All out Bangalore

Me and Girish decided to take off for the weekend, the first week of August to some place different from the normal tourist places. Finally we decided a place- Nagarhole. Girish was very excited about the place. I too was excited about staying inside the jungle surrounded by animals but a little doubtful too. But then decided to go with his judgment and make the trip. My car in past 2 years has not been part of any long trips. So we decided it is time we tested how efficient it was. I should conclude I was happy with its performance.

We started off from Bangalore at 8.30 a.m on Saturday morning, in my black SPARKY.We had made arrangements with a help of our friend to stay in the Inspection Bungalow (IB).The IB was located in a place called Sunkdakate. Sunkdakate  240 Km from Bangaloreis. We drove from banglore to Mysore which is around 140 Km. From  Mysore we took the Manathavadi / HD kote road around 80Km to the hand post. From HD Kote hand post we took the Anthrasanthe road around 8Km from here it should only 3-4 km to the entrance of Park main gate.

Nagarhole, this name came from Nagar Hole (‘Snack River’ in Kannada) which runs eastwards through the park. Nagarhole is the popularly known name for Rajiv Gandhi National Park. Nagarhole is part of the 2400 sq km of forest which includes the Bandipur National Park in Karnataka, Mudhumalai Wildlife Sanctuary in Tamil Nadu, Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary in Kerala which together constitute the Niligiri Biosphere Reserve. This is the largest forest cover of its kind in South East Asia. The altitude of Nagarhole Park varies between 700-850 meters. The maximum temperature reaches 33 degrees C and the minimum is 14 degrees.

We reached Sunkdakate, Rajiv Gandhi National Park around 3.30 in the afternoon.The IB was some 5Km inside the jungle. We were supposed to take a Jeep from the entrance.Unfortunately due to shortage of vehicle we had to go in our SPARK. Well it was good Topsy-turvy ride but we managed to reach without any casualty. The moment we entered the jungle gate, I was spellbound by the change in the environment, pollution free air, fully rejuvenating. On our route itself we got glimpse of peacock and deer’s.

There were four elephants next to the guest house. We saw the elephantsbathing themselves in mud. These elephants are trained for the Mysore Dussera occasion. We had bought bananas and jauggery for the elephants. Elephant’s sense of smell is very strong – so I have heard. I got a chance to see this too – as we took the eatables and started towards the elephants, all of them turned their attention to us  and started coming in our direction. Girish was feeding Mary and  Varlakshmi came from behind Girish and swayed his trunk on him as she had not got the bananas J.Pretty site , unfortunate I could not capture that on our camera. Sarala also was there. All these elephants were around 40- 55 years old. There was a 10 year old elephant the youngest among them and probably the naughtiest, his name was Sarathi. He was just not satisfied with the food. The mahouts stayed in the forest outhouse along with his family. In their community there were around 10 children. One of them probably the youngest reminded of Mogli. He was so small, cute and fearless. An elephant to him was like a friend with whom he could play, pulling his trunk and more than happy to climb on them and go for a ride. Here I was so scared to even touch the trunk.

The lush green grass and around prompted us to take a stroll around the guest house. Suddenly all from nowhere a pack of deer’s started coming towards the guest house. We stood at a distance to watch them. They too maintained a distance and looking in our direction. We felt they were looking at us. Later we realized there was pack of wild dogs just behind us who was trying to make one of the Deer’s their meal. And hence the deer’s were keeping a safe distance. Till late at night we saw the deer’s was constantly maintaining a distance and both groups alert. The Guest house guards told us , eventually the wild dogs would surround the deer’s and attack. As darkness cast it’s shadow , we were scanning for any more animals. Suddenly we saw 2 shiny objects. On a careful look we realized it was wild bore. As I was stunted by its size , suddenly it took a big leap. I was scared, only to know later, the bore was also trying to scare someone who came in it’s way and one cannot imagine the speed with which the bore charged only to scare the predator.

There is no electricity in the guest house. There is solar powered LED lamp’s which lasts only 6-7 hours on a non-cloudy day. All throughout the night we could hear warning echoing from one end of the jungle to other. Early morning, the next day around 6.30 a.m. we were set for a safari in the jungle. Everyone at the guest house and the guard’s told us summer was the best time to get good sighting. Once rains start it is a bit difficult as the animal’s go deep into the jungle. So we were just trying our luck. We first spotted a wild elephant and then thousands of deer’s and monkey. The forest authorities had created salt lakes for the animals in the summer. I was told to deer and monkey are best  friends. Monkey throw’s fruits to the deers and also give them warning signals much ahead of time. Oh yeah the jungle monkeys are really not bothered snatch any of your items. They are happy swaying from one tree to another.

What I saw next left me speechless for the next few minutes. We spotted a leopard slowly walking towards us. It came and sat some 50 metes away from us. The leopard looked so fresh and energetic unlike the one which we get to see in the ZOO. It just sat there looking at us for some 3-4 minutes. What a sight, I just can’t forget nor express the feeling of exhilaration and scare that came together. Happy to see one and scared at the close distance we were at the and the risk of it. Leopard and Tiger spotting is very rare and we were honored. We just went berserk with our cameras. I was really hoping I had a better camera then. The jungle is so dense and law of jungle so complex. You need to be there to understand it and honor it.

Other animals which we spotted were peacocks, jungle hen and some more birds.

I was impressed by the way they authorities try to maintain the sanctity of the jungle habitat and are trying to preserve animal species.