PENCH
a visit to Mowgli land | March 2012
Prologue This trip to Pench Tiger Reserve was due, as I had made a promise to Urja that her first jungle trip would be in Mowgli’s jungle. I painted the jungle book characters on the wall of her room when she was one year old...Mowgli, Sherkhan the tiger, Bagheera the panther, Balloo the bear, Kaa the snake and Haathi the elephant. Fortunately she has made good bonding with all of them since then. She also has watched the Disney classic animation hundreds of times and sometimes even thinks of herself as Mowgli, Shanti or Rajan depending on her mood. I usually have to play Balloo, for obvious reasons! So I always thought it would be a good idea to take it a step ahead and show her the real jungle of Mowgli and as many animals and birds in it. No quantity of high definition films and documentaries on wildlife can match the experience of actually being in the jungle. Pench tiger reserve is supposed to be the place which inspired Rudyard Kipling to produce the classic Jungle Book and so the plan started taking shape. There was a long weekend in the month of March and I could manage a couple of more days leave to make it into a chunk of holidays enough for this trip. The timing was good since it was the school exam time, which meant that there might be less crowd...also, since it was early summer, going to Nagpur was feasible. So we started talking to our close friends for company but finally only three of us were up for the trip! Shilpa did a fantastic job as usual finding a good resort and other travel arrangements and finally on 7th March we were on our way to Nagpur in a sleeper coach AC bus.
In her second year
Photo credits
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Almost all the images : Shilpa
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Only birds and animals : Alok
Nagpur to Khawasa Shilpa had managed to arrange a car for us in Nagpur which we could drive to Pench and keep with us for four days! This was courtesy of a gentleman from Nagpur who was a business contact of hers in her previous office. A car at our disposal for four days was going to make our life so comfortable and we were just about to experience it how... We experienced a real and truly generous Nagpuri hospitality offered by the gentleman and his family (unlike the rendition in Pu La’s Nagpurkar) and the first instance itself swept us off our feet...as soon as we got down from the bus, there was a brand new Maruti Swift waiting for us! The driver quickly handed over the car keys to me and after loading our luggage in the boot, he wished us a very happy journey. I spent a few more minutes before pushing off, to browse through all the controls. Once I was comfortable with the dashboard, we started towards Pench with the Google maps on my Xperia guiding us. As we drove through Nagpur, we noticed that there was hardly any traffic on the road and as we approached the railway station area, we found that all the shops were shut down. Pretty soon we realized that it was Holi festival on that day which was evident by the colourful or rather colour bathed people riding on bikes stopped by cops at every junction. It was not less than a curfew situation. The car owner called us soon to check if everything was ok and then said that he was on his way to play Holi with his family! Apparently Holi is a very eventful festival of colours and especially in the central and north part of India, people observe (or rather play) it very extensively. As the tank was already full, the only activity pending now was to withdraw cash for hotel payment. Everything was shut down including the petrol station, but fortunately the ATM was open and working. Now we were on our way to Mowgli land full speed.
Holi effect
The road was a simple one towards north of Nagpur via Kamptee defence area. After that there was a short stretch almost like expressway but without any toll and then again the old fashioned undivided NH6 continued. The surface condition was not very great as there were large potholes after every 100 meters which eventually slowed us down. There is always a heavy truck traffic on this route which is the main cause of this bad surface. The road till Khawasa passes through teak forest on both sides not allowing you to see beyond 100 feet even in summer. The dry forest textured with sparse but large teaks with broad leaves was often punctuated by blazing red ‘’flame of forest’’ trees. We passed through small villages on the way showing traces of Holi everywhere and soon came across a large dargah where many people gathered almost blocking the highway with their vehicles standing right in the middle. Immediately after fifty feet or so, the forest resumed again on both sides of the road! After about 80 odd km, came a patch where there was hardly any tar surface left and in front was a queue of large trucks on both sides of the road leaving a narrow gap in the middle for the moving traffic. This was Khawasa, as we could read the sign showing left turn for Pench tiger reserve. Soon we turned left and passed under the portal of the Tiger reserve with a welcome sign. We were inside Mowgli’s forest now! NH6 | Nagpur to Khawasa stretch
Khawasa
Khawasa to Turia - The final stretch
Khawasa to Turia
The road from Khawasa to Turia gate was a brand new concrete road passing through teak forest. The winding road induced a very nice feeling in our hearts. The whole landscape was very beautiful in its own way, even though very dry. The shear spread of the forest was overwhelming and it built a sense of mystery around; since we could not see the entire expanse of it. As we reached the Turia village, the road was blocked by a placing some rocks on the road side and a tree trunk across. It certainly alarmed me, but we soon realized that it was done by some kids demanding money for Holi festival. The boys gathered around our car but maintained some distance and asked for 10 rupees. I kept refusing and the boy kept asking. I realized that this could go on and on and was in no mood to stretch it any further, so I just rammed over the barrier, crossed it and drove ahead. Again appeared another barrier on the other end of the village, but this time the kids were too small and took off the log immediately. There was no adult to be seen outside in the village! Holi indeed was a serious affair here! Soon we reached a Y junction where the right branch goes to the Turia gate and our hotel was on the same road. Finally we reached Tiger n woods resort which is about 500 meters before the gate of the national park.
