Thursday, November 15, 2007

Pench tiger reserve

Nestled in the Satpura mountain ranges Pench tiger reserve is famous for being the place where Mowgli the wolf child was first discovered. He is the hero of Rudyard Kipling book “The Jungle Book” which is a world famous book and has highlight Indian jungle life to readers all over the world. Along with Mowgli, Akela the wolf, Bagheera the black panther, Sher Khan the tiger and Baloo the bear became famous as well. This book on Indian jungles offers the finest depiction of Indian wild animals. The movie “Jungle Book” is based on this book and is produced by Walt Disney Pictures.

The preserve is named after Pench a perennial river which flows through the park and is the lifeline of this National Park. Pench tiger reserve is situated in the state of Madhya Pradesh in the district of Seoni near Jabalpur which is well connected by rail and air. Numerous bus services are available to reach Khawasa which is 10 kilometer from the park gate. Pench is well connected with Nagpur by road which is 80 km and has an airport too. Nagpur offers flight services from Mumbai and Delhi to visitors on tiger tour to see Indian tiger and other wildlife. Apart from the Bengal tiger one can see large herds of Bison or Gaur, Sambar, Spotted deer and barking deer. One needs lots of luck to see the leopard, sloth bear and Indian wolf at the park. Tourism at

Pench is well organized and many resorts and lodges are available that offer luxury accommodation as well as economic fare to budget traveler. The travelers can hire jeep for tiger safari tour into the park. Tiger sighting is high at Pench and elephant rides conduct tiger show for the eco tourist to sight the magnificent tiger in the wild.

Although tourism is new to Pench tiger reserve sightings of the tigers are quite high and it ranks along with Bandhavgarh and Kanha in having a high population density of tigers as the statistics inform.