Pench Tiger Reserve

It was for quite sometime that I was planning a trip to the Pench Tiger Reserve in the Seoni district of M.P. India. Finally I booked my safaris in the last week of November 2016 and landed at Nagpur, the nearest airport . Pench from there is  about 97 kms away. It takes about  ninety minutes time  to reach there by car.

Pench is quite historical . You find its mention  in the Ain-e-Akbari of Abul Fazl . But it was late Rudyard Kipling whose 'Jungle Book' gave it the real name and  fame. The 'Jungle Book' incorporates its setting and topography from Robert Strendale's books 'Seonee' and the "Denizens of the Jungle'. And  "Mowgli", the fascinating hero of  Kipling's 'Jungle Book', portrays the wolf child who was caught by Lieut. Moor in the jungles of Seoni in the year 1831 near the village of Sant Vavadi located just ten kilometres away from Seoni and about whom William Sleeman wrote in his book  'The Journey Through the Kingdom of Oude". It is believed that Rudyard Kipling had visited Pench  while he was in the service of erstwhile state of Dewas.

Pench Tiger Reserve derives its name from the river 'Pench' which flows through the reserve from north to south dividing it in two equal parts and in two revenue districts that is Seoni and Chindwara respectively. Standing on  the Mahadev Ghat side you are in the geographical limits of Seoni while the other bank on the opposite side falls in the district of Chindwara.

 

Pench Tiger Reserve was upgraded to 'National Park' in the year 1983. It comprises an area of 758 sq km .

Dense,dark and deep that is how I will describe the Pench forest at this time of the year. Right from entering the Turia gate,  the forest on both sides of the jungle road captivates you with it beauty. Its teak tress are simply magnificent . Straight and tall reaching to about 100 feet in height ! Its two tourist zones called popularly as route 1 and route 2 take you around the forest. Route 1, in comparison to route 2, is  quite hilly and preferred by the tourists for tiger and leopard

 sightings. However both the routes are rich in their natural beauty.


Pench hosts a variety of wildlife, flora and fauna. Tiger, Leopard , Indian Bison. Jackal, Blue Bull , Spotted Deer , Sloth Bear, Black faced Langur, Wild Boar and Sambhar Deer are some of the wild animals found here. The interesting animal character 'Tabaqui'- the Jackal of 'The Jungle Book' has a good population here and so is of 'Bagheera'- the Leopard. But I didn't see any wolf . Among the birds you find Parakeets, Crested Serpent Eagles, Crested Hawk Eagles, Owls, Green Bee Eaters , Blue Jay's, Peacocks. Jungle Fowls , Drongo and many water Birds.

 My keenness to sight the big cats of Pench was successful on my last safari  almost around the closing  hours. While coming back I met a jeep on the way which informed that the 'Raiyakassa' , the famous male tiger of Pench Tiger Reserve, was still at the banks of 'Beeja Matta' waterhole. My driver reversed and speeded back and as luck would have it I got the feline walking on the bank of the water hole . It scat marked its territory  and then descended down in  the waterhole area. The daylight was almost gone and darkness has started setting in. However I jacked up the ISO setting and got some shots just for the record.

    Pench Tiger Reserve is beautiful indeed. I will visit again in May 2017.

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Some Tips for Photographing Wildlife in India

With its more than 500 wildlife sanctuaries and 48 tiger reserves spread all over the country, India offers ample opportunities to photograph its amazing flora and fauna. Incidentally India is home to the famous Royal Bengal Tiger of which about 1750 roam in the Indian wilds  as on today : the largest number of tigers living in the wild  the world over. India is home to other big cats also like the Asiatic Lion and the Leopard. The only exception is the Cheetah which went extinct from India somewhere around late 1800's.


Apart from the big cats India is home to a variety of herbivores : the deer and antelopes , wild elephants, the most endangered one horned Rhino of which only 3000 are left live in the wild, the Sloth Bear and the Dhole or the Indian Wild Dog. The avian species are also numerous roughly more than 500 native and many migratory which visit during October to March every year.




These tips are general in nature and describe my first hand experience of photographing wildlife in the wildlife reserves of  the north ( Dudhwa National Park, Katarnia Ghat  and Kishenpur Wildlife Sanctuaries) and central India. ( Bandhavgarh , Kanha, and Tadoba Tiger Reserves)




Best Time and Places: I find mid February to March end as the best time for visiting wild life parks of India. The weather around this time is very pleasant and with the onset of spring season the jungles are in their most beautiful phase. However for tiger photography I would suggest April and May when the day time heat reaches to its extreme and thus increasing chances of sighting tigers around waterholes to the maximum.


Corbett , Dudhwa and Manas in the north and northeast India, Bandhavgarh, Kanha, and Tadoba in the central India and Ranthambhore in the west India are some of the  best places for wildlife photography. In southern India one may like to visit Bandipur, Nagarhole and Periyar .




Equipment : This needs no detailing as I think every wild life photographer knows already about it.
In this age of digital photography some very good systems are on the offer by the well known photo equipment makers like Nikon, Canon and Sony. One may choose as per his personal liking and budget. Being a Canon aficionado I use  6D and 5D Mark III bodies with EF 300 mm F/2.8 L II prime and a 70-300 mm  f /4-5.6 L zoom lens. However I must emphasize on having the right kind of equipment, the camera body and glass, for this genre of photography. Birders need at least a lens of 500 mm focal length and a camera body having fast focus acquisition, tracking and burst shutter capabilities.




