[i20ian]

Hi guys . I am new to team bhp and this is my first post. I've been to Bandipur recently and I'd like to share my travel experience with you. Me and my wife started from Yelahanka in Bangalore on Saturday evening around 5pm. Had booked a room at Treebo Golden Castle in Mysore for the night. Reached Mysore at 10pm and checked into the room. On the way a 30min halt for dinner at A2B. Traffic was not that heavy and could maintain a constant speed of 80-100. We slept early since we had booked a safari at bandipur online for 8am on Sunday.
On Sunday checked out of hotel @ 6am. The hotel staff were all sleeping and had to wake them up and get the gate opened to take out my car and hit the road This whole process ate up 15 previous mins from my schedule.
Finally drive started from Mysore


To add to my frustration, the roads where in bad shape due to extension work for an initial 15kms.


Roads became better later on


The first days of morning Sun..


Sun rise


Banyan trees on the way


Entered Bandipur tiger reserve. The roads are pretty good.


Misty morning at Bandipur


Roads are beautiful


First sighting of wildlife. Langurs basking in the morning Sun


Finally reached safari reception office




Waited for our bus to arrive and finally Safari starts..


Here are a few snaps of the wildlife seen during the trip

















Lucky enough to see a lone tusker at a distance. Hope you guys can make it out in this pic.


After nearly one and half hour ride reached back by around 9.30am at reception office. Time for breakfast. But not much choice in bandipur. We had all the time in the world. So decided to go to Gudalur and enjoy the ride through the wilderness and have breakfast there.
Crossed on to Tamilnadu and entered into Mudumalai national park. The roads were poorly maintained. Construction work was going on and certain stretches were dusty. No wildlife was to be seen. Finally reached Gudalur after a one hour bumpy ride and had breakfast from Hotel Shastapuri. Gudalur was a crowded place with lots of Malayalis and Tamils. Then started the journey back to Bangalore. Again through the bumpy route but with my tummy full didn't feel that much tiredness on the return journey. To our surprise we came across a herd of wild elephants on the way in mudumalai.


Here are a few snaps of the return journey. Winding roads through deciduous forests


Back to Karnataka.. Bye bye mudumalai.


Wildlife crossing the road. No wonder they banned night traffic on this route.


Bye bye bandipur. Nice memories!!


Snap taken on return journey


Evening snacks at kamat lokaruchi Ramnagara.


End of journey


Hope you all will like it.

[whoztheman83]

Thanks for the post, i20ian. Your beast (i20) would not be out of place in the jungle! Last year, we(family of six) did a road trip from Mumbai to Kottayam(Kerala) and on the way back we took the route through Bandipur. While there were no tigers anywhere in sight, we were surprised by how close to the road some other animals frolicked. Deers, a few exotic monkeys, peacocks and one huge Tusker were seen not too far from the highway. Huge, Dense bamboo trees on both sides of the road. It was an amazing ride through the forest.

Have you stayed in one of the resorts inside(govt owned i think) on your earlier trips?

[Tushar]

Thanks for the nice and light write-up mate. Glad to see you got to snap a few animals during the safari. Ever so often, we go for these wildlife trips, but only land up seeing them far off in the distance. Nice way to start your Team-BHP journey , hope to see more travelogues by you.

[i20ian]

Originally Posted by whoztheman83

Have you stayed in one of the resorts inside(govt owned i think) on your earlier trips?

This was the first time I was traveling to bandipur. I've seen a few resorts on the way and they arrange safaris for the people staying there. They have their own open jeeps to carry out safari and they go even deeper into the jungle with more chances of seeing wildlife. The govt resorts can be booked online. Since according to my plan I'll reach Mysore by late night, I decided to stay there. If you manage to reach bandipur by late evening it'll be better to book these resorts since the safari will start early morning by 6.30am. Pls note that traffic is banned after 9pm through bandipur.

[Drpaul]

Hi i20ian, great pics. I regularly commute from bangalore to kochi in my ritz and I always take this mysore-badipur mudumalai route even though the Salem coimbatore route is much faster it being the NH 44, 47 highway and all and mostly 4/6 lane. I prefer this scenic forest road to the runway like high way. The road is now completely widened and renovated and a pleasure to drive on.
One almost always encounters elephants on the way. The peacock and deers are also a sure sighting. Wild buffalo heard are a little rarer but is sight to behold. I was lucky once to see the beast grazing lazily on the road side grass and it was bigger than my car and muscled like shwazneger on steroids! It's a thrilling drive through the forest never knowing what animal you encounter next. It's very rare to spot a tiger or leopard. I myself have never seen one in spite of taking the route dozens of time now ,though some of my friends have even clicked them.
This route leads to wayanad which is beautiful hill country , part of the western ghats mostly filled with the evergreen forests. I can't think of any other district so jam packed with tourist destination. The route is closed after 8.30- 9 pm but another alternative route via kutta remains open 24 hrs and the drive on this road through a dense forest in the middle of the night is thrilling ethreal experience. A drive through this route in a 4×4 with a stopover in wayanad and some unofficial soft roading through the forest there, would be the perfect holiday weekend.
I am a newbie and will post some pictures as soon as I find out how. PS anyone making this trips should be aware of the curfew on this road as itS a bad place to get stuck with no good hotels nearby and kutta route is longer and prolong your journey by at least a couple of hours.
Happy motoring.