The resort : Tiger n woods
The tree ‘junction’
The resort is on the right side of the road some 100 meters inside. The setting of the resort is very impressive. It is nestled in the teak forest and feels very much in harmony with it. We were welcomed by the hotel staff and were lead to our cottage right away. Luckily, our cottage was the last one to the western end of the resort property- Cottage number 10...and beyond it was vast forest...what a setting! We quickly freshened up and got back to the dining area, as we were very hungry and it was almost 3 PM. As we reached the dining hall, we found a huge group of about 15-20 people including adults and the kids; making all sorts of noises and the place was filled with them. The road through the jungle had primed our mind to a certain quality of calmness which was suddenly destroyed within few seconds by this explosive human noise! Well, having no choice, we straight away indulged ourselves in lunch and while we cursed our fate, Urja kept watching the entire hustle bustle with a nervous look on her face. The women in the group were busy feeding the children while the men were drinking and smoking outside. Some kids were watching TV on full volume in a small room with the door open. As soon as I finished my food; I got up and asked the waiter about this large group, and to our luck, the entire group was to leave by evening!
Apparently, Pench being just 90 km from Nagpur is a favourite weekend gateway. What I had learned about Pench was about the Collarwali tigress with five cubs which was an extremely rare thing in the wild as portrayed beautifully in the BBC film showing some extra ordinary footage of the Tiger’s life. Ironic as it sounded, the waiter told me that majority of the visitors coming to the resort had nothing to do with the forest. They hardly went inside the park! However, there were an increasing number of tourists coming only for the forest which was visible the very next day at morning safari. Relieved with the news of the noisy group departing soon, we started exploring the resort.
A little more about the resort
Forest panorama
The resort was a very good place indeed and was very well spread out. None of the structures including the cottages were more than 1.5 floors high and therefore looked well embedded in the tall trees all around. From the gate a small pathway lead to the reception and office which had the dining hall in continuation and staff quarters hidden behind. Every structure had a sloping roof with thick layer of thatch above it. Muddy colour scheme with wood used almost everywhere made the place nicely blend into the surroundings. There were a couple of platforms or Machans built around tall trees. The construction appeared very raw with wooden planks and bamboo railings but once we reached on top, there were nice sofas and chairs offering a comfortable seating! Urja immediately liked the place and started running around all over. She was particularly thrilled about climbing up and down the Machans on her own. There were a couple of long swings made of wooden planks attached to the high branches of trees with thick ropes and a few hammocks tied up here and there. A bunch of tall trees formed a junction point on the small pathway between the dining hall and cottages. Here a few thick logs were kept as seats circling around a campfire grill in addition to the hammocks. The cottage itself was a very impressive structure. It was a twin cottage with a common staircase in centre, rising around 8 feet from the ground. The entire cottage was on stilts leaving the area below completely open. The construction was of metal structure which was concealed as much as possible and rest all was made in wooden planks including walls, floor, ceiling and furniture. It was an air cooled room with a desert cooler kept below on ground. There was small dressing area outside the bathroom and a large full width glass window for the bathroom offering a view of the vast forest beyond. Needless to say; I never closed the curtains whenever I used the bathroom! The wooden planks in the flooring had open gaps in between which Urja found very exciting since light was coming through them. Every now and then she kept looking though the gaps. There was a nice veranda behind the bedroom. It was a corner location and since our cottage was the last in the row, it offered an amazing wide angle view of the forest, uninterrupted except for the 4 inch thick corner pillar. A couple of hammock chairs with a centre table and a fan above made it a winner setting all the way. We spent most of the remaining day in lazing around in the veranda watching the bright starry sky till it was dinner time. The only drawback in this cottage was the acoustics...we could hear even the slightest sound in the next room!
