Pench National Park is situated in Seoni and Chhindwara districts of Madhya Pradesh in India. It derives its name from the Pench River that flows through the national park from north to south dividing the park into almost equal western and eastern halves, the well forested areas of Seoni and Chhindwara districts respectively. In 1992, it was established as a Tiger Reserve. Pench National Park comprises 758 km2 (293 sq mi), out of which 299 km2 (115 sq mi) form a core, the Pench National Park core area and Mowgli Pench Sanctuary. The remaining 464 km2 (179 sq mi) form the buffer zone. It was declared a sanctuary in 1977 but raised to the status of national park in 1983The park is famous for rafting. In 2011 the park won the Best Management Award. This park is accessible from Pauni on National Highway 7 and has two famous gates as tourist’s entry, Turiya and Karmajhiri. The Bengal tiger is the main cat species of the park present in good numbers but sighted infrequently. Commonly seen wildlife is chital, sambar, nilgai, wild pig, and jackal. Also Indian leopard, sloth bear, wild dog, porcupine, monkey, jungle cat, fox, striped hyena, gaur, four-horned antelope and barking deer live in the park. The park is rich in bird life too. Some of them are peafowl, junglefowl, crow pheasant, crimson-breasted barbet, red-vented bulbul, racket-tailed drongo, Indian roller, magpie robin, lesser whistling teal, pintail, shoveler, egret and herons, minivet, oriole, wagtail, munia, myna, waterfowl and blue kingfisher.
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