Waiting for Sher Khan in Pench
Adventure seekers were left to savour the joy of the drive as a tiger sighting proved elusive, even in the wilderness of Pench and Kanha National Parks
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Last Updated: Jun 06, 2015, 06:18 IST9 min
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It was around 8.30 pm on a nippy February evening. There was a small gathering around the bar. There were two bottles of whiskey and one of rum. We had reached the Tuli Tiger Corridor in Pench, a wildlife reserve that spreads across Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, a few hours ago. Many of our fellow travellers were still getting settled into their rooms, but Abhishek, my assigned roommate, and I headed straight to the makeshift bar. There was reason for our haste: The organisers, for reasons we are still unclear about, had assigned us a honeymoon tent. Abhishek and I, while cordial, had met only that morning. We were, as you can surmise, at least hoping for separate beds. (Tuli did later grant us individual beds, phew.)
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Ah well, the bar beckoned as did—we hoped—the elusive tiger. It was the start of a five-day excursion organised by Mahindra Adventure to the Pench and Kanha National Parks, and there was little that could dampen our spirits. Quite literally.
I poured myself a drink and joined Sapna and Chandan Gurukar, a couple from Sakleshpur, a town near Bangalore. Sapna is the winner of the women’s category Mahindra off-roading competition that took place only a week ago in Igatpuri, Maharashtra.
“There are hardly any women participating in this sport. Off-roading is something where you have to get your hands and legs dirty. Most women don’t want to their dress to get spoilt,” Sapna says. She had no such problem and that competition done, the couple had taken a flight to Nagpur to participate in the Mahindra Adventure Wild Escape 2015 excursion—a 250-km drive to Kanha Tiger reserve with a stop at Pench and then back to Nagpur. There were 34 participants driving 18 vehicles made up of XUVs, Scorpios or Thars. Four service vehicles carried the supplies.
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The last vehicle was the sweep XUV, managed by professional drivers whose job was to keep the cars in a single file, between the lead and the sweep—no matter what.
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Over the last four years, Mahindra Adventure, a division of automobile major Mahindra & Mahindra, has arranged long-distance excursions into parts of the Himalayas, including Spiti Valley, and into the deserts of Rajasthan. Anybody willing to drive is welcome. Most of these excursions are booked by repeat customers. Many like Sapna and Chandan were drawn to the drive rather than the wildlife aspect of the trip. “We wanted to experience convoy driving,” Chandan told me even as the other participants started gathering for a drink or dinner or both.
Darshan Contractor, a fellow Mumbai-dweller, joined us at the bar. He told us he had already participated in 10 escapades organised by Mahindra Adventure and had made it a point to bring his son Josh, 13, and daughter Paloma, 17, along with him. He was here for the driving and the tiger-spotting. “I’m not going to go away till I spot a tiger,” he said. “I also think it is the thrill of the convoy driving that brings us back. The trip also gives you that personal time with your family,” added Contractor, who owns an architecture firm in Mumbai.
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A hardcore driving enthusiast, he had gone to Igatpuri to learn off-roading and has since taken to the sport. A long trip was usually therapeutic for him, he said.
I also met the Shetty family which owned a restaurant in Mumbai, Ramchandran from Chennai, the Mehtas from Baroda and the Pais from Bangalore. But the stars of the evening were the three professional drivers—Ashwin Naik, Musa Sharif and PVS Murthy—who race under the Mahindra banner in the Indian National Rally Championship. They drive the sweep vehicle, which they said “is like riding a chariot”. “We have to keep each and every horse from veering away and that becomes tough because we don’t know the driving skills of many of the participants. If there is a rough driver, we have to gently get him back into the convoy,” Naik said. He had never been on a wildlife expedition to Kanha and he had just one hope from the trip: To see the tiger.
But everybody missed the 5.30 am wake-up call. By the time we entered the forest, it was around 8.30 am. We knew it would be tough to spot a tiger. We were all packed into Maruti Gypsys that belonged to the resort they had also given us a guide. The guides are typically locals with a keen sense of hearing and a sharp eye. In most cases, they are excellent trackers. Our guide immediately spotted some tiger pugmarks.
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Would we get lucky?
We drove deeper into the Pench jungle where the most common sights were langurs and spotted deer. We came to an open space and, on the far side, saw 14 vultures. There are around 40 vultures in the Pench jungle they are now considered to be endangered species. They were pecking away at a carcass and did not fly away even when we approached them. They merely jumped away from us. We spent some time observing them and then, while returning, saw a jackal relieving himself in the morning sun. The guide said it was a rare sight. But our fortune did not extend to a tiger sighting.
Safari sightings: The Pench and Kanha National Parks are a delight for nature and bird lovers. (Right) There are around 40 vultures in the Pench jungle, but they are now considered an endangered species. “They did not fly away even when we approached them. They merely jumped away from us.”
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