Many are familiar with Pench National Park because it’s featured as the setting for “The Jungle Book”. It is a wonderful forest reserve to visit, especially with its leopard and deer population. It is also featured in the wildlife series of BBC.
Pench National Park is situated along India s northwestern Maharastra state. Nagpur lies only 70 kilometers from this city. As for the vegetation in this park, it typically resembles a southern decidous tropical forest. Common animals you ll find here include wild dogs, bears, blue bulls, sambhars, the gaur, macaque, wild boar and the major attraction – its leopards and deer population. There are also some civets and tigers here.
The park is open from 6:00am to 10:30 am then from 3:00 pm to 6:00 pm. The best time to see Pench Park is though the months of February to April; however, it s closed from July to September.
Access through the park is via a road or the railway with the nearest located at Ramtek. You can also take a bus for the next thirty five kilometers to the park. Near Pench, there are important forest reserves such as the Navegaon National Park and the Nagzira Sanctuary.
Since November 2002, the park s name was altered to “Indira Priyadarshini Pench National Park just as the Pench Sanctuary was changed to “Mowgli Pench Sanctuary”. This is since this Pench forest reserve played a vital role as the setting for “The Jungle Book” – Rudyard Kipling s all time children s classic.
Being located on the southern part of the Satpura Hills, the park was named after the Pench River flowing through the area. With this, the park is already the 19th tiger reserve project in India since the year 1992. Aside from the various animals inside the park, there are about 10 villages here with one situated inside while 9 others by the periphery. To keep the reserve safe from poachers, there is a “high vigilance level” being implemented in the park. They also control both illegal and unnecessary felling of trees via timely patrolling. Patrols are conducted in groups wherein even nearby villagers extend their help. With the implemented security on the park, it continues to flourish as many bird watchers love the park, especially with the 270 species roaming freely through it.
Even BBC found the park suitable for their innovative wildlife series which they called “Tiger: Spy in the Jungle”. It was a three part documentary. The narrator is Sir David Attenborough. They used concealed cameras on elephants to capture the intimate behavior of tigers. The program was aired for the very first time last April of 2008.
What to Expect, Do and Bring to Pench National Park
Here are some things to expect, take note and consider while inside the park:
Always bring extra batteries for your camera.
Mobile phones often times or there are areas within the park that may be out of coverage.
There s no cable TV so just enjoy your time with nature.
To blend with the jungle background, it s best to wear natural colored clothing.
Bring a bug repellant.
If you ll experience wild encounters – stand still, don t talk and retreat quietly through backward steps.
Make sure to turn off your camera flash.
Never litter and never feed wild animals.
Never get off from the safari jeep inside the forest,
Never exceed the 20 kmph speed limit in the forest.
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