PACHMARHI is a lovely hill resort girdled by the Satpura ranges, it offers absolute tranquility. Bridle paths lead into placid forest groves of wild bamboo, jamun, dense sal forests and delicate bamboo thickets complementing the magnificence of nature are the works of man. Pachmarhi is an archaeological treasure- house. In cave shelters in the Mahadeo Hills is an astonishing richness in rock paintings. Most of these have been placed in the period 500-800 AD, but the earliest paintings are an estimated 10,000 years old. Contrasting cultures and ages exist in harmony as if time and trends mean little in this serene, wooded place.
Pachmarhi is for unwinding, effortlessly. Roads meander gently groves of trees, open spaces and heritage cottages sitting contentedly in their old gardens. The town has a quiet gentility about it as if Victorian traditions and high collars still governmost people’s lives. Much of this ambience has been set, and is still being maintained, by the strong presence of the Army whose Education Corps is headquartered here. The old cottages, meticulously maintained by the Military Engineering Services, have changed little since the days of Kipling. Pachmarhi was discovered by Captain Forsyth in 1857. The British developed Pachmarhi as a resort and their influence is embodied in its churches and colonial architecture.
The elevation and the forests of the Satpuras, with their streams and waterfalls, are picturesque and home to much wildlife. Pachmarhi lies within the Pachmarhi Biosphere Preserve, created in 1999 to link two forest reserves into a larger wildlife conservation area at the highest point in Central India.