Our cottage
Machan
Veranda - THE place
Forest view toilet
Safari plans – Birds, not Tigers! We went for dinner a little late and by that time the huge gang was already on their way out. During the dinner, we met the manager Dheeraj and discussed the safari plans. One thing I want to mention here, howsoever false it may sound (and even if the cover page of the PDF has a tiger in it) but our main intension of Pench visit was not the Tiger sighting! For me, it was always the jungle in totality and especially birding. Unfortunately my big telephoto lens (Sigma 150-500) was out of order and I had to manage with the smaller telephoto (Nikkor 70-300), but still the focus was on birds. The manager and a naturalist guy with him were taken aback when I shared this thought with them after dinner. The naturalist tested me by telling names of a few common birds which could be spotted but when I asked about Indian Pitta, he almost surrendered and mentioned that he was overwhelmed to meet a person not looking for Tigers but Birds! We were ourselves a very rare species in that area! Unfortunately the naturalist was getting engaged in couple of days so had to return to his home town in Rajasthan and so expressed his regrets about not being able to accompany us on a birding trip. The next day morning safari was to start at 5.30 AM, so we wished each other good night and went straight to the cottage. Jungle in full moon - 10 sec exposure
First morning safari – long wait 4.30 a.m. sharp; there was a knock on the door and the waiter brought us tea. Surprisingly enough, Urja also got up and got ready in a very jolly mood. It was freezing cold outside. The waiter had packed our breakfast in a basket wrapped in a soft cloth and soon we were waiting at the gate for the Gypsy to arrive. Our jeep was delayed due to some miscommunication from the hotel guys but arrived just in time before we could be upset about it. It was full moon last night and now the moon was right in front of us just before sinking into the east horizon. As we arrived at the Turia gate, there was already a long queue of jeeps waiting outside. Our driver went ahead to the booth at the gate to register and get the route assigned for us. After us, more and more jeeps started coming and lining up one behind the other. In about 10 minutes there were almost 30 jeeps in the line. People started getting down, chit chatting, and taking photos (with flash!). Some watched the birds gathering on a huge Banyan tree on the opposite side of the road. There were a couple of Indian rollers and Yellow footed green pigeons on the top branches of the tree. While I was watching them a small fluttering bird caught my eye at the middle level of the tree. A closer look revealed it as a Spotted
owlet about to retire for the day roosting in the holes of the tree. It hopped a couple of times and finally adjusted itself in a comfortable position where it could not be seen with naked eyes even if it made any movement. Since I had spotted it already on the branches and followed its movement till it rested, I could easily locate it again. So I got down and walked up to the tree and clicked some snaps...Spotted owlet has turned out to be a lucky mascot in one of my earlier birding trips! It was a long wait and so we kept watching other people, and so did the owlet...all sorts was there. Some with fashion clothing, some very irritated and uncomfortable because of the cold, some were completely unprepared for the cold who sat frozen in the jeep without uttering a word! There was a Canon 100-400 with a large group occupying three jeeps. He kept smoking and clicking all the while. There was a firang couple in the jeep in front of us. The man had a HUGE 500 or 600 mm lens with camouflage coats mounted on a robust tripod. I felt a super inferiority complex with the 70-300 in my hand and missed my BIGMA very badly!
The first Safari - initial sightings Well, soon came our turn to enter and finally we were actually inside the Mowgli’s forest now. The main road was wide with the surface filled with soft white fine gravel. We had been assigned route No. 2 which we soon joined by taking the first right turn from the main road. The moment we went inside the gate, I told the driver and the guide very clearly not to run the jeep in search of tiger and we wanted to see as many birds as he can spot. The guide who was a lean fellow with a very small face with traces of Holi on his neck and behind his ears, agreed to that happily. We spotted many birds soon, White eyed buzzard, Crested serpent eagle, Treepie, Green pigeons, to name a few. It was 7 AM when we entered the gate and it was still very dim light for another 45 minutes or so and we were moving in freezing cold, clicking whenever we spotted something.
