A morning Safari to Satpura National Park - Panarpani Trail - Neemghan

Satpura National Park - Panarpani Trail (Neemghan) |Pachmarhi Satapura Tour

Folks - This is in continuation of my previous blog 2 Day Pachmarhi Trip where I walked you through beautiful sights and locations spread across Pachmarhi. But before I take you to this beautiful nature trail from Panarpani gate of Satpura National Park let me tell you about prerequisites for forest safari.

Tips:

1. Please procure permit to visit forest either online by visiting https://forest.mponline.gov.in/ or buy it from Bison Lodge Museum (Open till 05:30 PM) at Pachmarhi. Permit cost is 250/person without taxes.

2. Also get the guide assigned previous day ( charges 480/) from office at Bison Lodge Museum since you'll not be able to get the same arranged in the morning.

3. Make certain you've a gypsy at your disposal which is in good condition & registration with the forest department. (Same can be verified at Museum Office). Gypsy for a ride would cost you about 1900 - 2200 Rs).

4. Make sure you have put on warm clothes if you are going for morning safari ( Oct - Feb) as it will be cold and entire safari takes about 4 hours that covers about 50 Kms.

5. Please ensure that you are carrying enough snacks to cover morning breakfast and that too if there are kids in the groups as it will take 4-5 hours to complete the entire safari.

6. Do not be over excited and expect to see animals as most of them are extremely shy by nature and avoid human. It also depends upon the weather condition of that particular day. 

Satpura National Park

 The Satpura National Park is located in the Mahadeo hills of the Satpura Mountain ranges. It is among the best biosphere reserved in central India and its terrains are home to multitude of animals and plants to peninsular India. It also harbours many rare plants, herbs and animals not found anywhere else in Central INdia. Major fauna of the park includes Bison, Sambhar, Chousingha, Ratel, Sloth Bear, Flying squirrel, Tree shrew, Marsh crocodile, Tiger, Leopard and wild dog apart from peacock and monkeys.

We woke up in the early morning around 5 since it happened to be a morning safari and got ready for the upcoming nature trail. Our Gypsy and guide arrived at the hotel by 05:30 AM and we started the trip around 05:45 AM. We were at the Panarpani gate by 06:15 Am and post formalities we got into the newly opened pathway to Satpura National Park. ( Just so you know that Panarpani Gate had been closed for years and got opened in Oct -2019 only however, Madhai Gate has always been open and has been bigger attraction from tourist perspective being the main core area of Satpura National Park.)

Panarpani Gate - Satpura National Park

Panarpani Gate

Panarpani was the starting point of our foray to the richly green forests. At the entrance you get to see multiple hoardings/boards with various information. One of the carved stones tell you that the park was inagurated by the renowned Ornithologist Dr. Salim Ali on 19th Oct 1981. On the other side of the main road was the Panarpani check post  and on the one side a beautiful stream flowing from south to north. We were told by our guide that this stream was known as Panarpani Stream.

Panarpani Gate - Satpura National Park

Madhukamni Plant / Riparian Forest / Coffee Plantation 

As soon as we were inside the forest we could hear the sweet sound of water stream along with morning humms from birds. On both side of the track we could see the rows of Madhukamni Medicinal Plants whose leaves are found very useful in treating joint pain. Moving ahead we were told by our guide that the surrounding area was Riparian Forest where trees like arjun, Mango and Jamun are found in good numbers. We were shown coffee plantations beneath the bark of Jamun trees.

It was still quite early in the morning and it was drizzling a bit which may have caused most of the animals to stay within their shelters and we could hardly see animals other than peacock, monkey and deer. Though we were fortunate enough to see one small group of Bisons.

 After covering few kilometers we stopped at one of the forest posts and from the terrace we could witness the breathtaking view of Satpura hills in the early morning. We clicked few photos and continued our journey to the deep forest. Tracks were found to be newly laid as gates were recently opened and sound of jungle along with the extremely fresh air blended with tranquility made it more majestic experience.

Satpura Range - Panarpani Trail

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 Neemghan

We continued for about 6-8 kilometers until we reached the final check post of this trail which is also known as Neemghan. We stayed there for about 15 minutes grabbed some snacks that we were carrying with ourselves. To our pleasure we were served hot tea by forest guards who were serving at that post. It was such a nice gesture from them and made it quite unique experience to sip tea amid the dense yet beautiful forests.

After paying some tip to workers who made tea for us we started our journey back to main gate and on the way back we stopped by Valley of Butterflies (Panarpani Garden), Den & Baba Garden and Rock Painting and I must say each one of them were unique in terms of what they had tooffer.

Panarpani Butterfly Garden

After few Kilometers we got to see the Panarpani Garden which is also known as "Valley of Butterflies".  We took a 10 minute walk inside the garden and got to see some beautiful and colorful butterflies. Our guide told that due to its location in a sheleted valley with Perennial streams it is much favored by many colorful butterflies, flowers and ferns. after spending about 15 minutes at garden we moved across.

 

Butterfly Garden - Valley of Butterflies

Den & Baba Garden 

It was natural cave that went into rocks for few feets and might have been shelter to various wild animal like tiger, leopard, wild dog and sloth bear. We were told that early man too used to take shelters in such structures.

  Rock Painting  

One of the treasures of the Satpuras are the Prehistoric and proto-historic rock paintings believed to be done by early man. The painting in the more than 130 rock shelters in hills represent some of the finest rock art in India. It was a minor trekking to the point where we could closely see the creation of early man. These rock paintings depict various actions and event from early man era out of which common themes are battle and bunting scenes, ceremonial procession and wild animals. these rock paintings have also been subjected to harsh weather and human vandalism and have lost some sheen over the years. Now they are protected and covered by iron grills.

We spent about 15 minutes observing these beautiful creation that stood to the challenges of weather and savage human interventions. After about 25 minutes we were out of the panarpani gate. It was around 10:45 and we could marvel at the beauty of nature that we just experienced. The only regret was in regards to weather which prevented us from watching more wild animals who take shelter in these beautiful forests. Nonetheless experience was enriching.

This brought me to the end of our exploration in and around Pachmarhi!! Here is a small video from this beautiful safari