A trip to Mowgli's Forest - Pench

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.

croc tree

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

Tadoba - My first tyrst with the Tiger

I had been wanting to visit a Tiger Sanctuary but had not got an opportunity as such. Moreover, I was under the impression that a visit to a Wildlife reserve would be quite boring with nothing much to do, but wait for animals to show themselves. So I had not seriously thought of visiting one.
So one fine day, out of the blue we wanted to go on a long drive and decided to visit Pench Tiger Reserve. Unfortunately, I found out that Pench was closed for the monsoon, even though the monsoons were yet to start off. In a couple of days, I saw an invite by GHAC to visit Tadoba. had never heard of this name before, so did not bother to read the mail. Only when Anirban said lets got to Tadoba that I looked up that mail to see if it was good enough. As I browsed, I saw some pics taken at Tadoba the week before and I was surprised. I quickly said Yes, lets go. So we planned to go there the coming weekend and tried to get company but in vain.

On the D day, 23/Jul/2010, we left office by noon, quickly packed and started on our journey. I was actually very apprehensive about the journey because it was just the 2 of us, in an i10, with no prior driving experience, had to pass through Naxal areas and forest areas before we reach our destination. The first part of our drive was really enjoyable with the rain following us. The Medak highway was really green and fresh just after a heavy downpour. As we headed towards Siddipet we could see so many butterflies flying around right in front of our car as it cruised along at nearly 100kmph. Some of them crashing on our windsheilds as though we were getting a high if they made it through alive.

We soon passed through Mancherial - .I too had my fair share of driving. We passed to many villages and driving through these villages was difficult, with autos filled with people trotting by but right in the middle of the road. Once out of the village we would again go into cruise mode.

It almost became dark when we were close to the outskirts of AP. While passing through a small village, we werejust following a truck on a single lane bridge, when a two wheeler, over took us and started to over take the truck in front of us. When he was to the right of the truck, he lost his balance and ended up under the trucks rear wheels and was crushed to death immediately. We had to witness this horrific accident and both of us were completely shaken. When the truck did not stop and continue to move, we too silently followed was the man was dead anyways. When we passed through a police check post, I told my husband to stop and I frantically told the police that the truck in front of us had just killed the person. The police moved fast and intercepted the trunk. Then on second thought i realized that it was no fault of the truck guy and I had handed him over to the police for no fault of his and that his family was doomed and that he would spend x number for years in prison and that he would have to pay a hefty price to his owner, all these thoughts made me feel like I had blood on my hands. I was even more shaken now and totally confused. But we had no choice but to just go ahead.

We enterd Maharashtra, passed through Rajura, Bellarpur and finally reached Chandrapur. Chandrapur is quite a big place and we took a much needed break and picked up some dinner. It was already 10 pm by now and we had to still find our way to our MTDC hotel which was arounf 15 km from the forest gate. Finding our way to the Forest gate itself was quite diffult and I heaved a sigh of relief when I saw the closed gate in front of me. We had to convince the gaurd to let us as the gate closes by 8:30 pm. Once inside the gate, it was along road through the forest to the Hotel. On our way we could see rabbit hopping by and even soemthing that looked like a mongoose. Finally we reached the hotel and collapsed on our bed, as we had to wake up by 5:00 am the next day.

24/Jul I was up by 4:30 and in very low spirits and the events from the previous night still haunted me. By 5:30 we were ready and waiting for Bandu the driver we had booked. Bandu arrived in his Gypsy and we headed towards the forest. Tadaba has 2 ranges the Moharli Range and the Tadoba Range. You have to choose which range you wnat to visit at the gate and buy an entry ticket accordinly. The entry ticket for 2 along with a guide costed us just 250 Rs. We opted for the Mohar;i range for this trip. The forst looked lush green, with water collected in small ponds. the drive was very refreshing. We first spotted the a couple Sambar Deer. They headed into the jungle once they saw us. As we drove along we could see a few peacocks and the Serpent Eagle. Within a few more minutes we spotted 4 Indian Bison or the Gaur. They looked at us and continued their grazing when they realized we were not a threat. We drove along hoping to spot the ever elusive Tiger. I had no hopes of spotting one, and Jusrt enjoyed the drive through the forest in the open gypsy. In Tadoba you are allowed to take in your own vehicle as well. We were just worried that our i10 would not be able to handle the slushy roads and wnated to give it some rest after the long journey.