[DImPo]

Went on a family trip to Brindavan Gardens(Mysore) and Bandipur in December 2016. Here are some photos

A Brahminy Kite near Brindavan Gardens, Mysore



Here is another one within the Gardens



A Rose ringed parakeet in the garden



A spotted owlet



White cheeked barbet



A pink colour flower tree where we could find many tiny birds.



Marshalls Iora



pair of Red Whiskered Bulbuls



Crimson backed sunbirds





In my next post I would post some birds and animals we sighted in Bandipur

[DImPo]

Here are some more photos of the birds and animals we sighted in Bandipur

A Brahminy Kite which were in abundance in the area



Common Buzzard



Indian Roller Bird



Common Hoopoe



Black Rumped Flameback



Pair of Brahminy Starling



Oriental Magpie Robin



White Browed Wagtail



Elephants





Monkey in the Safari Booking office area



Junglefowl



Mongoose


Monitor Lizards










Make-up time?



Painted Storks and Deer



Rabbit



Finally we spotted a tiger



Spotted again coming out of the bushes



Crossing in front of our vehicle



Gone into the bushes



I could not identify this bird



Wild Bison





Wild Boar in the Safari office complex



Troubleshooting my car?

[i20ian]

Nice snaps. The bird is long tailed shrike.

[sach.sri]

Nice travelogue and pictures. I have a query regarding the stay and safari in Bandipur

I was told that only the Jungle Lodge property manages the safaris - and so if you stay in Jungle Lodge - you are guaranteed to get a Safari in a open gypsy. Else - mostly you will get a canter.

Is this correct information? If not - how do I book Jeep Safaris in Bandipur, without staying in Jungle loge property?

Please share any online link where I can make safari booking.


Thanks.

[deepak_misra]

Originally Posted by sach.sri

Nice travelogue and pictures. I have a query regarding the stay and safari in Bandipur

I was told that only the Jungle Lodge property manages the safaris - and so if you stay in Jungle Lodge - you are guaranteed to get a Safari in a open gypsy. Else - mostly you will get a canter.

Is this correct information? If not - how do I book Jeep Safaris in Bandipur, without staying in Jungle loge property?

Please share any online link where I can make safari booking.


Thanks.

http://www.bandipurtigerreserve.in/ is the link for Forest guest house booking. These rooms are very basic but nice for a night stay. Food is also very basic.
Jungle Lodges are at another end and very high priced. (7500 per person per night). This includes all meals and jungle safari in their vehicles.

If budget is not a constraint, go with jungle lodges else stay in forest rest house and book the Forest department safari. The forest department safari depends a lot on the people who are in the bus. If you get a noisy lot, forget about wildlife and just concentrate on enjoying the trees :-)

[DImPo]

Originally Posted by sach.sri

I was told that only the Jungle Lodge property manages the safaris - and so if you stay in Jungle Lodge - you are guaranteed to get a Safari in a open gypsy. Else - mostly you will get a canter.

It is the Forest Department which manages the safaris. The Forest Department has limited number of Gypsy (around 4). Hence, getting one would be difficult particularly on weekends. But, JLR has its own safari vehicles which are used for their resident guests and hence Gypsy safari is guaranteed if you stay at JLR. You may be aware that cost of staying in JLR is very high.

The first trick is to go during weekdays so that you can avoid the weekend rush. The second trick is to stay in the Forest Department accommodation (booking can be done in www.bandipurnationalpark.in) so that you can be ahead in the queue. The booking would start at 6 AM for morning safaris (6.30/7.30/8.30AM by Canter or 6.30 and 8 AM for Gypsy) and at 3 PM for afternoon safaris (3.30/4.30/5.30 PM for canter and 3.30 and 5 pm for Gypsy). You need to be there in the booking office by 5.30 AM for morning safari and by 2 PM for afternoon safari to get almost assured Gypsy ride.

Further, if you stay in the Forest Department accommodation, you will be asked to pay Rs.200 per head towards Forest Entry Fees when you check in. You need not pay the same again for Safaris undertaken during your stay. For example, If I go for 4 safaris during my 2 day stay, I would save Rs.600 per head (4*200 for each safari - 200 paid during check-in).

While Gypsy safari is the most preferred, there is no guarantee to see the predators. But you can watch other wildlife and birds at your leisure as compared to canter safari. During our visit in Dec-2016, we went for 4 Gypsy rides but could not sight any tiger/leopard while one Canter Safari could sight a Tiger during the same time. When we were about to vacate after the last safari, a couple of guys requested us to join them for a canter ride (There are minimum tickets to be sold for operating a canter safari). We joined them reluctantly, and we saw the unexpected - a tiger.