About Pench Tiger Reserve Nestled in the southern slopes of The Satpura ranges of central India, Pench Tiger Reserve lies in the southern Madhya Pradesh, bordering Maharashtra. The Pench National Park which constitutes the core of the Tiger Reserve was […]
About Pench Tiger Reserve
Nestled in the southern slopes of The Satpura ranges of central India, Pench Tiger Reserve lies in the southern Madhya Pradesh, bordering Maharashtra. The Pench National Park which constitutes the core of the Tiger Reserve was notified in 1983. The total core area comprises the Indira Priyadarshini Pench National Park and the Mowgli Pench Sanctuary.
Pench National Park gets its name from the Pench river that flows through it, dividing it into the western Chhindwara Block and the eastern Seoni Block.
Over 1,200 species of plants have been recorded in the area including several rare and endangered plants as well as plants of ethno-botanical importance.
Pench National Park is the original setting of Rudyard Kipling’s famous work, The Jungle Book. The character, Mowgli, was inspired by Sir William Henry Sleeman’s pamphlet, ‘An Account of Wolves Nurturing Children in Their Dens’. Many of the places described in The Jungle Book are actual locations in Seoni district, like the Waingunga river with its gorge where Sher Khan was killed, Kanhiwara village and the Seoni Hills.
Pench is prime tiger country. The area has always been rich in wildlife. The heterogeneity of mixed forests, shrubs and grasslands here creates a favourable condition for the dense population of cheetal and sambhar, the key prey species for tiger and leopard. Pench Tiger Reserve has the highest density of herbivores in India. This is also among the best areas for bird watching. Over 285 species of resident and migratory birds are found here.
The best time to visit Pench is summer as animals come out in search of water.
