The rocky black outcrops, the withered trees of the summer jungle standing with their bare stretched out arms, the faint rustle in the thick dry leaf carpet on the floor: all feed into your vivid imagination as the safari jeep hits the dirt track and your eyes scan the forest. You’re pretty sure that Rudyard Kipling’s Akela sat on one of those rocks up above and looked over his pack, that Baloo and Bagheera must have hung around with Mowgli around that tree, years ago…
After all, it is here, in the heart of Madhya Pradesh, in Seoni district, in what is today the Pench Tiger Reserve, that Kipling set his legendary The Jungle Book . Taj Safaris’s Mowgli Trails makes this experience more junglee yet luxurious at their Baghvan Lodge. The sprawling wooden cottages [each with a personal butler!] are set on the edge of the forest, and come complete with a rooftop mosquito-net swathed machan for a brave night’s sleepover, outdoor showers, and wild back-to-nature cookouts and recipes.
The bungalows are set in a lantern-lit property criss-crossed by bamboo-edged pathways, where you are warned not to walk alone at night. We almost jumped in fright one night as we headed back from dinner and heard a loud hissing sound, only for the torch to be shone in the trees to see the source: baby Barn Owls that ‘hiss’ like snakes!
In the three days spent in Pench, we went on four safaris to the Mowgli Pench Wildlife Sanctuary, where we set off from the Turia Gate. We didn’t spot any of the ‘star’ animals; only the ‘Bandar Log’ of Kipling’s world were in copious numbers, along with the chital deer, sambhar, gaur, and peacocks in splendid plumage for the mating season. There was disappointment in a sense, but one mustn’t always go only in quest of tigers, you tell yourself sombrely. So, most of the time was spent creatively on the safari recalling and reimagining The Jungle Book , and playing it out in the stark settings in front of me, all by a summer sun-addled mind. The harsh heat this year has caused the Pench River to dry up making the forest department organise water tankers to fill up the watering holes in the jungle.
Ghost tree and the MahuaTaj Safaris’s strength is their team of trained naturalists who know their jungle like the back of their hand and share their knowledge enthusiastically. Over three days, naturalist Tarun Mishra engaged us with stories and factoids about the Pench forest, as he drove us through the relentless rugged routes every morning and evening. All through the drives the Indian ghost tree with its changing bark colour stood freakishly white in contrast to browning trees, as did the mahua, with lush green or red leaves [we were told that if we had come when the mahua flowers were in bloom, we could have tried an intoxicating drink made of them].
We listened, amused, to how each of Pench’s famous tigers behaved: be it Collarwali, BMW, or Raiya Kassa. The silence of the jungle would suddenly be broken with the shrill “brain fever” calls of the common hawk cuckoo. Mishra’s keen eyes matched that of the guide from the State’s forest department to find tiger pug marks as we drove along, or bear paw marks. We went through the cycle of hope, anticipation, disappointment and frustration. That is, looking out for the warning calls of the langurs, interpreting them, guessing what’s happening, heading in what might be the best direction to find the tiger based on all these indicators. Every encounter with another safari jeep would begin with the customary driver exchanges of ‘ Kuch mila ?’ [Found anything?], followed by either a jealousy-inducing ‘ Ek jeep ko tiger mila ’ [One jeep spotted a tiger], or the more comforting ‘ Sirf panje’ [only pug marks]’.
A pit-stop meant packed picnic baskets of sandwiches, muffins, bananas that kept us going through the vast beautiful grasslands of Alikatta. This was once the spot from where elephant rides took place. Today, the forest department uses it as an elephant camp of pachyderms that help with jungle patrolling. While man-animal conflict forms the underlying thread for the story of The Jungle Book , the present-day picture is not very far from it, and if anything, has become more pronounced. While on safari, we get a grim reminder of this ugly side: a site in the forest where the other famous Pench tigress, Baghin Nala, lies in ashes with her two cubs. They died of suspected poisoning by poachers. Kipling’s poem “Now this is the law of the jungle…” [that universal script that binds the wolves in the story] keeps playing on my mind.
Birds and beastsOne of the most beautiful sightings we had at Pench was of a large pack of Indian wild dogs, the dholes: the pack of 17 led by an alpha couple, three other adults and playful pups at the Beejamatta drinking hole, one of the most popular sites in the reserve to spot animals. Pench also has abundant and delightful birdlife. It was absolutely breathtaking to see the flash of brilliant blue wings of the Indian Roller as it sailed through air. The Indian grey hornbill, and the graceful rufous treepie with its long beautiful tail, were to be seen everywhere. A rare and large gathering of six Malabar pied hornbills on a single tree was another safari highlight. Evenings were delightful. Winding down would begin at the sprawling dining room, over cocktails and more stories from the jungle. The various versions of the legend of Mowgli: how and where he was found were told and exchanged many times over. The theme spilled into dinner, where there was much feasting over junglee maas , and paneer cooked in bamboo shoots. Back at the room, an impeccable turn-down service included an endearing note on a leaf from Baloo and a copy of The Jungle Book to tuck yourself into bed with.
The sanctuary is closed from July to September for the Monsoon.
Baghvan is a two-hour drive from the nearest airport: Nagpur. A stay at Baghvan can be combined with a stay at the nearby Banjaar Tola, and a visit to the Kanha National Park.
The author was in Pench at the invitation of Taj Safaris
