http://travelindiathroughmyeyes.com/lure-of-the-jungle-pachmarhi/
“Compassion, in which all ethics must take root, can attain its full breadth and depth if it embraces all living creatures and does not limit itself to mankind” ~ Albert Schweitzer
This is the concluding part of my earlier blog on Pachmarhi.
Once you have been smitten by the beauty of the jungle, it’s lure becomes irresistible. My brother-in-law Ashok is a great wild life enthusiast and bird watcher and he initiated me in to the beautiful world of wild life sanctuaries and forest reserves. Till then my exposure to forest & wild life was only through fantasies developed by the childhood classics. During our family get together at Nagpur every other year, he ensures that we visit one of the several forest reserve parks in the vicinity of Nagpur. We have had wonderful sightings of tiger at Pench, Tadoba and Umred Khardala. Being treated to the sight of the royal tiger in its natural habitat is indeed a rewarding experience. One may not be lucky on every visit but the experience of being driven in an open 4-wheel drive for miles together through the vast expanse of the dense forest as it’s beauty slowly unfolds before the eyes gives an ecstatic feeling.
During our trip to Pachmarhi in January 2020, when our knowledgeable guide Kishanlal informed us about the jungle trek and Jungle Safari in Satpura Tiger Reserve, both Ashok & I immediately decided to go on both of them.
Jungle Trek
On the first day in late afternoon at around 3.30 pm (the sun sets early in winter) both of us set out on our 1.5 hours trek of 3 kms through hilly and undulating terrain with Kishanlal leading us. This was my first trek through a real jungle as the earlier ones had always been safaris in an open gypsy. Kishanlal kept telling us about the different varieties of trees that we came across. We stopped at a view point to admire the beauty of the Satpura range and look deep down into the valley. This forest is an habitat of bears. Our anticipation mingled with some fear grew as Kishanlal told us about sighting a couple of them during an earlier trek. The forest has many Mahua trees and their empowering scent during flowering season attracts the bears. Kishanlal knew the forest like the back of his hand and he also showed us the site where campers set up their tents for the night. We also came across an abandoned forest lodge and commemorative tower on a hill erected most probably in memory of a nature lover or forest ranger during British period.
Jungle Safari
Satpura Tiger Reserve also known as Satpura National Park covers an area of 522 sq kms. The terrain of this national park is extremely rugged and consists of sandstone peaks, narrow gorges, ravines and dense forests which make it so stunning and so different from the other National Parks visited by me. It is home to a wide variety of wild animals and several species of birds. Only some portion of the Reserve is accessible to public. It was closed to public for a couple of seasons as maintenance work of the road was going on. We were lucky that entry had started only few weeks ago. The entry is some 22 kms away from Pachmarhi. One has to take an open Gypsy with the driver from Bison’s Lodge – the oldest British colonial bungalow of Pachmarhi.
The entry timings are from 6 to 10 am and from 2.30 to 5.30 pm. We booked the afternoon session and with our guide we reached the entry gate at 2 pm expecting a number of gypsies in queue (as had been the earlier experience in the other National Parks) but were pleasantly surprised to find that ours was the only gypsy !!
After entering the park at 2.30 pm for the next 4 hours
it was adrenaline gushing fun & thrill as we made our way
through stunning surroundings, jungle streams and at times dense virgin
forest across curvy kaccha roads and steep slippery (due to over-night
rain) drop-offs. Kishanlal told us that tiger sighting was very rare as
20 odd tigers of the forest were deep inside in the area not accessible
to public. But if we were lucky we might sight Sloth bear, Sambar,
Leopard etc.
We sighted a group of Malabar grey hornbills perched on
a tree and it was such a delight to see them take flight. We came
across a full grown Sambar feasting on the leaves. He stood transfixed
for few moments on seeing us and then leaped inside and disappeared in
the thick foliage. We saw a number of langurs swinging across the
branches and few peacocks.
At the highest point of the jungle at
close to 4000 feet we reached a view point from where we got truly
breathtaking & incredible views of the Satpura range. Our guide
pointed out the peak of Dhupgarh which is the highest point of the
Satpura mountains – it was faintly visible at quite a distance.
The
evening shadows had started falling as we started out return journey -we
exulted in the beauty of absolute silence in the middle of the jungle
as we listened to the rustle of the leaves and the cool gentle breeze
caressing the cheeks on a winter evening. The eyes kept searching for
the elusive tiger. We were lucky to sight a leopard cub at a distance
scampering to join his mother.
When we were 6 to 7 kms away from
the exit we had a small adventure. We found that in the intervening
hours the road had been blocked as big stones had been dumped on the
kuchha road for laying of the road and there was no way our gypsy could
have crossed it. Luckily two forest people came on a bike and told us
that we would have to take a detour. The light was failing at dusk,
there was no network so mobile phones and GPS were not working. The
detour for 2 to 3 kms was through a almost non-existent kuccha road
through thick foliage and at one point there was a steep drop across a
boulder. I was just imagining that a tiger would jump on us from behind
those bushes !! By the time we exited it was 6.30 pm. The weather had
suddenly turned chilly and the wind was biting cold as it was directly
hitting us. We reached the resort at around 7.15 pm after an exciting
thrilling experience.
Waiting for another day …. another forest for more of such adventure rides !!
I personally feel that the we should not promote wildlife tourism extensively so that the wildlife is allowed to flourish in their natural habitat without losing their privacy and space. The number of people and vehicles that should be allowed on a daily basis should be drastically cut.
Pre-historic cave paintings of Pachmarhi
Central India is the richest zone of prehistoric rock art in India. Caves in Satpura mountains have many prehistoric rock art sites. We were fascinated on getting a glimpse of the rock paintings in the caves in the Satpura Tiger Reserve near Pachmarhi.
The rock shelters & caves are located in the dense forests and were ecologically ideal for occupation by primitives. They were used for habitation in the Stone Age and even in the later periods.
Inside the caves on the walls and ceilings artists painted their favourite animals or human forms, symbols, daily life hunting and fighting. . Many shelters are covered with paintings made over centuries by early inhabitants depicting a wide range of subjects expressed by them in a variety of styles and left as great heritage for us. These paintings are estimated to belong to Mesolithic period which ranges from being 6000 to 11000 years earlier.
When in Pachmarhi do utilize the services of Kishanlal guide (9425475424). He is quite knowledgeable and knows the place extensively.
Pachmarhi is accessible by road from Bhopal (200 kms), Jabalpur (225 kms) & Nagpur (260 kms)
The nearest airport is Bhopal
The nearest railway station is Pipariya, 45 kms away. Many trains going from Mumbai to Varanasi or Bihar halt at Pipariya.
Contact: rameshkabra1956@gmail.com
To see my travel & nature pics please visit my Instagram account @rameshkabraexplorer
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