Pench National Park

Pench National Park is blessed with rich flora and fauna. It houses thickly forested areas of Chhindwara and Seoni districts of Madhya Pradesh. It has a naturally blessed ambience and lush greenery. The park is bounded by the Pench River and is very popular for having plants of great medicinal value. There are more than 1300 species of rare plants of medicinal value.

Originally labelled a sanctuary in 1977, Pench became a National Park in 1983. iN 1992, it was established as a tiger reserve, and in 2002 it was christened as the Indira Priyadarshini National Park. The natural richness of the park has been mentioned in Ain-i-Akbari, the 16th-century document chronicling the reign of Emperor Akbar during the Mughal era. The Pench National Park is also the setting for Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle Book, and the park is thus also often referred to as Mowgli Land.

The Pench National Park has a rich variety of flora and fauna. It is home to many breeds of animals such as the Royal Bengal Tiger, leopards, sloth bears and chinkaras, among others. Pench is also famous for its avian population, both migratory and indigenous. These include the Indian Pitta, Malabar Pied Hornbill, Grey-headed Fishing Eagle and migratory species such as Bear-Headed Geese, Brahmini Duck, Coots etc. Owl breeding is also practised here. The Park is also rich in flora - and has a mixture of teak, bamboo, white Kulu (also known locally as the ghost tree due to its conspicuous white colour among the sea of green) and mahua trees.

The Pench National Park is open to visitors from 1st October to 30th June each year. It remains closed during the monsoon season. Generally, the months of November to February is considered to be the best time to visit the park. The entry fee to the park is INR 15 for Indians and INR 150 for foreigners. The timings are 6 am to 11 am in the mornings, and then from 3 PM to 6 PM. Light vehicles and 15 seater buses are allowed on the premises. An open jeep Jungle Safari is available for both day and night. Pench offers different tour packages - http://www.penchnationalpark.com/wildlife-packages.html . There is also the option of taking a beautiful boat ride or boat safari to explore Pench and the surrounding areas, across a stretch of 17 km.  One can enjoy many different experiences along with the wildlife safari on the boat rides, such as catching a glimpse of the tribal life, and viewing some famous local dams and temples along the way. 

Pench does not have too many restaurants and your choices might get a little limited. The most convenient option for food here, are the hotels, resorts and lodges. The local delicacies of Madhya Pradesh that you might find here include Dal Bafla, Biryani, Kebabs, Korma, Poha, Rogan Josh, Jalebi, Ladoos as well as beverages like Lassi and Sugarcane Juice.