Pench National Park

Pench National Park is nestled in the lap of southern side of the satpuda hills and is named after Pench River, strolling through the park from north to south, dividing the park from its center. Pench National Park is positioned on the border line of Seoni and Chhindwara districts of Madhya Pradesh, close to Maharashtras border on the northern side. The reserve is placed in the forest belt extending to Balaghat in the east and Nagpur district in the south.

Pench National Park is sprawled over an area of 758 sq km, of which the core area of 299 sq km of Indira Priyadarshini Pench National Park and the Mowgli Pench Sanctuary and the rest of the 464 sq km of Pench national park is the defense area.

The park was declared to be with the national status by the Government of Maharashtra in 1975 and received the official status of “Tiger Reserve of India” in February 1999. The region is rich in its biodiversity, its terrain defined by hills, valleys and the occasional steep slope, Pench plays an important role in supporting ecosystem as it has an abundance of flora and fauna, including a rich variety of aquatic life.

The Pench National Park incorporates four different forest regions in one, an extravagance of trees, shrubs, grasses, climbers, weeds and herbs, with teak being the most prominent of the tree species. The park is home to 33 species of mammals, 164 species of birds, 50 species of fish, 10 species of amphibians, 30 species of reptiles, and a wide variety of insect life.

There are other animals that are inhabitants of the park such as sambhar, chital, barking deer, nilgai, black buck, gaur, wild boar, chausingha, sloth bears, wild dogs, langurs, monkeys, mouse deer, black-naped hares, jackals, foxes, hyenas, porcupines, and flying squirrels, to name a few.

Here, birdlife is equally in abundance. The feathered residents of Pench are both native and migratory birds like Malabar pied hornbills, Indian pittas, ospreys, grey-headed fishing eagles, white-eyed buzzards, storks, waterfowls, four endangered vulture species, and the green pigeon, which is the State Bird.

Indeed, the beauty of this part of central India has received much literary consideration. The area holds a glorious history the natural wealth of the region has been described in Ain-i-Akbari. Pench Tiger Reserve and its vicinity is the creative setting of Rudyard Kiplings most famous work, The Jungle Book. The poet Kalidas has written about the picturesque fascination of the place in his epics Meghdootam and Sakuntalam. R.A. Strendales “Camp in the Satpura Hills” draws a flamboyant pen picture of this tranquil paradise – as did by Forsyths in “Highlands of Central India”.