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Pench Jungle Safari
Hello !! Everyone
Today's blog is about short break to Pench
It was month of January. Mumbai was not that cold but it was not that hot either. So we wanted to head out somewhere for a short break. We chose to go to Pench which is a forest reserve located on the border of two states Maharashtra & Madhya Pradhesh. To be very precise it is actually a tiger reserve initiated by Govt. of India to save tigers
So coming back to our short trip. We chose a long weekend like every other "typical" Mumbaite would do. We decided to travel by train, the most fastest and safest way to reach anywhere. Boarded Duronto Express which operates on daily basis from CSMT (Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus) in evening at 8.00 p.m. IST. It reaches Nagpur station in morning at 7.00 a.m IST which is actually very convenient for any traveler, so that he or she can plan his or her day accordingly.
Post a hearty breakfast we had out car pick up ready to reach the resort. It's a roughly 2.5 hrs journey from railway junction to the resort. We reached around lunch time, quickly got freshen up and went to explore the resort area which is quiet huge. There are family tents which are spread over lush green forests. Evening set in immediately and it started to get chilly. For people living in humid state, even a slight dip in temperature is way too cold for the. We all were literally shivering in spite of being covered from head to toe. The resort served a great food. Post dinner, there were lot of other tourists gathered in garden area sharing experiences of sighting of tiger or leopard. We were pretty excited hearing them as early next morning it was our turn for "Tiger Safari"
The safaris are arranged by resorts. Prior booking is must as seats gets filled in fast. There are 2 sets of safaris. Early morning at 4.00 a.m. IST and late evening at 6.00 p.m. IST. We chose early morning one. Whole night we all spent in chit chatting about how the tiger would look when you actually see it in wild habitat. The conversations and laughs made us realize that we can actually stay away from gadgets. Offline chat with your own people makes you more happy and contented than continuous online chatting. There are no televisions, no wifi no means of any technology in that area. It's like a real detox from gadgets.
There was a wake up call at 4.00 a.m. in morning and we had to report to reception withing 30 min as safari starts on time. There was huge jeep ready with all blankets and breakfast basket. As the journey began our anticipation was reaching at peak although we had not yet officially entered the safari gate. There are couple of security checks which are mandatory. As we crossed the gate we were accompanied by authority guide. On the way we heard lot of exciting stories from driver and the guide about tiger sighting. Firstly we saw a pack of bisons. I must say it's a pretty huge animal. It was very chilly morning, pin drop silence with only sound of crickets around. We saw pugmarks, I could literally feel my feet getting cold like ice, sweat dripping from both sides of ears. I was full of mixed feelings. My cousin was already in a position to click as many pics as we can. All we could hear was slow whispers. But no luck of tiger sighting. The safari lasts for almost 4-5 hours covering almost entire forest area. If you are lucky enough, you may see a tiger or even a leopard.
On the way in between the safari, our jeep got punctured. By law it is a crime as the forest department should keep its vehicle updated and well maintained so as to avoid such break downs. It's also risky as there is nothing in the jungle. Only the driver and the guide are allowed to step down from jeep. Tourists are not allowed, you are fined if you step down from jeep. We were waiting in fear as the driver and guide were busy replacing the tyre.
To worsen our fear, the jeep had to break down right below a huge honey comb.
We could hear them so clearly. After wandering around almost for an hour, we were now familiar with sounds and signals of various animals who made noise if they sighted a tiger passing by. This was our worst fear. It took almost 30 minutes to replace the tyre, as you cannot make huge noise because it's a jungle area and it might scare the animals away. We wandered around in search of that majestic creature, but it was our bad luck. But we saw wild boars and couple of deers jumping around, which made my kid happy. We returned to the resort at around 11.00 a.m. IST
Checked out from the resort and boarded the train back home.
Thank you for reading