Sambar stag
Langur monkey
Rufous treepie
Spotted deer
Indian roller
White eyed buzzard
Crested serpent eagle
The moment... We came to a junction on the road just before which the guide heard a deer alarm call. So he decided to follow it and so we took a left turn. After few minutes we heard the call again and also saw 3 Sambar deer crossing the road in front of us to the right. The guide decided to wait at that spot. The calls came again from the right hand side and to our surprise; the Sambars kept walking in the same direction as that of the calls! A jeep came from behind us and another one from front and we all waited and eagerly listening to the calls. The Sambars had now moved 50 meters inside and suddenly they just froze... the calls still came from further inside the jungle. For few minutes they stood motionless with their ears fanned up looking intensely in the direction of the call. A certain tension could be sensed in the air. We all could feel it I guess, as no one made any sound or movement including Urja. She was sitting with her head tilted in the direction of the calls which to me was a sign that she fully understood what was going on...and then came the moment... In a flash of a second, the three Sambars bolted in different direction as if they had exploded... they raised a joint alarm before fleeing which was enormous and shook me up. A few seconds more till the Sambars vanished from the
scene and could not be heard running anymore and there emerged a Tiger exactly where they stood before! I just cannot put the sensation and tension which was in the atmosphere in words. It has to be “felt’’. Slowly came the tiger from behind the dry grass and shrubs out in the open in golden light of the morning sun not more than 20 feet from us!
Sambar female frozen
We noticed that it was a young tigress with a fine shining coat of blazing orange with black stripes with no marks of wear and tear...her muscles showing up as she walked with utmost grace and confidence..She crossed the road and went in the forest on our left. What a gorgeous female she was...Our guide anticipated that there was a dried stream towards which she went and hence she will cross it and emerge out again on the other side. He was quick enough to instruct the driver to U turn and we were on our way hoping to see the tigress again...He was spot on with his judgement and soon we could see her 100 feet in front of us marking her territory on a large tree. She saw us coming in full speed which made her uncomfortable and she quickly crossed the road and went inside thick bush by the time our jeep stopped.
The way she appeared...
Her coat and muscles...
The way she crossed...
Our driver and guide were so excited after the entire event and asked me to show the photographs I had taken which I did very happily. They even congratulated us saying that ‘’the tiger himself
showed up when we decided not to go after him...’’
and she disappeared...
We continued our safari with our spirits lifted but honestly I kept seeing the same scene again and again in front of my eyes instead of looking at what was actually in front of us. But the guide was in better senses and soon showed me a Black headed oriole making some lovely calls. We kept moving with some more sightings of tiger food in abundance till we arrived in an opening called Centre point where all the jeeps gather for breakfast. Just before the stopping, we spotted
a Crested serpent eagle basking in the morning sun and many Spotted deer and Peacocks in the open grassland area. As we were approaching the centre point, we saw a forest guard standing outside his quarters looking through binoculars pointed at a tall tree in the forest behind. I looked through mine to see a Malabar Pied Hornbill female perched on the tree half exposed in the sun.
Langur male
Crested serpent eagle basking
Spotted deer stag
Malabar pied hornbill female
A typical ‘opening’ in Pench forest
Breakfast in the middle of jungle...
Discussing ‘Tiger’ | Our guide and driver on the left
The centre point was already full of 15 jeeps and people were already eating and chatting. We parked in an open slot and took our breakfast. The guide and driver joined their group and naturally our pair was the most famous one telling the ‘’tiger story’’ again and again to the new ones joining them! It was around 9 AM and another 1.5 hours remaining of the morning safari. We dashed ahead and kept searching for another stroke of luck, but that was it for us during that safari. A herd of Blue bull and his 4 females was the largest mammal we spotted afterwards. At one particular spot near a newly built lake, there were huge egg shaped light grey rocks piled on top of each other where a peacock was dancing with his tail feathers spread in circular shape. Another one standing on the rocks was calling loudly by moving his long neck up and down.
Peakock dance amidst white rocks
Back to resort We soon joined the main road headed to the gate and so came our first safari to an end. Now we were out in man’s land heading to our resort. We met manager and naturalist at the reception as we entered the resort and hot wet towels were given to us immediately. It was a very small but extremely comforting act of service. They immediately asked us how the safari was and were delighted to hear that we saw the tigress and got good pictures.The rest of the noon was spent again relaxing in the veranda. The jungle adjoining the resort was fully alive with birds. I could see Barbets, Wood peckers, Green pigeons, Parakeets while sitting in the veranda. There was a pair of Grey hornbills right behind our cottage on a mid-sized tree having glossy round fruits. We watched them for all four days. Sitting there, I was thinking about venturing into the forest in front on foot to which Shilpa resisted strongly. But that idea never seized till the very next day I finally took a walk and got some bird shots. I fell asleep soon in the hammock chair while Shilpa engaged herself in reading Keneth Anderson’s book taken from the resort library and Urja kept jumping from place to place. We had a good lunch that afternoon and soon were ready for our evening safari by 3 PM.
