sweet shop, I think it was called Anand. Heard it was around 100 years old. They had pictures of all famous bengali's starting from Raja Ram Mohan Roy to not sure who the latest was. But was interesting to see photos of JC Bose, Sarat Chandra chatterjee, Bankim chandra chatterjee etc etc. Bought some Nolengud ka Sandesh from there and headed back to Hyd
