In the Wild : Bandipur

I went on a weekend trip to Bandipur about a year or two ago.My son and I drove down from Bangalore and stayed in a resort just outside the National Park. The Jungle Resort,if I remember, was cosy, comfortable and quite hospitable.
Bandipur Wild Life Sanctuary and National Park is located on the highway from Mysore to Ooty nearabout the border between the States of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. It is around 800 sq.kilometres and is a connecting link between Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary in Tamil Nadu and Wayand Sanctuary in Kerala.This is part of the area that the dreaded bandit Veerappan ruled for nearly twenty years smuggling ivory and sadalwood and killing scores of forest and police officials to evade arrest.
After a satisfactory lunch, we went on a safari into the forest in an open jeep and came across a plethora of wildlife.My camera was quite busy. The snaps I took lay hidden in my computer for a long time. I thought I would share some with anyone interested.

The herd on the left had one tusker barely visible.Some of the glamour and magnificence of the herd are missing as a result. I took a number of snaps of this herd but could not get a frontal image of the tusker.
I have had a long association with elephants.Having lived for a number of years in the tea regions of Doors, I have seen one or two wild elephants a number of times, mostly while driving down or rather being driven down long stretches of road at night.In fact, on more than one occassion, some have been been unexpected visitors to my Bunglow compound in the Doors or Terai.But this was the first time I was seeing a herd in its natural habitat.


We saw a herd of bisons also. They didn't like the approacing intruders and slowly retreated into the forest.I caught the herd in my camera too,but I preferred this one which was prepared to cast a long lingering look back.

We failed to meet royalty though.We were told one had to be a bit lucky to do so.Moreover, with overgrown bushes on all sides it would have been impossible to spot one,if a tiger was indeed moving about stealthily at a distance. But we did have a glimpse of his cousin having a lazy siesta on top of a watch tower.
The leopard was sprawled on the watch tower apparently sleeping. It took us fifteen to twenty minutes of wait to see it stirring to life. My camera did not have telephoto lens, its zoom was not good enough, but I could get its yawn. Sheer boredom I suppose ! Or irritation at these intruding eyes.


You could see a flock of deer even at the roadside.They were quite at ease with cars passing by, at some distance though.


While grazing, one looked up .. just in time.






We returned to the resort before darkness descended. At night as a prelude to dinner,the resort organised a campfire.We sat around and chatted . The Manager joined in and time passed by in the flickering light of the fire.





Next morning we went on a trek to the nearby hill accompanied by a young guide the resort provided. It was not a steep climb by any standard but not so easy either, but it was fun. On the way up ,we came across a ledge on the side of the road and lo, underneath were two nests of weaverbirds.I had never seen one before though seen its picture as a child.



The trek ended at the top of the hill from where one can have a grand and panoramic view of the country side.On one side, we could see the never ending forest cover of the Bandipur sanctuary.
On our way back after breakfast, we stopped at Ranganathittu, the bird sanctuary on the bank of the river Kavery ( Cauvery) one of the grand rivers of the south. It is an idyllic place, a place to walk around under the shades of giant trees and listen to the twittering birds .It is also a place which allows you to go for a cruise in the river and watch birds in the islands and an occassional crocodile sunbathing in isolation. But Kavery was in spate and the boats were not prepared to take any chance with an angry river. We had to remain content to sit by the riverside and contemplate nature before finally calling it a day.Oh, only after we had some lunch at the cafetaria.