Grey hornbill
jungle calls. We were really tired after 2 safaris in a day; so decided to chill out the next day and roam around the resort. During dinner we told the manager about it and asked him to book us for a morning safari on last day. We called it a day after that and retired soon.
Second safari This time the manager – Dheeraj decided to drive us himself into the jungle. Perhaps he got excited by the news of tiger sighting in the morning and was hell bent on spotting one himself that day. He had a Nikon D200 with a Nikkor 70-300 VR lens which was a better kit than mine but was not maintained well. Unfortunately, this safari offered us nothing very exciting. We got some good shots of birds in the fading light near a water body while listening to a deer alarm call and waiting for some feline to appear which never happened till end. We saw a Paradise flycatcher female dashing out from a thick bush and briefly hovering above the water surface touching it with the beak and going back again into the bush. This she repeated at least 6 times, but none of us could capture that on camera. A group of 10+ Green bee-eaters offered some good shots on a lush green background of the
thick bamboo ridge and also taking a dust bath on the road. We waited and waited to follow up the call but alas...nothing happened and soon we returned to the resort once again. This time the warm wet towels were much more effective as we felt much more tired both physically and mentally. Once again the theory proved correct...dont’t follow the tiger, he will show up if he wishes to! So after a good refreshing tea on the Machan, we went back to our room and spent some time in the veranda listening to the
A day without safari Next day we got up late and enjoyed the fresh jungle air sitting in veranda sipping hot tea. Once again the jungle was alive with birds. To add to the party there was large group of Langur monkeys occupying the area in and around the resort. For them the mesh fencing did not
exist as any boundary. They roamed freely everywhere. The group largely had females and kids of varying age. Urja thoroughly enjoyed watching the youngsters playing around and jumping. The adult females with babies were quieter and were mostly seated on the ground below large trees in shade. We went for the breakfast very late. The resort was almost empty except for a firang lady travelling alone who had just arrived from her first safari. We relaxed once again on the Machan watching the Treepies, Bablers and listening to the calls of Indian rollers and parakeets. Urja kept exploring the Machan which was her favourite game. A fine morning it was with good sunlight and cool air with no human sounds whatsoever. We decided to visit a pottery village which was nearby before lunch. The village named Pachdhaar was around 4 km towards Seoni on NH6 from Khawasa. The road till Khawasa was amazing with forest on both sides and we kept moving slowly looking for any photo opportunity as every now and then there was a ‘Flame of forest’ tree with a lot of bird
activity. Just before Khawasa forest quarters, we met a group of Langurs about 20 strong playing and resting very close to the roadside. They were unperturbed by our presence and continued their activities. It was not a long journey from Khawasa, but the road with huge potholes all over made it a very slower one. Soon we reached Pachdhaar.
Pachdhaar– the pottery village It was more like a Hamlet with houses and other buildings alongside the narrow road. Soon we could see heaps of round earthen pots outside almost every house. But none of the houses had anybody working or making pots. So it turned out to be a public holiday for potters of Pachdhaar. To our surprise, all the pots we had seen so far were of the same shape and almost same size. So we did not find it very interesting to pursue the pottery making event and went ahead just to explore the road. After about 50 meters or so there was a nice ‘spot’ on the left. A bunch of huge trees under which was a small, blue-white painted temple of Lord Shiva. Usually we do not see Lord Shiva in figurine which being the case here, made it very attractive. The whole structure stood out against the dry colour scheme of the forest behind. It was a very quiet place indeed.
