Pench Travel Guide: Gates, Safari Season and Planning Your Visit

Almost everything here is seen from a safari vehicle, so the places to know are the gates, the old village clearings and the reservoir, with two villages just outside the forest. Choose your gate before your room: the gate decides where you stay and how long you spend on the road.

Turia, Karmajhiri and Jamtara: the core gates

The reserve names three entry points: Turia, reached through Khawasa in Seoni district; Karmajhiri, reached through Suktara, also in Seoni district; and Jamtara, in Chhindwara district. Turia is the largest by far, with a daily vehicle limit of 74 in the core against 16 at Karmajhiri and 9 at the third gate, which the reserve's tables spell Gumtara. Around them sit buffer gates, among them Teliya, Rukhad and Kumbhpani.

Alikatta and Chhedia

Both are relocated village sites, now open grassland. The reserve describes Alikatta as the main elephant camp of the park, with herds of chital on the maidan and splendid scenery where the reservoir's submerged edge curves around its southern and western sides. Chhedia, the second relocated village in the park, is also a fine grassland. Open ground like this is where the herbivores graze, so drives pass through it slowly.

Pyorthadi

An abandoned village site, partly under the reservoir, that draws large herds of chital and other animals to the submergence. The reserve says the submergence is open only after December. MP Tourism names Pyorthadi as a place where leopards are looked for, alongside the vulture sites at Sita Ghat and Raiyakassa.

Chhindimatta and the Pench reservoir

The Pench river runs through the middle of the park, north to south, and the dam on it, built between 1973 and 1988, flooded about 72 sq km on both sides of the state border, 54 of them inside the Madhya Pradesh park. Chhindimatta, a small hill on the edge of the water, is the base for boating, and the reserve lists motor boats and paddle boats there. In the cold months thousands of migratory waterfowl visit the reservoir and the park's tanks.

Karmajhiri and Bodanala

Karmajhiri is a forest village outside the northern gate where the park's own accommodation stands. In July 2022 the Karmajhiri area was notified as a wildlife sanctuary of 14.14 sq km within the tiger reserve. Bodanala, an irrigation tank on the park boundary, is a pretty water body that draws animals and, in winter, many birds.

Pachdhar and Khamba, outside the forest

MP Tourism points to two village visits near the Turia gate. One is the potters' colony at Pachdhar, 10 km from the gate, known for black pottery, where visitors can try the wheel and make a souvenir. The other is Khamba, where visitors can stay among Gond families and see rural life. Both fill the hours between drives, when the park is closed to vehicles.

Mowgli's country

The reserve says Pench and its neighbourhood are the original setting of Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book. It points to the Waingunga river, the Seonee hills and the village of Kanhiwara in Seoni district, and says Kipling borrowed the landscape and wildlife from R. A. Sterndale's book on Seonee. Mowgli, it says, was inspired by Sir William Sleeman's account of a boy found living with wolves near Seoni in 1831. About Kipling himself it says only that he probably visited. MP Tourism calls the reserve the Land of the Jungle Book.

Wildlife

The reserve reports that its dry mixed forest, teak and open grassy patches support some of the densest herds of herbivores in India: chital, sambar, gaur, nilgai and wild boar, with chousingha and chinkara. Tigers and leopards are the main predators, followed by dholes (wild dogs) and wolves. More than 325 species of birds have been recorded, among them the Malabar pied hornbill, Indian pitta, osprey and grey-headed fish eagle.

Pench in Maharashtra

The same forest continues across the border in Maharashtra's Pench Tiger Reserve, about 741 sq km by Maharashtra Tourism's figure. The Madhya Pradesh reserve's own site calls the pair the first inter-state Project Tiger area in the country. Maharashtra's part has its own booking site, run by the Maharashtra Forest Department, not the Madhya Pradesh portal described here. For that state, see our Maharashtra travel guide.

The reserve's timetable says the park is open to tourists from 1 October to 30 June, and its forest department brochure gives 15 October to 30 June as the best time. Under the state's wildlife rules, limited areas may open between 1 and 15 October.

• November to February: winter, with cold mornings in an open vehicle. The reserve warns that January may bring sub-zero temperatures and frost. MP Tourism calls October to February the pleasant months and November to March the best for birds, when migrants arrive from the north.
• March to mid-June: the dry, hot season, which the reserve counts from March to the second week of June. It notes that the exposed edge of the reservoir grows doob grass in late winter and early summer, which feeds the herbivores.
• Mid-June to September: the rains. The reserve says the monsoon arrives in the second week of June, although its timetable keeps the park open to 30 June. Core gates are closed from 1 July to 30 September.

The state's rules close only the core: tourism areas in the buffer of a tiger reserve stay open all year. Which Pench buffer gates take bookings on a given monsoon date is shown on the booking site, so check it before you plan around the buffer.

• By air: the reserve names Nagpur, Jabalpur and Chhindwara as nearest airports. By road, Nagpur is far nearer the main gate than Jabalpur.
• By train: the reserve lists Nagpur and Jabalpur as railheads, and its forest department brochure adds Chhindwara.
• By road: the reserve gives these distances. To Turia: Nagpur 85 km, Seoni 110 km, Balaghat 200 km, Jabalpur 215 km. To Karmajhiri: Seoni 50 km, Nagpur 135 km, Balaghat 150 km, Jabalpur 195 km. To Jamtara: Chhindwara 59 to 80 km, depending on the route. MP Tourism adds that Khawasa and Seoni are the nearest bus stops and that hourly buses run from Nagpur.

Other official pages give different figures for the Nagpur drive (Maharashtra Tourism says about 93 km, MP Tourism both 93 km and about 130 km), so allow two to three hours and check the gate you have booked. See also our guides to domestic flights and trains for visitors. For the rest of the state, read our Madhya Pradesh travel guide.

• Book on the official site: the Madhya Pradesh Forest Department's booking portal, forest.mponline.gov.in, sells Pench permits. Its home page says bookings for the next 120 days open at 11 am, but the window and time can change, so read the notice on the day. The reserve's guest accommodation is booked through the Field Director's office in Seoni.
• A park guide is compulsory: the reserve says an authorised park guide must go with every tourist vehicle, and the state's rules require all visitors to be accompanied by a licensed local guide. Registered guides are available at the Turia, Karmajhiri and Jamtara gates. Drivers and guides are not counted among the people allowed in the vehicle, and a full-vehicle permit covers up to six tourists.
• Vehicles: the reserve says it is the tourist's job to arrange a vehicle, and its rate chart describes a light vehicle carrying up to six tourists, a guide and a driver.
• A naturalist is an extra: a naturalist registered with the park, usually through a lodge, may ride as an affiliate if a seat is free. The park guide still travels in the vehicle.
• Timings: entry times change by month. The reserve's timetable has morning entry between 5.30 and 6.30 am and afternoon entry at 3.00 or 3.30 pm, and the park may change them for management reasons.
• ID and rules: carry a valid permit and photo ID. Stay in the vehicle until the guide says otherwise, keep to 20 km/h, and do not carry tobacco, alcohol, plastic bags or pets. Use a phone only to take photographs, and keep the horn and any music off.
• Seats for children: under the state's rules, children under five share a parent's seat, and children from five to twelve take their own seat at half the single-seat fee.
• Where to stay: forest rest houses at Karmajhiri, Ghatkohka and Rukhad are run by the park, and private lodges stand near the gates. Book early for the cold months.