On 10th May 2016, the Indian luxury train, Deccan Odyssey, made its maiden journey to the very popular Pench Tiger Reserve in Maharashtra. This thrilling trip to spot the big cats included 80 Indian and foreign tourists.

Managed by Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) in collaboration of Cox & Kings, this luxury train arrived in Pench on Tuesday.

It started its journey from Mumbai on 7th May with 80 tourists onboard, wherein around half of them were foreigners from countries like Malaysia, Myanmar, the Netherlands, the UK, Australia, Fiji, Trinidad and Tobago, Sri Lanka etc.

Deccan Odyssey runs a Maharashtra Wild Trail Journey to Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) in Chandrapur and Pench in Nagpur districts.

After the train arrived at Ramtek, the tourists de-boarded to enjoy a safari in Chorbahuli, one of the ranges of Mansinghdeo Wildlife Sanctuary in the Pench buffer zone, at 8’o clock in the morning. During this 2-hour wildlife safari, herbivores, wild dogs, and jackals were spotted.

After the happy tourists were back 3’o clock in the afternoon to the Sillaro gate of Pench, they were taken to the nature interpretation center ‘Tiger Tale’ where the Chief Conservator of Forests (CCF) and Field Director, MS Reddy, offered them a sneak-peek into the world of fauna and avifauna in the Mowgli Land.

This was followed by a thrilling tiger spotting when the grand tiger walked in front of the jeeps for around half an hour’s time. It was an exciting moment for all the tourists and probably the best wildlife memory of this journey.

Mr. Reddy said, “The beautiful and vibrant forest of Pench offered all excitement and rich jungle experience to the tourists. The trip recalled the memories of Mowgli land penned by Rudyard Kipling in ‘Jungle Book’.”

After safari in Pench, the luxury train Deccan Odyssey continued its journey towards Taboda, from where it will traveling to Jalgaon for Ajanta and Nashik, before being back to Mumbai.

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Based on the first luxury train of India, the ‘Palace on Wheels’, ‘Deccan Odyssey’ was introduced to bring a boost in tourism. The officials of MTDC expect that Pench is going be a permanent destination in the itinerary of this train.

They are also making endeavors to the maintain the train into a 5 star hotel on wheels with a sauna, 2 restaurants and bar, well-equipped business center and other such luxury facilities.