We went further and soon descended down a slope which lead us to a narrow bridge on a wide but dried up river bed. We decided to spend some time in the shade of a tree at our end of the bridge so that we can see the riverbed and look for any bird activity. There were no birds visible except for a flying egret who crossed the bridge right in front of us and perched on a tall tree, but distant bird calls were abundant. We soon realized that the shade in which we had parked the car was of a large tree with blazing red leaves which were almost ‘glowing’ against the sunlight. There was a similar tree on the opposite end of the bridge too. After spending some time there, we drove further for a while and then turned back. Once again we were passing through the pottery village in a holiday mood. The houses had complex sloping roofs or rather two different slopes in the roofs meeting in a complex geometry not
very easy to construct. There were public awareness messages written on the white walls in blue, majority of them were about importance of Girl child. We returned to the resort after a short break in between for photographying a few Plum headed parakeets feeding on ‘Flame of the forest’
Time spent in the resort A north Indian couple with their 12 year old daughter had checked in the resort. They soon went out on the evening safari with the firang lady. Now the resort was almost empty except for the staff. We started walking to the cottage when Urja and Shilpa decided to loiter around the two tall trees with a long swing and hammocks. They kept playing while I went ahead on the pathway towards the cottage. I saw a couple of monkeys on large tree just outside our cottage from a distance and as I approached nearer, I soon realized that a large group of Langurs (20+) had taken shelter below our cottage! They were very silent and resting in the shade so I did not notice them until I was almost within 15 feet from them. As I appeared near the cottage they all turned their heads to me at once which was
a bit alarming for me. I halted for a moment to see their reaction, but none of them moved even slightly and they all kept watching me. I decided to avoid eye contact and kept moving to the stairs while I could see them from the corner of my eye if any one of them made any move. One or two of them in the front row closest to the steps made a half move to get up and run, but they immediately cancelled it as I started climbing the steps without looking at them. From the corner of my eye, I noticed the entire area below the twin cottage was full with monkeys and it was an amazing photographic opportunity. So I tried taking out my camera and came a couple of steps below and started bending down to get a frame, when they got alarmed and the front row of monkeys ran away. I called it off because I did not want to disturb them. I opened the window instead and clicked the young monkeys playing on the large tree outside. A couple of adults appeared on the pathway and offered me some portraits in golden light. The off white – silver hair on their body especially around the head region shine amazingly in the sunlight. Soon I saw Shilpa and Urja walking towards the cottage and it was clear from their movements that they had no clue of the company we had around the cottage. At one point I saw them halted in the path as a large monkey stood right in the middle. I asked them to continue walking casually which they did after a bit of hesitation and
the big fellow went away. They were yet to see the bigger group, so I told them in a loud voice (not shouting voice) what lied ahead of them and that they should keep walking without hesitation and avoid any eye contact and climb the steps in a steady pace. I saw Shilpa frightened more than Urja when they came right in front of the large group. I was ready to jump down, standing at the door of cottage, in case any monkey decided to come close to them. But nothing of that sort happened and they were inside the cottage safely. It was clear that none of the monkeys below had moved when I spoke loudly, since I heard no sound of them walking. Animals always prefer peaceful co-existance!
A walk in the jungle Once we were back, I spent some time in the veranda with binoculars scanning the jungle and could not resist the urge of taking a walk to explore. So I opened the topic with Shilpa and after much discussion, finally convinced her that I will go only for 1 hour and will be walking only in the area which was visible from the cottage! I quickly gathered all my equipment and was on my way in to the jungle. As I came down from the cottage, I noticed that fewer Langurs were resting below our cottage and many more were roaming all over the resort area. The staff also had retired as there was no one in the resort except for us. I walked out of the gate and took a right turn into the forest and soon found a narrow footpath. The birds were audible everywhere and now it was for me to locate them. As I kept walking, I noticed a movement from the corner of my eye, so immediately turned my head in that direction. There was a small brown bird who flew through the teak trees and perched a little away deeper inside the teaks. I located its perch and tried to remember it before putting the binoculars to my eyes. And what a
stroke of luck, it was a Jungle owlet! I walked around the teak trees which were on an average around 12 feet tall. Now the owlet was facing the other side so I decided to make a circle and approach him sideways. The teaks provided good cover but also made it very difficult to approach without making any sound. The dried leaves fallen all over the floor made it impossible to walk without making sound. I went as slow as possible finally reaching about 15 feet from the bird when he turned his head to see me. The tilted sun shone in his bright yellow eyes and they looked very radiant. It was a perfect photo setting except for the large teak leaf and trunk partially covering him. I used it to capture a ‘’peeking owlet’’ shot. After satisfying myself with few more shots and realising that any further advance will make the bird fly away, I backed off slowly and kept watching through binoculars.It was this moment when I realised how difficult it was to spot this bird in the habitat. So, I tried testing it with a little experiment. I walked a few paces ahead and then turned back trying to spot the bird again.
