Pench Tiger Reserve – Wildlife Safari
The Endangered Royal Bengal Tiger gracefully looking at us in Pench Tiger Reserve. Pench Tiger Reserve is one of the best places to see the Royal Bengal Tigers in the wild.
India is the best place to see Royal Bengal Tigers in the wild. Few other places to see tigers in India are Tadoba Tiger Reserve, Pench Tiger Reserve, Ranthambore National Park, Kanha Tiger Reserve etc. We decided to visit Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve in April month as it is the driest season in Central India and the best time to see wildlife. Surprisingly, there were no safari slots left in Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve for April month. We didn’t expect that very early booking was needed for wildlife safaris in these Tiger Reserves. So we went ahead with Pench Tiger Reserve.
Vinod was very eager for the Wildlife Safari but I was worried about the weather. Going to another place where the weather was much hotter than Chennai was not something I had in my mind for a getaway. Anyway, I was eager to see a leopard, so I packed some cotton dresses, sun hats to protect us from the Sun and got ready for the hot wildlife safari in Pench Tiger Reserve.
Pench is located at around 90 kms from Nagpur. On reaching the place we were greeted by Golden Oriole. To my surprise, an orchid also was in bloom.
The safari in Khursapar Gate (Maharashtra) was like we expected, no stopping for any wildlife except Royal Bengal Tiger. We saw a Royal BengalTiger within few minutes and then we wanted to see birds and other mammals. But the driver was so fast and every time we spotted something, we had to shout at him to stop the vehicle. When we returned back to our resort, we were covered with mud but atleast we saw the tiger.
So in Turia Gate (Madhya Pradesh) we didn’t have much expectations for birding but we hoped to see a tiger and leopard. The events turned out exactly opposite and we were really happy about that. First, weather turned out to be cloudy and then we had a small drizzle to cool everything. So, the safari ride was very pleasant. Second, the drivers drove very slowly as there was strict rule enforcement on over speeding. Third, the guides were happy that we wanted to do birding. So, they tried to show us every bird, to the extent that they even stopped for the common Indian Roller and Peacock. Fourth, the cleanest public toilet I have ever seen in India and that too in the midst of a forest.
The open grazing lands are always much needed for the herbivores. A herd of Indian Gaur were casually grazing in Pench Tiger Reserve.
As we were thoroughly enjoying the ride, we got one of the best moments of the safari , the spotting of Barn Owl. The Barn Owl was in the same color as the Ghost tree (Sterculia urens) and it looked so beautiful. We were all stunned with the beauty of the owl and we were later told by our guides that this was the first sighting of Barn Owl inside the reserve.Another moment was spotting Mottled Wood Owl which sat well camouflaged and we found it only when it moved to scare away other small birds.
The weather and birds sighting turned out so awesome that we thoroughly enjoyed the wildlife safari in Pench Tiger Reserve. To share our excitement we did our first VLOG for Pench Tiger Reserve ! Click the below link to see the birds, mammals we saw in Pench Tiger Reserve.
Youtube Vlog for Pench Tiger Reserve Wildlife Safari