Seoni Hills are Now Pench Tiger Reserve
Kipling wrote a mesmerizing account of life in the jungles of Seoni in Central India. Now the state is known as Madhya Pradesh or MP.
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| Sher Khan Tiger |
In the eighteenth century there lived a boy completely naked and he spent most of the time in the company of the wolves. As the message spread and reached Kipling he penned the esoteric in a book called "Jungle Book". The story is now legendary and has been made into a film called "Jungle Book". The rest is history.
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| Jungle Home Pench |
The popularity accorded to past endeavors has brought fame to the Seoooni Hills as Kipling called the place in India. The Seoni Hills are now Pench National Park and Tiger Reserve. This is where Mowgli roamed in the wild full of antics and was a confirmed foe of Sher Khan the tiger. Nevertheless, the reserve is as good a creation of nature as the book which the author wove so skillfully full of esoteric imagination tells us.
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The characters of Mowgli Land still survive in the wilderness and Sher Khan is the main attraction. In fact, this is a conservation unit under Project Tiger Program.
Conservation here is the first priority seconded by tourism in twenty percent of the core area and now in the buffer as well. As a major revenue earner tourism is regulated and permission in form of permits is required. It draws tourists from overseas as well as crowds from within the country.
The permits for excursions are available online at MPOnline Portal belonging to the state government. The safaris are conducted on jeeps and on foot trekking is not allowed. The park's tourism area is divided into zones, and the permit restricts tourists to one zone unless it is for the full day.
The big cat is surviving at Pench in good numbers and so are the other animals. Nilgai antelope, Sambar, Chital, barking deer, guar or bison, jackal, wild boar, boar, and langur monkey are common sites. Sloth bears, wild dogs, and leopards are infrequently seen. More than two hundred fifty species of birds make their home here, this includes the winter migrants who depart from March onward. The park is closed during the monsoon.
Sound tourism infrastructure makes safari possible here. The buffer is home to a number of luxury resorts in Pench National Park in MP. This outer ring offers varied accommodations ranging from high-end, luxury, and budget properties. The buffer is also home to the critically endangered wolf and can be seen with luck on safari.
Seoni Township is fifty km from here on the way to Jabalpur Airport (200 km). The closest Airport is Nagpur in neighboring Maharashtra State. It is at a drive of ninety kilometers of good road.
