[blackstallion76]

Hi Friends,

I am planning to go for jungle safari in Nagarhole & Tholpetty during May 1/2 weekend.

I plan the following for the trip:

Leave early at 6am
Reach Kutta around 12pm
Have lunch at Homestay
Go for Jungle Safari at Tholpetty (Do not know the cost)
Later in the evening visit Thirunelli Temple.
Back to Homestay

Next day:
Jungle Safari Nagarhole 6.30am
Jungle Drive
Back to homestay for Lunch
Checkout

Its myself, wife and 5yr daughter.
I have booked Green Retreat for stay.

Is it ok to visit Tholpetty first and then Nagarhole?
Should alter any plan, as I hardly have just 2 days?
Is it good time for wild life sightings?

Please suggest.

[mjothi]

Originally Posted by blackstallion76

Next day:
Jungle Safari Nagarhole 6.30am
Jungle Drive

Forget the Jungle safari in Nagarhole. It really not worth it. I think the first bus starts at 6:45am.

I visited it last week and it was just waste of money & Time. You could try Kabini if you are ready to drive through. That would be an excellent drive. If not, check somethign around in kerala itself.

Just my suggestion.

[blackstallion76]

@mjothi:
Please let me know the route to Kabini from Kutta.

Is it drivable or should I take a jeep from Kutta?

I tried JLR-Kabini but booked till June.

[mjothi]

Originally Posted by blackstallion76

@mjothi:
Please let me know the route to Kabini from Kutta.

Is it drivable or should I take a jeep from Kutta?

I tried JLR-Kabini but booked till June.

I have driven from Hunsur side of Nagarhole. So, followed the blue lines in map.

Roads are not bad. Drivable. Except for some small stretch which has lot of pot holes, but your swift will easily do that.

I don't see any boards or signs (atleast in english). But when comming from Kutta you need to cross the Nagarhole --> Elephant camp? --> then just before the checkpost you have a right turn. It would be a road less travelled. Just take it and keep driving in the same road untill you get the next checkpost. From there you take the same road till H.D.Kotte and there a right turn. Check in the town and you can essily make it.

I think it would be better to check with hotel/homestay guys to know about the roads along the red lines in map. Once you reach the end of red line, it depends on where you want to go. If you wanna see the DAM, then take left and follow the roads, else the right.

The thick yellow line in the end of blue line is the DAM.

Hope it helps.

[rjstyles69]

blackstallion do you want to really squeeze your schedule ? A holiday/vacation means to say that you unwind and let life pass thru at its own pace.
My suggestion would be that you either do Nagarahole and head off to Coorg or else visit Tholpetty and spend the rest of the time seeing Wayanad.

[blackstallion76]

@rjstyle69:
Thanks for the suggestion. I do not want to squeeze the schedule.
I just want to limit my stay for jungle safari. Nothing else.
May be i will try to bargain with homestay guys for Kabini visit.

@mjothi:
Thanks for the map and complete info.

[mkh]

I am looking at doing this 2 day trip- nagarhole- madikere-wayanad
I am kinda confused, should i reach kutta and then stay there while i can see nagarhole, wayanad and also madikere?
What will be a decent acco for about 2.5K per head per day at the most with food?

[abheekg]

If you are going with the intention of viewing wildlife, dont do anything else.

Go for all possible drives in the jungle and enter the forest with a broad mind.

There are a lot of things to be seen and done in a forest rather than simply thinking about coming across wild animals.

You can see a lot of biodiversity even inside the bark of a tree or under a fallen leaf for instance.

Hope you have a great holiday.
Feel free to contact incase of anything.

regards,
Dr. A Ghosh

[CountDracoola]

Leave early at 6am
Reach Kutta around 12pm
Have lunch at Homestay
Go for Jungle Safari at Tholpetty (Do not know the cost)
Later in the evening visit Thirunelli Temple.
Back to Homestay

Next day:
Jungle Safari Nagarhole 6.30am
Jungle Drive
Back to homestay for Lunch
Checkout

Its myself, wife and 5yr daughter.
I have booked Green Retreat for stay.

