Pench Tale of Tigers featuring Collarwali the most famous Tigress

Pench forest was the inspiration for Rudyard Kipling's story of Mowgli. After experiencing Pench, it is easy to imagine how it captivated his imagination.

A young male tiger was very casual around jeeps and cameras.

https://www.penchjunglecamp.com/location.html

Pench is more or less in the middle of India in the state of Madhya Pradesh. The Core area is nearly 293 sq km and the buffer area increases that to 758 sq km. The closest airport (95km) is south of Pench in Nagpur. Most people enter the park at Turia Gate.

As soon as we arrived I saw an Indian Roller - for me, it is the classic bird of India. Below is a White-eyed Buzzard.

On our drive through the park to reach the Forest Guesthouse, we were shown a hole in a tree that had a lovely little Indian Scopes Owl sitting in the hole.

The guest house was a short drive from Turia Gate. Because it was nearly lunchtime we settled in, ate lunch, then had tea before going on a 3pm game drive. A cup of tea on the porch of the guest house was so special.

After our rest and on the drive, the first sight was a Serpent Eagle perched over a small pond.

We came across lots of wild boars, but one was particularly rough looking with a white froth around its mouth.

A shy female Nilgai, which is also an antelope, peeked out from behind the trees.

Ghost trees are pale-colored tree that is common in central India. They sometimes grow on top of stones and wrap their roots over the stones to reach for the ground.  

I was lucky to see a beautiful Coppersmith Barbet close up.

Spotted Deer were very common in large groups. There must be plenty of food for the tigers in this park.

The national bird of India gave a good show to attract the coy females that were nearby watching. Hard to imagine how they choose one of these splendid-looking guys.

We stopped to let the forest guards pass on their elephants. Then immediately following behind the elephant a tigress crossed the road.

She is a 15-year-old female called Collarwali (because she once wore a tracking collar) or she is also called "Super-mom" because she has delivered 29 cubs over the past 10 years. Only four cubs did not survive making her the most productive tigress known at this point in time. * Sadly, Collarwali died of an age-related illness on 16th January 2022; she was 16 years old.

We had a knowledgeable forest officer with us and he said let's wait, her cubs will come soon. After about 15 minutes three cubs were visible behind the bushes.

They sat behind the lantana bushes for a while then got up one by one and followed the same path their mother had taken, crossing the road just in front of us. Meanwhile, several jeeps had pulled up with lots of tourists vying for a place to take photos. The tigers are used to this and they casually crossed the road.

Cub #1

 Cub #2

Cub #3

Here is a collage of the tiger faces. Super-mom in the lower left, cub with X on the cheek above left, the upper right the cub has a thick down-turned curl, and the cub on the bottom right has a thick bilobed mark with two curled lines toward the eye. Tigers are identified by markings on their faces and bodies.

Originally, there were four cubs but one died at some point. They were born in January 2019. Overall she has been a very successful mother and productive. These photos were taken on 1st March 2020.

A Langur sits with her young baby. A jackal below looks similar to my dog at home.

A male Nilgai, which in translation means Blue bull.

Gaur or Indian Bison was found roaming in Pench. They are related to another fantastic-looking bison called a Mithun - found in Northeast India.

A large banyan tree was on the way to our lodge.

Another Indian species is the Grey Hornbill.

Hornbills are a specialty of India, but most of the 9 species that are found there are threatened by loss of suitable habitat. The Malabar Pied Hornbill is not as common as the Oriental Pied Hornbill and is considered to be near threatened.

A Greater Racket-tailed Drongo is fun to see in flight as it negotiates the thick forest dangling the two tail feathers. A tap-tap noise drew attention to a Lesser Goldenback woodpecker shown below hunting for insects on a tree.

Another vulnerable species is the Sambar Deer. A large species that have reduced numbers due to hunting and loss of habitat to industry and housing.

We had a wow moment when we drove up a road and saw a tigress walking toward us. She determinedly walked straight toward our jeep then decided to rest with her back toward us.

After a brief lie down, she got up and went off to a small side path where we couldn't go, but we watched as she scent marked the bushes as she passed. She was definitely in oestrus and sending the information out.

Later, we were lucky to still get a view of her. She was there and partially hidden behind the lantana shrubs.

She slowly moved into the open and started to seductively roll around on the ground. 

She suddenly jumped up from her rolling activity and looked in the direction she had come from earlier.

It wasn't long before a large male had picked up on her scent and entered the area. The female dashed away to a high spot opposite us.

He visited the spot where the tigress was rolling around then scent marked the area.

I have a short film clip of the male circling the female. She had a short tussle with him before he walks away. He came back around a second time but kept a wider circle from her. Again she positioned herself away from him and didn't seem ready to mate - yet.

The tigress would either allow the male to mate or not but we didn't find out. Stuck in a tree above all this was a female langur. She might have to stay awhile with two tigers below.

By then it was getting dark and the only thing around was a Jungle Fowl heading for a safe roost. 

A special "Thank You" from all of us to the park staff, forest guesthouse staff, and Forestry officers that made this trip a rewarding stay and tiger viewing trip.

Thank you to our good friends Brij and Vandana for making this trip possible, being excellent hosts, and great company.