Madhya Pradesh Pench

Pench National Park

Location : Madhya Pradesh
Nearest Access : Seoni
Coverage Area : 757.85 sq kms/75,785 hectares.

About Pench National Park
Pench National Park is a part of the Project Tiger network of special reserves. Pench is one of the most accessible tiger reserves in the country, just 90 kilometers (1 hour and 30 minutes) north of Nagpur. The Reserve is located in the southern reaches of the Satpura hill range in the Seoni and Chhindwara districts in the Madhya Pradesh State of India. The terrain is undulating, with most of the area covered by small hills, steeply sloping on the sides. The description of its natural beauty, richness in flora and fauna has appeared in numerous wildlife books dating back to the 17th century. Books written in the 19th and early 20th century by famous naturalists like Captain J. Forsyth and Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book explicitly present the detailed panorama of nature's abundance in this tract

Wildlife
Flora: The forest type is southern tropical dry deciduous teak and southern tropical mixed deciduous forest with other species of shrubs, trees and climbers. Pench is dotted with teak and its associates moyan, mahua, mokha, skiras, tendu, bija, achar, garari, aonla, bhaman, ghont, baranga, amaltas, kihamali, khair, bhirra, palas. Bamboo occurs sparsely, restricted to some valleys

Mammals: Tiger, leopard, jungle cat, leopard cat, striped hyaena, wild dog, wolf, common mongoose, sloth bear, pangolin, spotted deer, sambar, barking deer, nilgai, wild pig and gaur apart from exciting small mammals like flying squirrels, palm and small civet, common and ruddy mongoose etc.

Reptiles: Freshwater crocodile, Indian chameleon, Common Krait, Indian Rock Python, Cobra, Indian Flap Shell Turtle, Peninsular Black Turtle etc.

Birds: Pench is haven for birds with more than 200 species recorded from here including the migratory waders and the ducks. It is pretty easy to spot birds like the Crested Serpant Eagle, Changeable Hawk Eagle, Painted Francolin, Malabar Pied Hornbill, Collared Scops Owl and many other species.

Park Safari Timings
Months Morning Afternoon
01 November - 15 February 0600-1220 1500-1830 hrs
16 February - 30 April 0600-1220 1600-1830 hrs
01 May - 30 June 0600-1100 1700-1830 hrs

Best Time to Visit - Pench National Park
The Pench National Park is open to the visitors from November 01st to June 30th each year and closed during the rainy seasons (July- October)

Temperature :
October to January 2-16° Celsius
February to March 16 - 26° Celsius
April to June 26 - 42° C
Average Rainfall 1177 millimeters

How to get there
By Air : Airport - Sonegaon Airport, Nagpur (93 km from Pench National Park) Nagpur is the nearest airport connected to Mumbai and other places by regular flights.

By Rail : Railway Station - Seoni Railway Station (30 km from Pench National Park) Seoni is the nearest railway station connected to Mumbai and other places in the region by regular trains.

By Road : The nearest bus stand is at Seoni from where one can take buses or jeeps to the Pench National Park. Seoni is connected to almost all the places in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra by good road and rail networks.