About:
Dr. Bharatkumar Bhate is M.S. General Surgeon (Gold Medalist) by qualification with an experience of 30,000+ operations and is based at Rajkot, Gujarat. He is an avid reader and a passionate writer. In this blog, he shares his travel experiences and creative writings.
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Blog:
M.P. Tour : Chapter 9
PANNA TIGER RESERVE:
The forest area at Panna, that falls in Chattarpur, Panna and Damoh districts of Madhya Pradesh, is spread over 1,598 square kilometres. The core forest area occupies 576 square kilometres while the buffer zone is spread over 1022 square kilometres.
Madla is a small village. Panna town is district place and is about 15 km from Madla gate. Our MP Tourism hotel was next to Madla Entry gate. The resort is very nice. The room and food were admirable.
Best time to see Panna Tiger Reserve is from October to June.
Panna Tiger Reserve Safari Timings:
Morning Safari: 5-30 AM to 11:00 AM
Afternoon Safari: 3-00 PM to Sunset
Night Safari: 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM (confirm beforehand)
Entry to tiger reserve can be booked online or at the ticket window (if available) with nominal charges. The vehicle and guide charges are extra and needs to be paid on the spot.Two things to be taken care of:
(1) You must carry same original ID proof used for online booking with you.
(2) You can book whole safari vehicle for you or book on sharing basis.
Panna National park is very famous in India for various reasons. It has thick forest surrounded by Vindhya Ranges of mountain. The Ken river and its water fall with colourful rocks on either side of gorge. A large variety of floral and faunal species can be seen here. It gives most thrilling wildlife experience when it comes to Wildlife tourism in India. It also holds a great universal value as it is declared as a UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE site in 2020.
Video of Safari - Click on the link to watch - https://www.facebook.com/DrBhateRajkot/videos/656689756089098/
Prominent animals found in Panna Tiger Reserve are Tiger, Leopard, Sloth Bear, Spotted Deer, Nilgai, Four-horned antelope, Chital, Wild Dog, Chinkara and Wolf etc. Both black and pink faced monkeys are abundant.
One of the top tourist activities in Panna is boat safari in Ken River and watching beautiful migratory birds. It is, in fact, one of the best ways to enjoy wildlife holidays in Panna. The prominent bird species of Panna National Park are Bar Headed Goose, Honey Buzzard, White Neck Stork, Quail, Bulbul, Indian Scimitar Babbler, Blossom Headed Parakeet, King Vulture and Paradise Flycatcher etc.
*Tiger population in Panna tiger reserve*
Two contradictory things happened between 2007 and 2009.
Panna was given the Award of Excellence in 2007 as the best maintained national park of India by the Ministry of tourism of India.
In the year 2009, the forests in Madhya Pradesh were nearly devoid of any tigers. Main reason was neglect in vigilance and poachers were fearlessly hunting tigers or catching alive and selling to Chinese kitchens. The entire tiger population had been eliminated by poaching with the collusion of forest department officials.
In order to save the animals from extinction and repopulate the forests with tigers, a tiger resettlement programme was launched.
The Panna Tiger Reserve hoped to increase the number of tigers in the reserve from 64 to 78 by the end of the year 2021.
At present there are 29 tigresses in forest out of which 12 tigresses are breeding at the tiger reserve. The mid-term review of 2021 also stated that in one year, 12 breeding tigresses gave birth to 16 cubs. Unfortunately, 6 adult tigers died natural death, territorial fight or otherwise.
Ideal male to female sex ratio for the tigers is said to be 1:3. If there are more male tigers then there will be more competition for the females and territorial fights. This in turn will result into conflict with other male tigers and killing of cubs of the other male tigers by the dominant male tigers. As of today, male to female ratio in Panna is 1:2 which is fair.
Lastly, our purpose of forest visit is to see tigers and not deers which are in hundreds. I honestly admit that I have not spotted any tiger in any forest so far. I have seen Kanha, Ranthambore and now Panna.
Tigers are usually spotted accidentally. Even if tiger is merely 50 meters away but hidden in thick forest, you can't see him. Every male tiger has his territory of 50 sq.km and female has 9 sq. km. This is a vast territory. Lastly, tiger is a night time hunting animal. So you may not get him inspite of a thorough search in day time.
However I consider myself lucky to see two wild bears in this forest and take a video clip.
Video Link - Click to watch - https://www.facebook.com/DrBhateRajkot/videos/648375557074783/
We will try our luck for tiger tomorrow at Bandhavgarh.
Friends, have a nice time till then.
- Dr. Bharatkumar Bhate