By Mukund Sathe
Diary of a cyclist – a summary of my cycling expedition in the Pench forest, fondly known as Mowgliland.
Day 0: 25th January, 2024 Thursday (5 KM) –
In the last few winters, I had exciting, long cycling expeditions in the Western coastal ghats, Almoda mountains, Longewala desert and East coast road. Now planned to explore forests. I had almost zeroed down on YHAI’s Jim Corbett expedition, when I stumbled upon an unknown cycling group conducting expeditions in the Pench forest. The website (https://cyclesafari.in/pench2/) made me curious and I registered.
Post registration, we were instructed to download BikeGPX app and add the routes to be followed during the expedition. The purpose was to guide us in case we got lost and even if there was no internet connectivity during that period. I was fortunate enough not to get to use it :-).
I reached Nagpur by train where I was picked up along with other members and taken by road to the eco-friendly base camp situated at Mogarkasa lake. Other than the forest, lake, nature, I was fascinated by the tents provided. Until now, during various treks and cycling expeditions, I have been staying in small tents with mats or sleeping bags but this was a massive tent with comfortable mattress, blankets and a pillow, a pure luxury 🙂
Luxury tent stay
Most of us had opted for rented cycles which were handed over to us along with a kit. They were MTB Cycles in very good condition. The kit consisted of a jersey and lot of useful stuff including a head torch. We freshened up and moved on to an acclimatization cycle ride around the lake. Got the first feel of ‘bumpy’ pathways which was our route for most of the times in the upcoming three days.
Post ride we strolled by the lake. Watched a beautiful sunset. It was getting colder. The area was lit using solar panels and generators. We had an introduction session of participants, followed by a do’s and dont’s session, specifically considering it’s a jungle ride. Dinner was freshly cooked and served. Throughout the journey meals were delicious and had all local preparations. Had a peaceful sleep and woke up next morning to the chirping of birds. The Mogarakasa lake is famous for birding.
Day 1: 26th January, 2024 Friday (76 KM) –
While we were getting ready and having breakfast, enjoyed the changing colours of the sky at dawn.
We left the base camp after 7AM. It was a chilly weather. Hands remained frozen for couple of hours. We were informed that there is a change in the initial route. The forests routes were being approved by the forest officials based on the knowledge and information about the wildlife movements.
After couple of kilometers of forest road, we hit SH251. After about half an hour ride we stopped at a local school. Republic day flag hoisting ceremony was in progress at the school. We joined them to salute our Tiranga.
Again we left the highway and entered the forest route. This was the toughest one. The surface was uneven and full of gravel. In spite of being on the MTB, we could feel the vibrations.
After the rough patch, there were village roads which took us to Bawanthadi dam. We got an opportunity to ride on the 7KM long dam wall and we entered the state of Madhya Pradesh. We had a service point break to eat/drink. Arrangements at service points were fantastic. There were so many food and fruit varieties to chose from.
With renewed energy we crossed the dam wall and got back to the jungle paths. Cycle Safari had used a very innovative idea to guide us through the unknown roads. At every junction, they had tied orange ribbons to clarify which way to go. The concept helped throughout the route and we never had to fall back on the map.
On the way had a lunch break at Maa Sharda Dhaba at Piparwani village. Some more mix of on-roading and off-roading and reached the next service point near Kudwa village. Time for a group click. It was a group of 20 cyclists from various towns of India like Pondicherry, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Pune, Mumbai, Nanded, Nagpur, Pusad, Rajkot, Delhi etc. Surprisingly the group consisted of 6 doctors of different specialities. In a lighter mood, we claimed to have a mobile multi-speciality hospital with us 🙂 . Well, we also had with us 4 French nationalists who were settled in Pondicherry.
We began the next off-roading through a hilly terrain until we reached a tar road. Travelled towards Chandarpur village and took an off-road to cross a small river.
A small rest at the bank of the river and the journey continued. A few kilometers of forest ride through jeep roads.
We reached a Nalyer camp situated on the banks of Bawanthadi river. The camp has been recently constructed and is run by MP Forest department as an endeavour to support the residents through responsible tourism. We were provided hot water for bath in makeshift bathrooms which helped in washing away the day’s weariness.
A night campfire was arranged where we all enjoyed old and ‘not so old’ songs. We tasted ‘Mahua’, a local country liquor made from Mahua flowers, before hitting the luxury beds in the tents. Throughout the journey, the arrangements made gave us a feel of enjoying a luxurious cycling holiday and not a tough cycling expedition :-).
Day 2: 27th January, 2024 Saturday (56 KM) –
Like the previous day, got up at 5:30AM. Had hot tea in the chilled weather with some gupshup, got ready and hit the pedal again after 7AM to visit the nearby village. On the way, we were shown a spot where a tiger’s footprints have been permanently embossed in a concrete culvert.
