The Legendary Tigers Of Pench National Park

Listening to the exploits of the legendary tigers of Pench from a man who has been driving on the trail of the tigers for about 14 years was an experience in itself.

Legendary Tigers Of Pench National

As we drove deeper into the jungle, excitement rose to a crescendo as we spotted the pugmarks of tigers on the dirt trail that we were driving on.

Our mind conjured up images straight from “Jungle Book” and “The Life of Pi”, as we listened to the fascinating tiger tales of Pench National Park.

Langdi, Collarwali, Baginala, BMW, Charger, and other tigers of Pench seemed to come alive before us as our driver shared his unique experiences with us. As the late afternoon sun cast its glow through the thick vegetation of the forests, we lost ourselves in the tales of the jungle.

Langdi which literally translates as “The Limping One” turned out to be a tigress who prowled a large territory on the fringes of the core area of the Pench National Park. The driver informed us that Langdi had been seen with her cubs in the vicinity in the morning and this was vindicated by the presence of her pugmarks on the track.

Our mind conjured up images straight from “Jungle Book” and “The Life of Pi”, as we listened to the fascinating tiger tales of Pench National Park.

Langdi, we were informed, was about six years old and the progeny of another legendary tigress called Badi Maada. Langdi tigress had injured one of her legs because of which she limped slightly, earning her the name of Langdi.

Collarwali so named because of the radio collar that she had earlier was a tigress that seemed to be close to the heart of our driver Jyotishwar. According to him, Collarwali is an iconic tigress and Pench National Park became famous because of her. Collarwali and Langdi are sisters, born of the same mother, Badi Maada. You can understand why Collarwali is held in such high esteem by the staff as well as visitors to the Pench National Park, when you hear that she is in the Guinness Book of World Records, having given birth to 26 cubs spread across spread across seven litters. No wonder that Collarwali is referred to as the “Queen of Pench”. The other reason for her popularity is that she is totally camera friendly and used to safari vehicles, if you are lucky to spot her, you are definitely going to have many photo opportunities, after all, she has been introduced to cameras from a young age!

Collarwali is said to be the offspring of Badi Mada and another legendary male tiger, Charger, so named for his propensity to charge at anything and everything.

Badi Maada starred in the famous David Attenborough documentary film “Spy In The Jungle” which is considered a trailblazing film on the intimate and close observation of tiger behavior.  One of her cubs seen in the film is Collarwali.

Another famous tigress was Baghinala or Baghinalawali, so named as she used to stay near a nullah or trench. It is said that she met a tragic end in 2016 when she and her two cubs were found dead in the Pench National Park. Investigations confirmed that they had been poisoned.