Pench National Park

Our deluxe tent

I'd been looking forward to this weekend trip for a while. It is on my 'list' to see a wild tiger in India - this was my first opportunity. But I didn't kid myself - the chances were pretty slim, especially given  the decline of the overall population, plus that fact that the monsoon rains made sure that the jungle would be thick & green, with plenty of water around, making it even harder to spot the elusive cat. Sarah and I boarded a plane from Hyderabad to Nagpur. We were picked up by a driver at Nagpur airport and then embarked on a 2.5 hour road trip on very rough roads. We arrived at Pench Jungle camp around 1pm. At reception I noticed a photo of Ian Botham & David Gower, who had both stayed there, plus some signed cricket bats. We were in good company then! We were shown our 'tent' - which was very nice - overlooking a lake. The inside had been done very nicely indeed. However the first thing I noticed was a huge spider on the wall, which alas had to be dispatched on Sarah's orders. We had a quick lunch then headed out for our first safari into the park. The main entrance was not opening until the next day, so we had to drive for 1 hour to another gate. When we got there it was closed - and they would not let our safari jeep in - so we drove another 1 hour back to the lodge - not  a good start! Our guide was suitably embarrassed, and took us on a drive into the buffer zone, pointing out birds along the way - not quite what we thought we would be getting.....That evening as we sat at our table for dinner that we were in fact the only people staying at the resort (they only opened 1 day ago)! Needless to say the service (and food) was very good, even though we felt our every move was being monitored by the entire staff!

Spotted Deer

Indian Roller

We woke at 5:15am as our safari started at 6am - time only for a quick cuppa. We arrived at the park entrance (we were the 2nd jeep in line). This was the opening day for the park, so there was a lot of activity, including having our jeeps's photo taken. Formalities over (had to show passports), we entered the park. We were the only ones in the jeep, which could seat 7 plus driver and guide. We started scanning the dense jungle for any sign of orange and black stripes. At one point the jeep stopped as our guide had heard the distress calls of the Spotted Deer - clear signs that a predator was near by. We waited for about 20 mins but no big cat appeared (the park has about 100 leopards and 60 tigers). During our morning safari we saw a lot of wildlife - lots of deer (several types), Gaur - Large Indian Bison, several Jackals, loads of monkeys and amazing birdlife. After 3 hours of driving through the jungle we stopped at 'Central Point' where we stopped for a picnic breakfast - very posh! The morning game drive finished around 12:30.

Jackals

The afternoon safari started around 2:30pm. We saw a lot of the wildlife as in the morning - this park was obviously very healthy, with plenty of natural tiger prey on offer.  Even though I sensed this was not going to be our day for spotting a tiger, it was nonetheless exciting as you never knew if you may get lucky. To our amazement  there were groups of women cutting grass by the trails in the middle of the parl. Apparently since there is so much natural prey, the big cats do not see humans as food. Our driver chats to the women who say they had seen 2 tigers that morning - Sarah said we would have been better off helping them cut grass and get a tiger sighting! Although it was a shame that we came away without seeing a tiger, it added to the allure of this elusive, almost mystical animal.