Had bonda for breakfast and started our journey, the most exiting one. We were to cover about 20Km distance through the core forest. We encountered a small incident. Couple of spotted deer crossed us at high speed with one of them colliding with a moving cycle. Luckily no one was injured.
We took a break at the first service station. Got recharged and moved on. This hilly ride had many up and downs. Once while maneuvering the gears, my cycle chain got stuck and twisted and the other cyclists helped me out. Additionally we had ‘Yoddha’ the 4×4 vehicle trailing us equipped with required tools and spare cycles to help us out in such situations.
We reached a small lake, with a scenic view. There are lot of water bodies in the forest. In case they dry up, forest department gets water tankers to fill them up as part of the tiger conservation efforts.
The route we were pedalling through was a jungle safari route where tourists travel in safari jeeps to watch wildlife. We were lucky and unlucky not see any tiger on the way. But the safari tourists were lucky to see the cyclists species in the forest 🙂
We had the next service point at the Masurnala gate. Some energy intake and we left the core forest area. We came out on NH44 (the old NH7), the longest highway from Srinagar to Kanyakumari. There are animal underpasses built on NH44 in Pench and Kanha tiger reserves for wildlife to cross the roads. After 3-4 kilometers highway ride, we crossed the highway and got into inner roads.
On the way we noticed there were milestones with distances mentioned in very odd numbers. Raiyyarao 0.022, Potiya 1.100, Jirewada 2.400, Vijaypani 2.050, Teliya 4.500. We were wondering reasons for such accuracy. And then I looked at the rear of the milestone of Teliya 4.500. On the other side, it was Turiya 2. That explained the logic. On one side they had measurements in round numbers which causes mathematically calculated odd numbers on the other side of the milestone 🙂 .
We continued for couple of hours with little breaks and reached our destination- the Baaz resort at Turiya, a posh resort with swimming pool, garden etc. Cycling was over too soon that day 🙂 .
Late evening, there was a prize distribution ceremony in the conference room. A forest officer was invited to share knowledge about their work, challenges, tiger conservation initiatives etc. It was a very informative session.
Day 3: 28th January, 2024 Sunday (75 KM) –
The final day of the tour. Had breakfast at the resort and left by 7:30AM. Crossed Kohka lake. Again we cycled on top of the bandhara wall instead of a tar road around the lake, to make it a more exiting ride.
After half an hour ride we reached Maharashtra – MP border and re-entered Maharashtra.
Today most of the ride was on proper roads except for a few bad patches. We passed the Khursapur gate of Pench forest and reached NH 44 again.
A few kilometers drive on NH 44 and again some off-roading to reach a service point. Some fruits, snacks, lime water and back to saddle. Crossed a small hill to reach Dongartal fort. It was a small ‘gadhi’ built in the 13th century by Gond kings. A real fort was further up the hill.
We had a breakfast halt near Sillari gate of Pench forest. Then it was a straight ride towards NH 44, crossing the highway at Pauni and some offroading.
Pench forest gained so much popularity because of the “The Jungle Book”. It is said that the writer Rudyard Kipling took inspiration from Pench National Park. Rudyard was born and had spent most of his childhood in India. The book talks about a jungle in central India located in the district of Seoni and Chhindwara, and hence it is believed that the jungle referred to is the Pench National Park. The story was about a boy who was raised by wolves in this jungle. That’s the story about Mowgliland.
Final tiring leg of the journey was under a hot blazing sun. The ride was on the inner roads with vehicular traffic, which we had almost forgotten about in the last two days. Crossed Ramtek town and reached the final destination of Cherry farm.
200+ kilometer cycling with a group of 20 riders through dense forests of Pench – it was a memorable experience. Cycle Safari team of Anil Jaiswal, Rohit Bhokal, supported by Yash on a cycle leading in the front and Ninad capturing DSLR moments on the bike and all other support staff, made it a very special event. Majority of the photos in this blog are captured by Ninad. Thank you Cycle Safari for the amazing experience.
A few lines in memory of Mowgli 🙂
जंगल जंगल बात चली हैं पता चला है 🌳🌳,
साइकिल लेके मोगली चला हैं, मोगली चला हैं 🚴🏽♂,
मोगरकसा ताल पे चिड़िया चहकी 🐦⬛,
बावनथडी के बंधारे में नाव बहकी 🚣🏽♂,
नेलर की महुआ का नशा जब उतरा 🥂,
मसुर्नाला के शेर ने जाना खतरा 🐯,
ऑरेंज रिबन के निशानों से बढ़ा चला है 🚩,
साइकिल लेके मोगली चला हैं, मोगली चला हैं 🚴🏽♂,
See you all in some other cycling expedition !!!
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