Know the basics of wildlife behaviour: Like the ISO, Aperture and shutter speed being the triumvirate of any photography, the right photo equipment, knowledge of wildlife behaviour and patience make the three main pillars of successful wild life photography.


I will briefly share my experience :




Birds: As a general rule the smaller the bird the more agile and unstable it is like the GBE's, Pittas, Finches and the Orioles. The reverse is true of big birds like Raptors , Owls and Cranes . However all

migratory birds are wary of humans and maintain a very safe distance preferring the middle of the water body.


Deer and Antelopes: They also like to maintain a safe distance from humans. But these are very curious animals. So when photographing them stop in your place and do not chase. And by all probabilities their curios nature will make them to stop at a safe distance and look back at you. That should be your moment to click.

Tiger and Leopard : Tigers are very stable while resting and that gives ample time to photograph them.


However  a tiger walking on or crossing a jungle road requires some understanding of the feline behaviour. Tigers are supremely confident of themselves  and seldom glance to their right or left while walking but when changing the track or crossing a jungle road they do , for once, look back or glance to the side where any object may be. That should be the moment of click. That is how I got a good shot of the famous and equally shy Mahahman tigress of Bandhavgarh in 2015.


Leopards are most elusive. It is just a matter of chance that you may get them walking on the jungle road at comfortable distances for photography.

Dholes or Indian Wild Dogs: They do not fear humans. So its easy to photograph them.

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Sloth Bear: During summer season , in early mornings ,  you may find him at close distances. But take care and be very careful of this most unpredictable beast in the wild.

Wild Boar: Very intelligent and most unstable. They tend to run away the moment they see you. However if you spot them standing then do not pick up or point your camera in a sudden motion or hurriedly. The key is to remain motionless and let the animal indulge in its activity , An then to pick up your camera slowly and click.

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Witnessing a Live Hunt

As a wildlife photographer I visit India's prime tiger lands like Bandhavgarh, Kanha, Dudhwa and Tadoba regularly . Though all of them are fantastic in their very own individual ways, I am a bit partial to Bandhavgarh and Tadoba . And that is perhaps because I have been visiting Bandhavgarh from 1992 and that Tadoba has not disappointed me ever in the last six years. I have been fortunate to see and photograph almost all famous felines of Tadoba during this period and have written about one of its tigresses, the P-2, in my earlier blogs and who I regard as one of the most iconic surviving big cats of India today .  Incidentally this incident, which can be said to be a training hunt, is also about her.


I was in Tadoba last month from 19th to 24th to photograph P-2's three ten months old cubs. They were quite small when I saw them last in December 2015.

On 20th April I was on a morning safari at Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve and parked at the southern end of the Panderpavni waterhole #1 where tigress P-2 happened to be sitting just opposite at the far end east bank of the drying lake with her three ten months old cubs. It was early morning but the April heat was oppressive. The lake was almost dry but for some water at the middle. After sometime the feline family started walking towards the lake and dashed in to waters to cool off. The cubs started swimming and frolicking. That went on for about 15-20 minutes when the cubs came out of the water chasing each other. The tigress glanced at them and then, slowly, she also came out of the water and sat down at the bank looking across the lake with her head held high. That was undoubtedly a stately stance and a classic  Royal Bengal Tiger pose. The shutterbugs went ga- ga and started sounding the rapid fire burst of their cameras. And then the tigress got up and started walking in the direction of the southern end where I was parked. But her demeanour was  changed. From her body language she looked very alert . She was now crouching and keeping her neck outstretched as if on the trail of some prey.

On the southern end, where I was parked, was a Dhak tree about some sixty feet away at 11Ó'clock position. Sitting under the shade of that tree and obscured by the surrounding tall dry jungle grass was a full grown ruminating Gaur or Indian Bison. But nobody saw the Gaur till the tigress came up walking all the way from the opposite side of the lake and made a lightening like charge in the grass at the unsuspecting gaur. That was quite natural also. You do not look here and there when a tiger comes walking towards you. You get mesmerized.

The charge was fast, precise and ferocious. In one swift stroke the tigress hocked the left hind leg of the gaur. The huge bovine could not react or get up. It was immobilised in its place and sitting helplessly there on the ground started baying painfully.



The tigress then gave out a faint growl. That was her call to the cubs to come over . The cubs arrived there in no time and started biting and pawing the live prey. The mother tigress sat nearby watching the cubs practicing their hunting skills from a close distance. From time to time she walked to the cubs to reassure them and help overcome their nervousness . She seemed to be saying " Children go on. You are doing good, And don't fear . Look I am here with you".

The poor gaur was in great agony as the cubs were biting him to death very slowly. It was very natural also. The ten months old tiger cubs neither have proper killing techniques nor the physical proportions, especially the canines, to take on big animals. 

It was just a chance that I happened to be at the right place at he right time and witness  just once in the life time like event. Now I love Tadoba even more .

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