By road
~90-140 km from Nagpur
Central India · Madhya Pradesh
Pench, Madhya Pradesh
Teak forests split by a lazy river · ~90-140 km from Nagpur
Getting there
By rail
Seoni, ~30-72 km (Nagpur, ~80-166 km, has broader connections)
By air
Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport, Nagpur, ~90-140 km
Best time to visit
October to June; February-April for cat activity
Don't miss
Turia zone
Alikatta meadow
Pench river viewpoints
Things to do
Tiger safaris
Night drives
Birding walks
River picnics
Where to eat
Sources: wikimedia, Photo: Drashokk · CC BY-SA 4.0
What to pack
Neutral safari wear, sun hat, binoculars
A quieter corner
Night safaris in the buffer — leopards own the dark here
About Pench
- Forest
- Riverside
Where it is
Pench Tiger Reserve lies in the southern Satpura hills in the Seoni and Chhindwara districts of Madhya Pradesh, on the border with Maharashtra, with the Pench river dividing its teak forest.
History
The Seoni forests appear in 19th-century British accounts of the Central Provinces that are believed to have helped inspire Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book, set in these hills. The area was first protected as a sanctuary in the 1970s, became a national park in 1983 and was later made a tiger reserve.
People
Villages around Pench are home to Gond communities who farm and gather forest produce, and Hindi, Gondi and Marathi are spoken on either side of the state border. Many young villagers now work as guides and naturalists.
Known for
- The Seoni hills of Kipling's The Jungle Book
- Tiger and leopard safaris
- Teak forest along the Pench river
- Birdwatching
Did you know?
A Pench tigress known as Collarwali, who died in 2022, gave birth to 29 cubs over her lifetime and became famous as the reserve's supermom.
We haven't written a guide for this place yet — you can still plan a trip here.