We drove along and when we eneterd a small nuddy path we saw that all the otehr gypsys had stopped and everyone looking in one direction. Soon we realized that they had spotted 3 tigers snoozing in the bushes. We too starined ourselves to see and could not see from our gypsy and the bamboo forming tiger mirages and playing games with us. We finally got onto another gypsy that had a better view and Lo behold , 2 majestic tigers dozing away, pawing on flies troubling them. We were super excited. When they swooshed theirs paws to rid the flies, they lloked cute. At times they changed sides and gave us a lazy look. The guide told us that there was a tigress with 4 cubs around 8 months old and ones that we were wathing were 2 of the 4 cubs. Though only 8 moht they looked quiote fully grown. After spending close to an hour there, we headed back. The park is open from 6:00 am to 11:am in the morning and again from 3:00pm to 7:pm in the night.

Our second trip to the forst was for the tadoba range, but since we had the sightings in Moharli, we decied to visit Moharlu again in the evening. This time we were joined my Dr Abhijit Deshpande and cardiologist and Wildlife Photographer. He had his camera gear with a few lenses and was we chatted along we realized that each of his lense where worth lacs. My dream of becoming a Wildlife photograph came crashing down. We again headed to the same spot where we had seen the tigers in the morning. As we were a little late, we could again see a long line of gypsy and realised that again we had missed a good view. We got to know that a tiger was sitting on the path when all these gypsies arrived and drove it back into the jungle. The widlife photographe with us told us that we stay put as the tiger would come back and try to cross the path and that its the same family that has been split. So we stood right there for over 20 minutes, when we suddnely spotted the tiger within the woods again. And this time no crowed, just 2 gypsy. So we waited and watched and tiger slowed moved closer, emerged from the jungle, got onto the path, gave us a look, walked on the path for a while, before disappearing into the jungle again. It was a sight to watch, and we were thrilled. So since 3 of the familay mebers had moved to the other part of the forest everyone was sure that the other 2 too wuold follow. So again this time we stayed put, waiting for the other 2 to emarge. By then most of the other gypsyis had returned. We stood there waiting in a line. We then suddenly noticed a tigers face, at the distance of 15 ft from us. It slowly moved closer, not at all perturned by the fact that there was a line of gype filled with people watching it. It caem closer towards nehind our jeep and at one point was only 5 ft from Anirban. It just sniffed around, maybe cursing us for troubling and stopping him from crossing over, walked further ahead and crossed over. This was the closest we could get. We tried our best to get a decent shot with our camra but our camera failed to do justice. We returned happy and extremely satisfied after ahving a plate of amazing poha at a stall near the tadoba gate.

Sunday was our last trip to the forest. We had decided we would leave after the trip and hit the roads atleast by 12:00 pm. I was woken up to the sound of pouring rain and was disappointed that this tripo to the forest is ruined. We were ready and Dr Abheek Ghosh came knowcking on our door. After a fromal intro we started off into the jungly on his gypsy. As it was raning he had put on the covers and we only had to watch out from the side. We went back to the same spot as yesterday, with the rain pouring over and nothing in sight, we roamed around a little. We stopped at a clearing thinking that we would move ahead based on a pacock or a langurs call. No call, just the sound of rain continued. After waiting for around an hour, we decided to head for a cup of tea. As our jeep drove by at a distance we saw a couple of vehcles stopped right in the middle of the road. It was the same seen again, 3 vubs had crossed over right to the other part fo the forest and the vehicle in front of us had the sight pf his life. So we just hoped that the other 2 are left back and and decided to stay put.

Then suddenly Anirban could spot the face of a tiger, just at the edge of the forest. All of us sat attentive as there were no more jeeps but us now. The tiger just looked at us unable to make up its mind whether to cross the road in our presence or to come back later. It waited there looking at us time to time, eating a few blades of grass and just waiting for us to leave. But we were stubborn too. We waited patiently. The tiger did not budge. Mostly it was one of the cubs and was a little initimidated by our presence. Very soon another jeep joined us and both played the waiting game. The Tiger gave up and went in back to the forest. When we sat there waiting for the tiger to emerge back. Suddenly I spotted something moving on the road way ahead. I thought it was the tiger and shouted out. But it was Sloth bear crossing the road to the other part of the jungle. So we continued waiting. After a few minutes one tiger emerged from the forest on our right at a distnace, paced around a bit maybe trying to signal to his sibling to come and join the rest. This seemed true as in a few minutes, the tiger that had disappeared came back, abd this time crossed the majestically to join its siblings. Once its crossed over, it was joined by the 2 more tigers and they lay in thicket near the road, dozing and licking and wiping themselves dry, though it continued to rain. We waited as watched then snooze, roll over, sneeze, lick each other dry and when we had enough headed to the chai shop, hoping to enjoy some poha, but to our bad luck Poha was finished for the day.

We headed back and had to quickly start on our journey back. We started off by around 12.00 pm as we drove through the forest heading for the gate, the greenery around us made us feel so enriched. The journey back was much more easy because we covered most of the distance in the day and reached Hyd by 9:30pm