Pench Day Two

19th February 2018 – Pench

Another early start and fortunately not as cold this morning. We had asked Guarav if we could stop for breakfast at 09:00 and if we had seen no predators to make our way back after breakfast. As we approached the park we came across a Jungle Cat hunting on the edge of the fields.

Golden backed Woodpecker

This time our local guide was more than just an oxygen thief and seem to know what he was talking about. We travelled a lot slower than the previous trips as we were looking very hard for predators. Also today there seems to be fewer vehicles which made the whole thing much more pleasant. We stopped a lot to allow Guarav and the guide to listen for alarm calls and we took time to listen to the different bird calls and songs. After about an hour of driving around they heard monkey alarm calls and we moved around the roads to a better position. There was one other vehicle ahead of us and both vehicles stopped and listened as the calls seemed to be getting closer. The driver from the other truck had seen a glimpse of a Leopard and we all concentrated on that location. After a while it became apparent that the calls were moving away. In trying to drive to a location ahead of the alarm calls we were actually further away. This is the major difference between Indian Parks and most African ones that we have been to. Here you can only stay on the roads at all times and the undergrowth hides the animals hence, the poorer viewings in most parks.

Ruddy Mongoose

White Throated Kingfisher

Just before we stopped for breakfast and to stretch our legs we managed to get some lovely photographs of the male spotted deer and some okay photos of the yellow crested woodpecker and the golden backed woodpecker. As we were about to leave a Malabar Hornbill was spotted at the top of a tree.  The position of it and the sunlight made a photograph almost impossible but we managed to see it through our binos. As we progressed back to the park entrance we were shown a python sunning itself. Apparently it was about 4 feet in length so, not fully grown. A bit later we came across a Ruddy Mongoose which seem to be very interested in us until another vehicle came along.

Tamsin elected to stay behind so, Gill and I went out for one last chance to a predator in Pench. We started off touring around the same area we’d looked beforehand which is supposed to be good for Leopard. Gaurav seem to think that as the weather had clouded over and cooled a bit that things would start to happen earlier. There seemed to be plenty of alarm calls from the monkeys and the deer, but we saw nothing despite another driver having seen a glimpse of a leopard. As it got closer to 16:30 Gaurav and our spotter decided to head to one of the water holes we’d been to previously. There we met up with about 15 other vehicles. There were claims that a Tiger had been seen heading that way so, we waited for a while, still nothing. 

A very relaxed Jackal on the road.

We headed slowly back towards the entrance. As we came around a corner there was a group of vehicles with everyone looking to their right. We joined them and started looking and saw absolutely nothing. Then there was a lot of chatter between the drivers and guides and pandemonium broke out followed by lots of revving of engines, wheel-spins, stalling of engines and some awful reversing as each driver jostled for position. Think Fred Karnos circus to give yourselves some idea of the mayhem. Gill and I whispered to one another that no self respecting Tiger was going to be coming our way. I trained my binos towards an area quite a long way from us that the guide had heard a Tiger was. Suddenly I saw a flash or orange, yellow and black stripes behind a tree. I followed forward to a gap and saw her in the distance, one of the resident females on her own without her year old cubs. I gave Gill my binos as I could make her out in the distance. Sadly Gill didn’t see he as she headed away from the noise and commotion. I came to the conclusion that this was a typical Tiger/Leopard sighting due to the nature of paths, the rules of the park and the dense undergrowth. As quickly as the vehicles came together they disappeared.

We continued back the entrance. Less than 1 km further on we came across another vehicle and parked behind as they had spotted another Tiger. We waited quietly and amazingly the dominant male appeared very close by and crossed just in front of the vehicle in front of us. I had this all on video – wow, what an experience! Tamsin is gonna be disappointed.

Local dominant male Tiger

A lovely female Wild Dog.

Heading back we suddenly spotted ahead a Wild Dog on its own. This was just sauntering down the middle of the road and seemed very relaxed. I also video’d this as she wandered passed us. Guarav said that she was a young female out to find a mate and to start a new pack. She certainly looked in very good condition. This certainly was the best outing we’d had.