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We had taken a lunch halt at Ali’s Arcadia and it is a lovely place
On the third day, we again had an early start and packed all the luggage in our vehicles since we would be driving down to Pench which is 150 kms away. We took a lot of stops in between for snacks and lunch and had a good time at Ali’s Arcadia just before Pench. They had organised a sumptuous lunch with some really tasty sweets. Post lunch, we continued our drive and reached Pench by 2 PM, just in time for the afternoon safari. We hopped into the cars and started off, again hoping for a glance of a tiger!
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The trip took us through some scenic routes
While we again couldn’t really spot a tiger, I was grateful enough to spot the other animals closely and also got to enjoy nature in its full glory. Once the safari was done, we started driving again, to our resort which was roughly an hour’s drive. The roads were in a pretty bad shape but both the Scorpio and XUV500 have a tough suspension which tackled these bad roads well. Since it was quite a tiring and long day, a good night’s sleep ensued.
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We spotted this bear crossing our path on one of our safaris
If you are interested in wildlife and driving, then this expedition is a must try
The first half of day 4 was spent in the tiger safari at the Pench reserve where again we got to spot a lot of different animals and birds. This time around, we went deep inside the jungle and saw some really beautiful locales and greenery. Such places make you wonder how much dirt and pollution exists in our cities. We had a quick breakfast right in the jungle and headed back to our resort for lunch and check out. Tiger spotted? Nope, still unlucky.
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All the cars lined up for a photo op before departing
We explored both Maharashtra as well as Madhya Pradesh sides of the Pench jungle. Once we checked out from Pench, we started driving to Kanha which is a 250 kms drive. The road to Kanha was terribly bad in the initial stage and had extremely large and nasty craters and bumps. The Scorpio managed to handle the bumps pretty well despite me driving quite spiritedly. We then encountered some ghats and it was fun to attack the twisties in the Scorpio. Body roll and under steer are inevitable but otherwise it was indeed an involving driving experience. All the cars were running on CEAT tyres and Valvoline lubricants since they are the sponsors for Mahindra Adventure. We reached Kanha late in the evening and it was dinner time by the time we checked in to Club Mahindra.
