Tracing The Pench Trail In Madhya Pradesh

'Humans are more of a menace in these parts, the fence was erected to curb instances of unwanted trespassing,' Sagar replied warily to my pressing query about an unsightly, metallic fence that had caught my eye. An aesthetic blot on the landscape, it looked woefully out of place. A naturalist by profession, Sagar seemed to understand my guarded inquiry, and satisfied by the clarification, I resumed my determined quest for an eager glimpse of the local fauna. I was, after all, in Kipling's fabled country, in the land of the dry deciduous forests of the central Indian heartland, hoping to encounter some of Seoni's four legged denizens on foot. Oddly enough, Kipling had never set foot in Pench. On the other hand, I'd opted for a first-hand experience, red in tooth and claw.