Is it ok to visit Tholpetty first and then Nagarhole?
Should alter any plan, as I hardly have just 2 days?
Is it good time for wild life sightings?

Being a very regular visitor to these parts of the woods - I travel once every 3 months to Thirunelli area and that is just for wildlife sightings, I should be able to assist you.

Kutta is small little town in Karnataka bordering Kerala and there are numerous homestays there. Since you are going to Tholpetty, it is a 6 km drive from Kutta and you can cover it in less than 15 minutes. Depending on the day, you may want to reach the ticket counter at least by 3:00pm so that you will get a Jeep to take you inside Tholpetty, as they will let in only 20 jeeps into the park during one session. There are 2 such sessions each day, one in the morning and one in the evening.
The rough costs are as follows:
Entry charge for Indian - Rs 50/- per person
Camera - Still = Rs 50/- Movie = Rs 300/-
Jeep = Rs 350/-
Guide Charge = 200/-
You can book your own jeep or can share with another group. Each Jeep can hold 6 people. It is best to take the ride by 4:30pm and then you are back by 6:00pm.

Now, Thirunelli temple is 20kms from Tholpetty and it is a beautiful drive where there is every chance of you seeing animals. Keep in mind, the temple closes by 7:30pm and if you are doing the Tholpetty Safari, you may not get time to spend in the temple.
I'd recommend you to visit the temple in the morning because the area near the temple is very, very beautiful with large mountains all around. You can also walk down to "Papanashani" stream and it is a 500m trek that can be done in the morning - definitely worth the trek and you can do it

So instead of going to the temple in the night, and since you are a wildlife enthusiast, you may want to try the night safari that some of the homestays offer. This is something I take when I stay in the jungle retreat in Thirunelli. I have been on this safari on 5 occasions and have seen the Tiger twice. Maybe I am just lucky. It is almost a given that you will see elephants and Gaurs and other animals during the drive.

You can do the temple in the morning, it opens by 5-ish. Again, early morning drive would be good for sightings as well - you never know if you'd get lucky.

You can spend a few hours at the temple, reach back the homestay, have lunch and then you can check-out and proceed to Nagarahole. It is en-route to Bangalore - assuming that you are returning to Bangalore. The earliest safari is at 3:00, the last one is at 4:15. If you don't mind driving @ night, you may want to consider taking the last ride into the park, and then the drive towards Hunsur via Nagarahole is a very good one as well - especially during early morning / late evening.

Again, my last visit to Thirunelli area was packed with incidents including seeing the Tigress and a cub that too right on the road side, happened during the night drive. The highlight has to be the sighting we had from our room where we could see a male Tiger lying down around 250 feet away. I will share the pictures and details in my travelogue.

As you know, seeing animals is just a matter of luck. I sure hope you get as lucky as we did.

[shyamomfs]

Originally Posted by CountDracoola

Now, Thirunelli temple is 20kms from Tholpetty and it is a beautiful drive where there is every chance of you seeing animals. Keep in mind, the temple closes by 7:30pm and if you are doing the Tholpetty Safari, you may not get time to spend in the temple.
I'd recommend you to visit the temple in the morning because the area near the temple is very, very beautiful with large mountains all around. You can also walk down to "Papanashani" stream and it is a 500m trek that can be done in the morning - definitely worth the trek and you can do it

So instead of going to the temple in the night, and since you are a wildlife enthusiast, you may want to try the night safari that some of the homestays offer. This is something I take when I stay in the jungle retreat in Thirunelli. I have been on this safari on 5 occasions and have seen the Tiger twice. Maybe I am just lucky. It is almost a given that you will see elephants and Gaurs and other animals during the drive.

Again, my last visit to Thirunelli area was packed with incidents including seeing the Tigress and a cub that too right on the road side, happened during the night drive. The highlight has to be the sighting we had from our room where we could see a male Tiger lying down around 250 feet away. I will share the pictures and details in my travelogue.

