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One of a kind Bandipur :

About the Bandipur Tiger Reserve: 

Bandipur National Park located in Gundlupet taluk, Chamarajanagar district has the second highest Tiger population in India , with about 382 tigers currently present . 

The Maharaja of Mysore Kingdom created a sanctuary of 90 km2 in 1931 and named it the Venugopala Wildlife Park, then The Bandipur Tiger Reserve was established under Project Tiger in 1973 by adding nearly 800 km2 to the Venugopala Wildlife park, later in 1986 became a part of Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve.

The highest point in the park is on a hill called Himavad Gopalaswamy Betta, where there is a Hindu temple at the summit. 

The park is flanked by the Kabini river in the north and the Moyar river in the south.

 My Experience :

Early Morning around 6:30  we left the silicon city - Bangalore, the journey from Bangalore to Bandipur takes around 5.5 hours . Reaching Bandipur at 12:00 ,we refreshed ourselves and then went to have a sumptuous meal. The food was fabulous , after lunch we got ready for the safari, the most awaited activity of the trip. My family and I were super excited ! The first part of the safari was dry , and soon the 2.5 hours safari was about to come to an end , but mystery always awaits, There was 10 minutes left so we decided to leave the park early but we saw few jeep standing below a tree , we were curious to know what they were photographing ,  so we went closer to figure out what they were photographing when my mom whispered with excitement “ Look  an leopard on the tree !“. Hurriedly we took our camera as we never knew when the leopard would jump down the tree.The young leopard gave us some fearless looks. It was the first time in 5 years we saw a leopard on the tree . Soon the leopard jumped down and ran into the shrubs . With this our safari for the day came to an end and then we had snacks provided by the resort and time passed by fast as we were adoring our leopard photos and soon it was time for  dinner and a good sleep as we had a safari early the next morning.

The next morning we woke up at 5:30 and got ready and had a hot cup of tea before the safari and sat in the jeep , the fog and mist which lasted for about an hour keep us away from seeing an big cats , soon the sun came out , but no luck, we just saw few birds , we photographed them and soon our safari was over . Then we went back to our resort - JLR , we had breakfast and then went to a temple located on top of the Himavad Gopalaswamy Betta , this hill is located so high that you can  touch the clouds ! Soon it was time for lunch. We had a very delicious meal and then we were ready for the next safari  into the wilderness.This safari was kind of interesting because as soon as we entered the forest we saw a Sloth bear , it was enjoying its free time sitting and rolling on the ground . Soon  we went deeper into the forest  and we heard constant and strong calls of langur and deer so we waited there for half an hour , and shortly it started to rain and the sun started to set ,as the sun was setting we were traveling back to the resort ; the sunset was so beautiful , it was the best part of the safari .

The next morning was our last safari , so we were kind of excited as well as sorrow.So the safari started and the sun rose early and it was the same script as the last two safaris. It was dry; we just photographed some birds again .And soon the safari came to an end but as we were going back to the resort we saw two sloth bears along with a herd of elephants on top of huge mountains. This trip was so thrilling ! 

This trip was so enjoyable from the leopard to the sunsets , I had so much fun ! Jungle Lodges is always my second home , and I always visit this place once  a year and last but not least the staff of Bandipur are so caring and compassionate. With this memorable trip, we drove back to Bengaluru with so many stories to share !

- Sritha Kishan 

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Iconic Western Ghats

About the western Ghats

Western Ghats is home to a rich biodiversity of birds and animals.These Western Ghats are a long series of mountain chains which pass through six states - Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Goa, Kerala,Maharashtra and Gujarat. It has a wide variety of flora and fauna and are only found in the Western Ghats and nowhere else in the world. We have a lot to appreciate in this 160,000 square kilometre of mountain ranges. It contains many most known wildlife parks like Bandipur , Nagarhole , Mudumalai and more .

Image courtesy @srithakishan

Instagram handle - @srithakishan_photography

My Experience

The state of Tamil Nadu had offered me a lot , in just a few days to my visit there. Driving to Valparai from my home-town just took two hours . While driving I saw the beautiful Aliyar Dam and then went uphill to see my destination - Western Ghats. After riding uphill we were on the tallest mountain range in the Ghats, next step was to find our way to the Sinna Dorai's Bungalows,while finding our bungalows thunderstruck and rain poured down.It was a feeling of joy to see valparai in rain with misty and thunderstruck skies. Soon we reached the bungalow.

After reaching the bungalow the Sinna Durai staff took us to our rooms and then offered us some snacks and tea. Later we explored the bungalows in out and while exploring we found a library. The library was antique,it contained an attendance list of people who worked in that estate around the 1940s and also had a type - writer dating back to the 19th century . The books in the library was were very insightful ,the books were of different types like crime, old, historic - regional books , and there was an photo album which interested me the most the photo album contained the photos of the monarchs ! After reading few chapters of a mystery combined crime book in the library we went for dinner , it was very lovely and mouth watering .

Image courtesy @kishannarasiah - Instagram

After a good nights sleep.The next morning after having an early and filling breakfast our family and the guide Murgan left to see the charm of Valparai - The Great Indian Hornbill . We travelled through some rugged places and then suddenly my eyes saw the sky and saw two huge birds . My face was filled with excitement ! We travelled a little further down the hill and we stopped the car in the perfect place to click the marvellous concave-casqued bird with the best view. My father and I got down with our cameras and started clicking some wonderful images of the one and only Great Indian Hornbill. We spent about hours clicking these magnificent birds.

Image courtesy @kishannarasiah - Instagram

After spending about hours with these birds we went down to a place known for the lion -tailed macaque and these monkeys were having a lot of fun . The sub-adults were playing and the young ones were with their parents. Our cameras clicked these playful monkey and After feeling satisfied we went back to the bungalow and had lunch and rested ourselves. Then we got ready for another evening trip into the woods but this time to see the other fauna which is present in the western Ghats , we saw some animals and birds like the - Plum - headed Parakeets , Barbets , bee-eater , bison and many more . The next morning we went exploring through the bungalow and found a few rare birds and then it was time for us to leave , we only spent two days but we had so much fun and a lot of satisfaction and excitement after seeing the Hornbills. It was a very memorable trip indeed! I was very satisfied with service and and love of Sinna Durai Bungalows . And I will always look forward to visiting this paradise !

-Sritha Kishan

Image courtesy: kishannarasiah - Instagram

Blog written by @srithakishan_photography