Baba Knucklehead: In the jungle, the mighty jungle

“Everything you see exists together in a delicate balance. As king, you need to understand that balance, and respect all the creatures from the crawling ant to the leaping antelope.” – King Mufasa, Lion King

Imagine a world that exists in perfect balance. Where the circle of life is complete and where wants are on a need to basis rather than a have to basis. Where the heart sings-“Hakuna Matata!
What a wonderful phrase”
“Hakuna Matata!
Ain't no passing craze”
“It means no worries
For the rest of your days”
“It's our problem-free
Philosophy”
“Hakuna Matata!”

The Pench river

At the break of dawn

Well such a world does exist just a couple of hours flight away from the concrete jungle called Mumbai. Welcome to Pench National park! Nestling in the lower southern reaches of the Satpuda hills the park is named after the Pench river, meandering through the park from north to south. It is located on the southern boundary of Madhya Pradesh, bordering Maharashtra. Pench National Park, comprises of 758 Sq. Kms. 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 neighbourhood is the original setting of Rudyard Kipling's most famous work, The Jungle Book.

The majestic jungle at day break

"None of the Jungle People like being disturbed." said Kaa the snake to Mowgli and this hold so true. Every day scores of men, women and children from the various resorts surrounding the park descend on the jungle to spot the elusive tiger. It is said that Badi Madha or the first lady of Pench is a tigress who is still around and has given birth to tigers and tigresses who now have cubs of their own. Tigers being territorial animals move out once they are 2-3 years old and claim their own territory, sometimes having to fight with another tiger, a fight often to the finish.

The thrill of chasing a tiger is a great adrenaline rush. The deer barks from afar and the monkeys start to chatter. There is a synchronized relay of alerts and animals stand in full attention, finally fleeing to safety, often right into the path of the camouflaged tiger. We had the good fortune of spotting a tigress less than 20 feet away from our open vehicle. She started to walk menacingly towards us and finally changed course once our jeep started backing up. Tigers don’t like loud sounds and they don’t like humans even more you see.

The Elusive tigress (Badi Mada's daughter)

While everybody is there to spot a tiger, what you also get to see is some beautiful scenery and some fantastic birds and animals. These animals are often camouflaged and hard to spot. This pristine jungle has an abundance of deer, monkeys, peacocks, jackals, wild boar, Sambhar, Gaur and if you are lucky you may even spot leopards and other exotic species of birds and animals.

The park opens at 6 am when the jungle starts to come to life. Awash with the first rays of the sun, animals move towards the watering holes or to greener pastures to graze. The landscape of the jungle changes throughout the day and by afternoon when it gets hot the jungle comes to a halt with animals resting under the shade of a tree. By late evening when the sun sets the jungle looks magical and almost enchanting. The next morning the jungle looks different with fresh tiger pug marks on the ground or scratch marks on the bark of a tree. All signs to show that the mighty tiger was here.