Pench National Park

My life lately has been consumed by work -- we are in the midst of our annual review cycle --- and being the GM of an office of more than 200 people means that I have to spend many weeks going over ratings, salary increases, etc.

I did take a break though last week and went to Pench National Park for 3 days of wildlife safaris and relaxing. It was an amazingly good time. I went on 3 safaris and was lucky to view a tiger on each outing. Seeing a tiger in the wild is definitely one of the highlights of my time here in India.

Pench is one of central India's lesser known reserves-- it has only has about 50 tigers, but since the park is on the small side, makes it easier to actually sight a tiger.

The park is situated in the Seoni and Chhindwara districts of Madhya Pradesh. I flew from Bangalore to Nagpur (which is located in the exact middle of India) and then a 90 km. drive west to Pench.

Dominated by hills, forests, and valleys, the park derives its name from the Pench River, which meanders its way through the entire stretch of the 757 km park. A typical central India teak jungle, Pench supports a variety of wildlife, including tigers, leopards, jackals, gaurs, sambars, and lots of birds (and I saw everything except a leopard!).

The park is also well known as the setting of Rudyard Kipling's classic tale, "The Jungle Book".