About Pench Tiger Reserve:

Pench Tiger Reserve or Pench National Park is one of the premier tiger reserves of India and the first one to straddle across two states – Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. Ordinarily, the reference to Pench is mostly to the tiger reserve in Madhya Pradesh(M.P).

The portion of the reserve that is in Madhya Pradesh is nestled in the southern slopes of the Satpura range of Central India. Pench Tiger Reserve comprises the Indira Priyadarshini Pench National Park, the Pench Mowgli Sanctuary and a buffer. It derives its name from its life line-the River Pench. Inside the park, the river flows from North to South before going on to join the Kanhan River, while splitting the Park into two, and forming the boundary of Seoni District and Chhindwara District districts of Madhya Pradesh. The Meghdoot dam built across Pench River at Totladoh has created a large water body of 72 km2 out of which 54 km2 falls in M.P. and rest in the adjoining state of Maharashtra. The Pench River which emerges from Mahadeo Hills of Satpuda Ranges and the various nallas and streams which drain into it, all flow through the forests of Protected Area. The Satpuda ranges which bear the forests of the Protected Area act as an excellent watershed area for the Totladoh as well as lower Pench Reservoirs.

On the Madhya Pradesh side, the Pench Tiger Reserve encompasses a core area of 411.33 km2, with a buffer of 768.3 km2., making for a total protected area of 1179.63 km2. The core area includes the Mowgli Pench Wildlife Sanctuary whose area is 118.30 km2. The Buffer Zone is constituted by Reserve Forests, Protected Forests and Revenue land.

Located south of the tiger reserve area in Madhya Pradesh, is the Pench Tiger Reserve, Maharashtra. On the Maharashtra side, the Pench Tiger Reserve has a core habitat area of 257.3 km2 along with a buffer/peripheral area of 483.96 km2. of the Mansinghdeo Sanctuary, making for a total protected area 741.2 km2.[5] Spanning over a total protected region of over 1920 km2., both these tiger reserves are included in the Level 1, 13,223 km2 (5,105 sq mi) Tiger Conservation Unit – 31 (Kanha-Pench TCU).[6] As per many experts, this area is considered as one of the most prime and critical tiger habitat remaining in central India. As of May 2017, the number of tigers in Pench Tiger Reserve has increased up to 44 as compared to 31 in 2016. From this numbered estimate, 22 are males and 22 are females. This estimate does not include the number of cubs present, which are assumed to be about 7 – 8. The estimation was conducted jointly by the Wildlife Conservation Trust (WCT) and Pench Tiger Foundation, spread over 21 days in January 2017.

Weather:

The Central Indian Highlands have a tropical monsoonal climate, with a distinct monsoon (July to September), winter (November to February) and summer (April to June).

The mean annual rainfall is around 1400 mm, with the south-west monsoon accounting for most of the rainfall in the region. For the dry season (November to May), the mean rainfall was 59.5 mm, and the temperature varies from a minimum of 0 °C in winter to 45 °C in summer.

Fauna:

Zoogeographically, the Reserve falls in Oriental region. The carnivore fauna is represented by the Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris tigris), Indian leopard (Panthera pardus fusca), dhole (Cuon alpinus), jungle cat (Felis chaus), and small Indian civet (Viverricula indica). Wolves (Canis lupus pallipes) occur on the fringes and outside the Reserve limits. Striped hyena (Hyaena hyaena), sloth bear (Melursus ursinus), golden jackal (Canis aureus), and common palm civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus) make up the rest of the carnivore fauna of the Reserve.

Chital (Axis axis), sambar (Cervus unicolor), gaur (Bos gaurus), nilgai (Boselaphus tragocamelus), wild pig (Sus scrofa cristatus), Indian muntjac (Muntiacus muntjac) and chowsingha (Tetraceros quadricornis), are the wild ungulate species found in the study area. Chital, sambar, nilgai and wild pigs are found all over the Tiger Reserve. With the distribution of water governing their movement patterns to a great extent, gaur migrate down from the hills during the dry season and occupy the forests along the Pench River and other sources of water, and migrate back to the hill forests during the monsoon. Nilgai are found mostly in a few open areas, along forest roads, scrub jungles and fringe areas of the Reserve. Chowsingha are more localized to the greatly undulating areas of the Reserve. Barking deer are seen infrequently in moist riverine stretches. Chinkara (Gazella bennetti) are infrequently seen on the open areas bordering and outside the Buffer Zone of the Reserve (e.g. Turia, Telia, and Dudhgaon).

The common hanuman langur (Semnopithecus entellus) and rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta) represent the primate fauna of the area. The Indian porcupine (Hystrix indica), two species of mongoose viz. common mongoose (Herpestes edwardsii) and ruddy mongoose (Herpestes smithii), and black-naped hare (Lepus nigricollis nigricollis) also occur in this Tiger Reserve.

Visitors Information:

Being one of the most popular national parks in India, there is no need to worry about travelling to the Pench National Park as it is situated close to both the states i.e., Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. So, wildlife enthusiasts can travel to Jabalpur of Madhya Pradesh and Nagpur of Maharashtra by air, rail and road to further take the tourists to the Pench National Park.

Nagpur is located at a distance of around 130 km and is considered as an easy way to reach if travellers are coming in from both domestic and international destinations while Jabalpur is settled some 213 km away and can be used by only domestic flyers.  Seoni railway station tucked to Madhya Pradesh is the nearest railway station to Pench as it is located around 72 km away and is well connected to major cities of the country.

Co-ordinates : 21°40′17.76″N 79°18′11.88″E

Famous Tigers:

From different Gates at Pench:

  1. Collarwali
  2. Langdi
  3. Patdev
  4. Baras
  5. Badi Mada
  6. Charger or T1
  7. Baghinnalawali
  8. Sharmili
  9. BMW
  10. Rayyakasa
  11. T30
  12. Chhota Male – T2

Safari Gates at Pench:

  1. Touria Gate (MP)
  2. Karmajhiri (MP)
  3. Jhamtara (MP)
  4. Rukhad (MP) – Buffer Gate
  5. The Night Safari Gate (MP)
  6. Silari (Maharashtra)
  7. Chorbahuli (Maharashtra)
  8. Khursapur (Maharashtra)
  9. Kolitmaara (Maharashtra)
  10. Saleghat (Maharashtra)
  11. Surewani also known as Nagalwadi (Maharashtra)

Gypsy & Jeep Safaris are available. The safari Timings are:

Morning: 06:00 AM to 11:00AM (Entry Allowed till 08:00 AM)

Evening: 03:00 PM to 06:00PM (Entry Allowed till 04:30 PM)

The safari timing change as per seasons and sunrise and sunset.

Each gate offers safari permit to the exclusive area of that range and no vehicle is allowed to interchange the zones while on safari. The entry and exit gate for the vehicle has to be same. The gypsy charges or vehicle charges are separate and one has to pay differently.

The tourists are not allowed to get down from the vehicle throughout the safari. A set of rules and regulation exists for tiger safari and the park guide is aware of that. One has to follow his instruction in order to follow the regulations.

For the gate entry one needs to produce identification documents of the tourists like passport/aadhar card/ pan card etc. For the foreigners the passport in original has to be shown.

Source: Wikipedia.