Pench National Park - Wildlife Sanctuaries
Pench National Park is situated in the district of Madhya Pradesh in India Seoni and Chhindwara. It derives its name from the Pench River that flows through the National Park north to south dividing the park into two halves: the western and eastern forested areas almost equal and Seoni and Chhindwara districts respectively. It was declared a sanctuary in 1977, but upgraded to a National Park in 1983. It was later established as a zone of tiger reserve in 1992. Park is famous for water rafting, the only national park. In 2011 the park won the Best Management Award. Park has two famous as the entrance doors to tourists, Turiya and Karmajhiri.
History
The area of the present tiger reserve has a glorious history. A description of its natural wealth and richness occurs in Ain-i-Akbari. Pench Tiger Reserve and its surroundings is the original site of the most famous work of Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book. Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book Mowgli and his character is based on Pench National Park. This park is also famously called as Mowgli Land.
Location
The national park area is 293 km ². It is located at 21 ° 40 '17 .76 "N, 79 ° 18 '11.88" East. The terrain of Pench is covered with small hills and well stocked teak mixed forest at the southern end of Satpura. The altitude ranges from 425-620 meters above sea level. The temperature ranges from 4 ° C in December to 42 ° C in May. The average rainfall is 1300 mm.
Vegetation
Forest cover in the area of the park has a magnificent teak (Tectona grandis) mixed with other species of magnificent as saja (Terminalia tomentosa), Bija (Pterocarpus marsupium), Lendia (Lagerstroemia parviflora), Haldu (Adina cardifolia) dhaora ( Anogeissus latifolia), Salai (Boswellia serrata), Aonla (Emblica officinalis), Amaltas (Cassia fistula), etc. The floor is covered with maze of herbs, plants, shrubs and young trees. Bamboo is also found in places. KULU dazzling white trees (Sterculia urens) spread throughout out dramatically between different shades of green.Fauna
Tiger is the main cat species of the park present in large numbers but sighted infrequently. Wildlife commonly seen is chital, sambhar, nilgai, wild boar, and jackal. Other wild animals found are leopard, sloth bear, wild dog, porcupine, wild cat, fox, striped hyena, gaur, Chowsingha and barking deer. There are over 170 species of birds including several migratory. Some of them are peacocks, Gallus, crow pheasant, crimson spaniel breast, Red-vented Bulbul, racket-tailed drongo, magpie robin, lesser whistling teal, pintail, shoveler, egret and heron. Pench National Park has a count of eight tigers (as in 1998) and 7 Panthers (as in 1998). This national park is rich in chitals ie shaft or axis deer most commonly seen.There are 10 villages in the national park - one inside the park (Fulzari) and 9 of the periphery.
According to Census 2011 Tiger, there are 25 tigers under this umbrella of the Park. 39 species of mammals, 13 species of reptiles, 3 amphibians. Besides mammals and other terrestrial animals, the park is also rich in bird life. According to an estimation of the wildlife authorities, the bird population in the park has more than 210 species like barbets, bulbul, minivets orioles, wagtails, munias, mynas, waterfowl and blue kingfisher.
Opening hours and the nearest station
The best time to visit the park is between February and April. The park is open to the public from 6:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. and 15:00 to 18:00. The park is closed during the months of July, August and September. Is accessible by road and rail. The nearest airport, the train station is at Nagpur and Seoni nearest city, the bus can be taken to the Park.In popular culture
Pench forest reserve, is the setting for Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book.Pench National Park provided the location used by the BBC for innovative wildlife series Tiger: Spy in the Jungle, part 3 documentary narrated by Sir David Attenborough, who used hidden cameras placed by elephants, in order to capture Tiger intimate behavior. The program aired for the first time in April 2008.