Nagpur & Pench Tiger reserve

This year, my travels have taken me to unexpected places & brought a sense of discovery. While browsing, I came across a workshop by Cosmic Trails offering astrophotography lessons. I’ve always wanted to take good pictures and learn more about astronomy, it immediately caught my interest. I asked for details but soon realized I wasn’t ready for a mountain trip. A few weeks later, they announced an astronomy tour and safari at Pench, India’s first dark reserve, a place I had never heard of before. Without thinking much, I signed up as this felt more comfortable for something new. Sid & San joined me. 

Day 1: We started early in the morning , packed light, one carry-on backpack each and 1 check-in bag full of snacks 😋.  This year, I set a goal to reach early at the airport to avoid the usual last-minute chaos. The airline had not allowed web check-in, so we went to the counter to check in. We were pleasantly surprised to get an upgrade to business class, this was my first ever! The kids were excited, setting a perfect tone to start off our journey.

This was an easy day,  After relaxing for couple of hours and light lunch at the hotel, we started exploring, first we went to Karodi Mahalakshmi Temple, one of the 51 Shaktipeethas. On our way to Ambhora, about 65 km from Nagpur, we took a 2 min break at a pillar(under renovation) that was designated as the center point of undivided India in 1907.   

Ambhora is known for the sangama of five rivers (Wainganga, Kanhan, Aam, Kolari, and Murz), glass bridge and Shiva temple. 

Day2 : It was an exciting day! We took a shared cab to Pench with a fellow traveller . By noon we reached Amaltas Tourism Complex, Sillari and checked in to a room which had the painting of panther and our room was called bagira (name from jungle book) . Amaltas is the last resort before the forest checkpost, has no mobile network, it was a blessing. The food at Amaltas was great, kids enjoyed simple yet delicious food. We were a group of 12 members with half of them being kids.

We started with a 4-hour open jeep safari in the afternoon. We spotted peacocks, monkeys, spotted deer, sambar deer, spiders, birds, and various trees. The highlight was seeing a tiger through my monocular telescope. Although I couldn’t capture a photo, it was thrilling to witness it resting after a sumptuous meal, this reminded me to enjoy the moment instead of focusing on taking pictures. We also heard about leopard sighting nearby but didn’t spot it. On the way back, we encountered wild boars and buffalo.

We returned to the resort and had a few hours before heading back to the forest for most awaited startgazing safari. By 9 PM, we hopped into an open jeep and headed to the jungle observatory for stargazing. We narrowly missed another tiger sighting, and our guide advised not to risk by stopped the jeep. 

At the observatory, we began with an introduction to astronomy, along with details on the latest telescopes and gadgets used for stargazing. However, nature has its unexpected ways of doing things, it turned out that the weather was cloudy though the forecast said clear sky. With no stars visible, both the elderly and younger kids got restless and wanted to head back. We all silently prayed for the skies to clear. By midnight, it seemed nature answered our prayers, we spotted stars as the clouds started clearing, Our organisers took special permission, we stayed out longer and excitedly observed nebulae, constellations, Venus, Jupiter and its moons, and Saturn through the telescope. Although we didn’t capture many photos, San spotted a shooting star, which was an exciting moment for all of us. We returned to the resort by around 2 AM, still talking about the stars until we finally went to bed.

Day 3: I woke up early, there weren’t many people around and took a peaceful long walk with ginger tea while the kids slept in. After a good breakfast, we took some photos, thanked the staff, and left for Nagpur. Our first stop was Haldiram’s for lunch, Haldiram started its until in Nagpur in 1970, where the unlimited thali was worth waiting through the Navratri crowds. The kids loved the sweets, and we bought the famous orange sweets to take home. It was not orange season so we skipped going to orange market.

On the way to the airport we went to Tekdi Ganapati and Akshardham temples, then spent some time at Landmark for some books & to cool off in the AC. We arrived four hours early at the airport, and the airport was packed with school kids on holiday. San did some shopping for her friends, picking up a few bracelets, while we ate all the snacks that caught our eye.  We met our new friend, Dr.A from Mumbai for a short time before we boarded the flight.

Our flight back to Bangalore got a bit delayed,we picked up the car from parking @ T2 and reached home by 2:30 AM, feeling recharged after a short but enjoyable trip.