The national park at Kanha was humongous and is a part of the central India Tiger Reserve.
With the complete dedication of time, resources and commitment, this rambling forested region will take a die-hard wildlife enthusiast far more than a month to even cover twenty percent of this undulating tree laden landscape.
left to get lost into the wilderness
Forrest corridor🏞️🌲
Every time we drove out, we could make out with our evolving knowledge in biology or botany that we were witnessing a variety of ever changing landscapes and woodlands of Madhya Pradesh wildlife.
The roads, the trees, the meadows changed. Somewhere we found tall hillocks right off the dirt roads, covered with trees that were entirely different than what we had seen a day before in the same area.
humans stand as a mute spectator as we drove
past Kanha’s fast-diminishing forest cover
We continued our quest for more as we ate the remaining miles that spaced us out from the forest fringes which had given way to towns and habitation.
The dirt track that meandered through the forest exposed us to the dense forest areas, unlike the flat grasslands we had seen earlier.
Dense jungle🐾
over the lower ridges of a knoll. As we turned right into the forest,
darkness enveloped us as the trees blanked off the sun completely
We were mesmerized by the extent of contrasts that this forest had to offer. No matter how much we drove through the forests for hours, we never got tired.
The view of two lone Gypsies driving up front slowly through a narrow corridor of the forest gave us that element of acute elation.
as we relentlessly drove through the Kanha’s amazing woods
The insatiable expectation to see the unseen.
At places, the forest was very close to the road and a fear of a sudden appearance of a leopard perched on a tree branch kept us on the edge.
that gave us company amidst the bright and brute nature
We would not even have the space to turn around or drive in reverse. We would have been sitting ducks if it had pounced on us.
Not long before our thoughts made us think deeper, the ever-evolving land presented a couple of rock-strewn streams that ran along the road.
Climbing uneven grasslands🌱
The Gypsy increased her engine note and the driver continuously changed to lower gears.
We were traversing an incline.
The streams were fed by the groundwater and clearly were not part of any torrential river system. There were dry patches too which we crossed.
Dry to semi-humid undergrowth was reminiscent of the water that had flowed through these areas. Now bare and polished rocks of the bed could be seen staring at us.
roared over the dry stream bed
We wanted to feel the forest, hear the sounds that reverberated every minute through the trees and echoed over the open spaces.
Even with the sun in full bloom, ensconced in total security provided by a car, the presence of trained forest guides, the long bellowing or sometimes, shorter squeaks, suddenly made us numb with fear.
The fear of the wild.
Dipping sunrays, dark shadows🖤
Our ears warmed and there was an adrenaline rush which we could feel as our bodies shivered. We stopped the vehicle and waited a full ten minutes, appreciating the vastness and quietness of nature.
Our driver was a very considerate man and smiled at us. He kept us with our request to stop at places and let us savor the rich beauty and silence.
We kept on our pace of romancing the forest and after traveling the last four kilometers the broken wooden gate loomed ahead and the road through it took us outside the forest.
Dry forests of Pench🌿
We snatched ourselves from Kanha’s enticing grasslands and headed for Pench national park.
The plan was to touch and go over this specific wilderness, briefly before heading back to Nagpur. Pench is located south west of Kanha and is not as big; however, had enough wild firepower to attract any natural lovers.
I got back into the Hindustan Ambassador and felt all my own driving elements coming back after three days of being driven and gunned the engine to drive about one hundred and ninety odd kilometres to reach Pench.
with its nose towards the Kisli gate entry through which
we catapulted our way to Pench
Maintaining an average drive speed of eighty kilometers an hour, we took about three hours to reach Pench. By the time we reached, the sun had well past its prime and had started its westward homeward run.
Man eater leopard🐅
We traveled about four to five kilometres in the forest as it was getting dark before we came to a spot where we met a lethal feline within an iron fortress.
Pench’s forested horizon ablaze with the setting sun
My excitement was bursting at its seams, as I was able to capture a leopard, infamous for killing twenty humans and now lived its remaining life in captivity.
Love of human blood had changed its life.
Even today as we had seen, if someone approached the leopard at close quarters, the cat bared its yellow white teeth and hissed its fierce aggression as if it was in the wild, ready to strike.
Land of Rudyard Kipling✍️
For lunch, we came back to a restaurant that had murals and paintings that depicted the famous characters of Jungle book by Rudyard Kipling.
It was here, he wrote the book after falling in love with woods around him.
with the painting of ‘Mowgli‘ the famous Jungle Book boy character
We were almost on the verge of winding our brilliant forest excursion of Kanha and Pench. What we learned will remain with us forever.
You will get consumed by reverence for these forests by their sheer personality.
It is us who are the trespassers and not the wild animals.
By way of today’s technologies, we reckon we have become the so called demigods who take it for granted that animals can be driven to submission and handled with ruthlessness.
Love, thy forest🐅🌿
Instead of using our inventions to drive against them, we humans can be far more effective if we use them to help them flourish.
Replete with wild memories, I started the Ambassador to cover the two hundred and fifty kilometers of winding roads, briefly touching the Pench and spearheaded south west to reach Nagpur.
Hope the readers love the wild national parks of the tiger corridor of Madhya Pradesh and play by their rules and enjoy the wild country.
These wild animals are majestic and supreme, should prevail for our next generations to see, feel and glow in their delight.
I thank you for being with us through our exploration of Kanha and Pench.
| Part 1 | At 45 degrees NE Part 1 – Just 45° ↗️ to the northeast lies our gateway to the wilderness of 🌳 Kanha Wildlife Reserve 🦌 |
| Part 2 | ✨ Part 2 – Thrilling Drive through the Dense Jungle Trails of Kanha 🌳🚙🐅🌄 |
| Part 3 | 🌿🐅 Part 3 – Up Close with the Majestic Tigers of Kanha National Park! 🌳📸 |
| Part 4 | 🌿 Part 4 – Spellbinding Slices of Wildlife 🐅🦜: Kanha’s Living Natural Museum 🏞️ |
Inference
- Pench has the following gates in the core zones. They are Jamtara, Karmajhiri and Turia. The Turia is the biggest zone.
- Other zones are Khursapur, Sillari, Wolf Sanctuary, Rukhad.
- Indian black panther or black leopard is found in Pench.
- Pench lies on the Jabalpur-Nagpur highway.
SPITFIRE GAUTAM 