Above: This huge male soaked in the Bijamatta waterhole for some time...
... then climbed up the bank and disappeared into the forest.
He emerged about 10 minutes later and crossed the road right in front of our gypsy!
Pench has an Eden-like atmosphere, perhaps because the large meadows and grazing herds of chital give it such an air of serenity. Below: Chital, langur and a sambar together at a waterhole.
Above: Joined by a Great Egret
Above: Pench peacocks are plentiful and picturesque, often posing beautifully on the rocks. In summer you can see them doing their spectacular dance - I have no good pictures of that.
Above: Gaur
Above, below: We got an interesting view of gaur courtship when this huge male - the biggest I've seen - came to a herd of females and seemed to select one after much sniffing. This affectionate display followed!
Above: Summer colours, red, green, gold. This was on the 1st or 2nd of June if I remember correctly. Out of the 50 vehicles in the park, 48 were parked in the Alikatta elephant camp, with their occupants waiting in queue to be ferried on elephant back to view a tiger that had been spotted resting in a thicket nearby. This is a really boring way to see a tiger, and moreover I would have had at least a half-hour wait among a chattering crowd stuffing themselves with samosas and sandwiches: not the ideal way to spend the limited time one has in a forest. It dawned on me that the rest of the park was now human-free. So off we went!
Above: The driver Rajan parked in shade beside this waterhole and everyone dozed off for some time
Above: Malabar Pied Hornbill. There is a pair near Alikatta that I've seen several times.
Above: The local name for this lovely creeper is Mahul bel, but I keep forgetting the botanical name - something beginning with "c." It's all over the trees around mid-April and is partly the reason that Pench looks its best at that season.
Pench Tiger Reserve
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