Pench Tiger Reserve

Pench Tiger Reserve comprises Indira Pench Priyadarshini National Park, the Pench Mowgli Sanctuary, and a buffer. The Tiger Reserve nestles in the Southern slopes of the Satpura ranges of Central India in the Seoni and Chhindwara districts of Madhya Pradesh. The forest referred to in Rudyard Kipling's renowned "The Jungle Book" and generally known as Mowgli territory is the Pench Tiger Reserve and its surrounding region. The river Pench, which splits the Reserve into two, forms the lifeline of the same. To the South of the Tiger Reserve lies the Pench Tiger Reserve of Maharashtra, the country's first inter-state project tiger area. The landscape is undulating, mostly covered by small hill ranges, steeply sloping on the sides. The description of its natural beauty and richness in flora and fauna has appeared in numerous accounts dating back to the 17th century. An extensive forest belt extends towards north, east, and south, covering forest tracts of the Seoni, Balaghat, and Nagpur districts. The contiguous forest on the southern side of Maharashtra initially notified as Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru National Park has been included in the Project Tiger network by the same name. A dam was constructed on the Pench River on the southeastern boundary of the Reserve. Tigers usually inhabit this belt because the prey concentration is high along the Pench River. The primary forest type of the Reserve is classified as southern Indian tropical moist deciduous (3B/C1c), southern tropical dry deciduous (5A/C1b), and southern dry mixed deciduous forest (5A/C3) (Champion & Seth, 1968).

Description

State : Madhya Pradesh

District : Seoni, Chhindwara

Coordinates : 21°38’55 N, 79°08’51” E

Area : 1179.63 Sq.km.

TR Notification year : 1992-1993

Tiger Population : 61 (All India Tiger Esitmation, 2018)