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Pench mark for adventure
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Sujatha Padmanabhanspends a day in Kipling’s land and enjoys encounters of the wild kind
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Up-close Tourists climbing atop elephants for the ’Tiger show’
“Come to Karmajhiri, stay at the forest rest house, spot a tiger……” the local masseur sang loud and clear, as he worked his oil-laden hands on his client’s scalp. We needed no enticing, we had already spent three exciting days at Pench National Park.
The National Park gets its name from the river Pench which flows through the reserve, and is spread over 757 sq km. Today, Forest Department facilities for tourists exist at Karmajhiri, a three hour-journey by road from Nagpur.
It’s difficult to decide what the highlight of this trip was! Well, it’s not everyday that you see a tiger ambling along the road in front of your vehicle, seemingly oblivious of your presence. Three cheetals who ran across the road behind our vehicle, and minutes later an alarm call by a sambar, alerted us to the possibility of the presence of a predator. The driver of the vehicle switched off the engine and soon we spotted the animal, making its way slowly through the forest to the bend in the road ahead of us. Our driver, anticipating this, slowly inched the vehicle ahead, and soon the tiger was in full view as it came out of the forest and onto the road.
Tigers often prefer to walk along the road, as there is less chance of a thorn getting into their padded feet, a problem that could turn serious for the animal if it gets infected. So, our knowledgeable guide, a young lad from one of the surrounding villages, informed us.
Well, if sighting a tiger is rare, then what about an Indian Rock python! Alarm calls, this time from langurs, made us stop the jeep during another trip into the forest. We noticed a mother sambar edge closer to her fawn. After scanning the area, we suddenly noticed a movement in the leaves on the forest floor. And there it was, a full grown python, with tell-tale signs of its last meal: a big bulge in the middle of its length!
The python provided us thrilling moments, as it slithered slowly towards our vehicle. When really close, it suddenly lifted itself up, maybe having become suspicious of our presence. A movement in the vehicle to adjust the angle of a camera, and the python lowered itself down, its suspicions having been proven correct. We watched it in amazement as it slowly slithered away.
Avid bird-watchers
Spotting animals and thrilling moments with an Indian Rock python
Since most of us in the group are avid bird-watchers, a trip would have been incomplete without at least one morning of birding. We sacrificed a morning ride into the park for a walk in the vicinity of the forest rest house. No regrets! The two hours threw up a jungle owlet (identified after much debate!), black redstart, green bee-eaters, tickles blue flycatcher, racket-tailed drongo, paradise flycatcher, to mention just a few species. As we made our way back to the rest house, hungry for breakfast, a pair of Malabar pied hornbills suddenly appeared. We could not have asked for a better ending to a splendid morning of birding! Everything was perfect, almost near perfect at Pench National Park. There was, however, one jarring note: “Tiger Shows”. In a bid to satisfy many tourists, who seem to suffer from tiger mania and who come to such tiger reserves only to see tigers, the Forest Department offers tiger shows!
Tigers are tracked in the wee hours of the morning by forest department personnel on elephant back, and when sighted, the news is conveyed to Alikatta, a place where a village once stood (now relocated). Tourist vehicles make their way to Alikatta, from where the drivers are informed of the whereabouts of the tiger. Vehicles then leave for that spot where they join a queue. Tourists are then taken for the tiger show on elephant-back. The “show” is for just a few minutes, but since each tourist pays a handsome fee for it, it is supposedly good revenue for the department. But what about the tiger, subjected to constant disturbance by these shows? Sometimes, and especially over weekends, the line of vehicles in wait is very long.
With the current tiger crisis in the country, areas within India’s tiger reserves have been declared “Critical Tiger Habitats.” The plan is to make these areas inviolate. If inviolate means that local people have to be relocated and cannot make use of this area as it would endanger the tiger, then in all fairness, shouldn’t tourism (and especially “tiger shows”) be stopped too?
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