Alikatta

About Alikatta

Alikatta is the point the whole park appears to be arranged around. The safari tracks spread out in every direction and then, one after another, come back to it. It is a wide expanse of grassland, dry and open for most of the season and partly under water at times, and because it sits at the centre of the park almost any animal found in Pench can turn up here.

Its reputation rests on the evenings. Alikatta is one of the few places left in the country where you can watch grazing herds of spotted deer numbering in the thousands come out onto open grass at the same time. That concentration of prey is also why it pays to keep looking past the deer: where there are herds of this size, predators are not far away. Alikatta is also the point from which elephant rides in the park set out.

On the grassland

The evening deer herds

Towards dusk, grazing herds of spotted deer come out onto the grassland in very large numbers. Watching several thousand animals on open ground at once is the single thing Alikatta is known for.

Predators at the edges

A prey concentration this size draws predators. The treeline and the long grass at the margins are where to look, and alarm calls from the herd are often the first sign that something is moving.

The open expanse itself

Alikatta is a genuine grassland in a park that is otherwise mostly teak and scrub, so the sightlines are long and the species mix is different. Parts of it hold water at times, which changes what comes down to it.

Planning your visit

Because every route passes through Alikatta, you are likely to cross it on any safari. The thing to plan is being there at the right hour.

• Ask the guide to be at Alikatta towards the end of an afternoon drive, when the herds come out.
• Scan the grass edges and treeline rather than only the deer in front of you.
• Listen for alarm calls; on open ground they travel and often give away a predator first.
• Check in advance whether elephant rides are operating, as this is where they begin.

Best time to visit

Afternoon drives are the ones that matter here, since the big herds come out towards evening. Across the season, the dry months from February onwards concentrate animals on the open ground and make sightings more reliable. The park is closed through the monsoon, when parts of the grassland go under water.