This I repeated 3-4 times and every time it took me longer to locate it. Imagine how invisible the owlet would have been if I had not seen it flying in the first place. Soon it regained the ‘ball’ pose and made no further movements, so it was time to look for other birds. I roamed around for a while and clicked a few more birds and then returned. So a walk in the jungle ended with few but exciting bird sightings and some basic learning lessons of walking on dried leaves and spotting an owlet in busy habitat! I once again I was back in the veranda sipping hot tea. What a luxury!
End of the day without Safari We went to the dining hall for another cup of tea. To our surprise, another large group and much more noisier than the previous one; was already in the resort. These guys were typical business men with their wives and kids and turned the place upside down! They were all over the place and were talking in the loudest way possible. We decided to go for a long drive, as it was killing us to spend the evening in such loud ambience after a nice and quiet day. So we went on a drive on the Khawasa road dreaming about spotting a Leopard crossing the road...It was a nice drive as the sun set behind us and soon it became darker and darker. We went till Khawasa and returned back spotting only monkeys on the way back. But the drive was nice and pleasant
with the evening light and colour changing sky. As we returned to the resort, the noisy gang was in full mood playing antakshari in the most horrible voices, but surely they enjoyed it! During the dinner I learned that the next day morning safari was going to be shared between the firang lady, the north Indian couple with their daughter and us. Which meant that 7 of us were going to be in one jeep. This was not a very good situation at all, because the jeep belonging to the resort was in very bad shape and the seats were not comfortable for 7 people for sure. We decided to discuss this with Dheeraj but he had gone to Nagpur and did not return that night. It was clearly a money saving tactic by him to squeeze in more people in a safari so that he can save on a separate jeep trip... We went to bed thinking to tackle this in the morning. The night was very cold and our jackets saved us once again.
Third safari The sharing situation had not changed in the morning and the manager had not returned at all. So there was no alternative plan possible. After discussing the situation, we decided that I will go alone for the safari because it would have been too harsh on Urja to sit in our laps for more than four hours of bumpy ride. So I went alone. The family was hell bent about seeing a tiger and the firang lady was just a step behind; since it was her second safari and she had seen ‘’nothing’’ in her first one. This time our route was No.1 which was on the left side of the main road. It was a completely failed ride so far and soon we reached the centre point without any exceptional spotting. I had only clicked a wild boar running frantically in the open grassland and then we had followed a deer call but ended up seeing nothing. We saw a couple of domestic elephants getting ready for a ride and two elephant babies playing around.
They were simply fun to watch. At the centre point there was a rush for putting up number in the list for what is called a ‘’tiger show’’. The guide explained us vaguely what it was about and asked us if we wanted to register for it...only after asking very explicitly, he mentioned that the charges (200 rupees per person) were only to be given if you actually see the tiger. It goes like this...the forest guards had sighted a male tiger cub in a certain area and the news was shared on wireless to the centre point. At a time 4 jeeps were sent to that location where 3 elephants were kept ready who took the people from those jeeps to the spot where the cub was resting. I kept walking around the guard with wireless and soon learned that the tiger cub had moved from the place and the elephants were ‘trying to stop him and make him sit!’ After
about 15 minutes of inaction, I sensed that the tiger must have moved away by now so I suggested that we continued our safari instead of wasting time at centre point. Finally we went for the remaining part of the safari. But this time it was even worse...we saw absolutely nothing as the sun shone very high and it was already very warm. And so my third safari came to an end when the father in the family finally said “at least they should put tiger dummies in the forests”!!! Now it was time to pack up and go home...
Thus we were finally out of the Mowgli’s land which was so far an awesome trip. It was all in all a very successful trip, as Urja had experienced the jungle to the fullest; seeing many animals including Sherkhan the tiger, exploring the tree house on her own, running around and playing on the swings and of course the wooden cottage. Most importantly she had felt the magic of jungle and all the emotions it creates within...the tension before the tiger appears, the majestic and charismatic tiger sighting, the fun watching the monkeys play and the deer chasing each other and the fresh air and sounds of the jungle. I hope it creates a lasting positive impression on her mind and drives her back to these places as she grows up... So I conclude my little (!) travelogue about one of the most amazing trips we had in to the Land of Mowgli. The memories are still fresh in my mind after almost a month; pulling me like a magnet... Pench is truly a magical place!