Hi,
I had a few doubts regarding a Wayanad trip that we are taking this weekend. I'll appreciate it if you could help me out:

1. We were planning to stay at a hotel in Mananthavady and go for the Tholpetty safari. Now this night safari you spoke of, how do we do that? If there is any number we could call to enquire about the same, please do share.

2. How does the Nagarhole safari compare with the Tholpetty one? Does it make any sense going for both, or is one better than the other?

3. We are interested in wild life only, and nothing else. There are only 2 of us, and we will be in Wayanad from the evening of 29th till the morning of 31st. If you have any pointers, that could help us a lot. We might end up wasting time otherwise, and I do not want to regret later

Thanks.

[CountDracoola]

I am pretty certain you have already figured this out, but let me try and assist -
1) I don't think the forest department is allowing Night Safari's any more, but you can drive on the public road without teasing the animals, using torch and so forth.
2) You can't really say one is better than the other, wildlife sighting is a matter of luck, you never know where you'd see what. That is half the fun!
3) I am a frequent visitor to Wayanad, in fact just returned from another trip and I usually stay in Jungle Retreat Wayanad (www.jungleretreatwayanad.com). It is what they call a farm and it is set inside the jungle and each time we had lovely sightings right from the room's balcony it self. They have this watch-tower that you could go park yourself in and if you are into photography, then even better. Animals (Elephants, Gaur, Wild Dogs) are very common and in my past 6 or 7 visits, I have seen them every single time I was there. Try going for a trek with Anil, he owns the place and he knows jungle intimately.

[bobbyvictor]

I'm planning to go on a trip to Wayanad Feb 16th to 18th, from Bangalore Would anyone know if the Jungle Safaris at Tholpetty and Nagarhole functioning nowadays. Idea is to leave Wayanad on the morning of 18th and reach Sakleshpur spend a couple of days there and be back in Bangalore on the 20th. I hear Shirdi roads are not in the best shape, my ride is the Fortuner Sigma4..so the condition as such doesnt worry me but traffic pile ups do :-) , any inputs about route , Covid related restrictions etc would be great advise. Thanks in Advance.

[ask_017]

Originally Posted by bobbyvictor

Would anyone know if the Jungle Safaris at Tholpetty and Nagarhole functioning nowadays.

Did the Tholpetty safari on December 23rd. Reached the place around 7 AM. All I could spot was a few deers and squirrels.

But I was able to get a glimpse of bisons roaming around the road side on my way to Thirunelli.

[SajiNSalin]

Originally Posted by bobbyvictor

I'm planning to go on a trip to Wayanad Feb 16th to 18th, from Bangalore Would anyone know if the Jungle Safaris at Tholpetty and Nagarhole functioning nowadays. Idea is to leave Wayanad on the morning of 18th and reach Sakleshpur spend a couple of days there and be back in Bangalore on the 20th. I hear Shirdi roads are not in the best shape, my ride is the Fortuner Sigma4..so the condition as such doesnt worry me but traffic pile ups do :-) , any inputs about route , Covid related restrictions etc would be great advise. Thanks in Advance.

Both the safaris are operational. But you just get a ride in the vehicle and hardly get to see anything except some deer. If you just drive around in Thirunelli, you have better chances to see elephants crossing the road and a night drive is thrilling. We stayed in Jungle Retreat Waynad and had herds of deer close to our cottage balcony. They arrange a night drive and you get to see lots of elephants, deer, gaur, civet cats, hare and if you are lucky a tiger or leopard. I would strongly recommend the forest trek in Thirunelli which starts at 0730 and covers almost 12km roundtrip inside the forest and you get to climb a watch tower and one of the hill peaks. It was worth the effort. However, this trek is closed on Fridays and Mondays. You can see the signpost on the right side of the main Thirunelli temple road and is located about 2 km inside the forest. Just driving around the interior road is also a pleasure, as there is hardly any traffic and the roads are in good condition.

Also there are no Covid restrictions. We crossed the border several times going to Nagarhole from Thirunelli and back and there was no checking any where.