Wilderness Of Bandipur!
It was yet another wilderness photography attempt with friends from the Youth photographic Society, it was rare chance to learn some technicalities from the passionate and experienced photographers who have acheived in the field of photography and most importantly to see the love and concern for the wilderness and nature in their heart.
It was great to meet the like minded people and to stay in the core forest for 3 days, we were putup in the forest department guest house dormitory, it was nostalgic feeling for me as it reminded of the college hostel as we entered.
The next few days was out in to wilderness, dormitory, safaris, birds, cameras...and yes laptop to watch and load the day's work at the end of day.
It was my first long visit to Bandipur forests, earlier I had done couple of safaris enroute to ooty or waynad, but not a full fledged wilderness trip in bandipur.
Monsoon is considered to be not to be favourable for the wildlife sighting or is it beleived so or a myth :) but as usual wilderness has always surprise for us! We had very good sighting of the Tusker and to our surprise it was a modelling session with a tusker, it did pose to us, broke bamboo shoot in front of us and ate it. Was around our vehicle for more than 20 min and it was very cooperative, probably we were lucky.
Then what next, more surprise were waiting us in the forest, it was end of second day safari and somone had just spotted the green bee eather on a tree, so vehicle was stopped and folks busy shooting bee eater..then came the voice behind...Tiger tiger...tiger, and no one could for a while beleive what's in front of them and we have just spotted a Tiger in wild. It was a pregnent tigress walking past us with grace of what it supposed to be..the head of the pyramid of wilderness. The cameras were on their job...click..click click!
Seconday noon we planned and visited Gopalaswamy Betta(Betta is hill in Kannada). Its one of the taller hills located just outside the national park boundary. You really get to see and appreciate the vast expanse of the forest in the national park from here. It is surrounded with many more hills around and the green hills(in the monsoon) and their wavy formations make a beautiful sight.
Photography attempt - Landscape and Wilderness (Bandipur and around)
Some of the landscape captured around Bandipur
Landscape of Wild habitat - album
Wildlife/Birds in and around Bandupir/Rangatittu
Wilderness - Photography
Factfile: Bandipur National Park is around 250km from Bangalore and around 100km from Mysore. To reach Bandipur from Bangalore, drive to Mysore; from Mysore take the Ooty road and drive via Nanjangud and Gundlupet. The national park is on the Ooty road around 30 minutes drive from Gundlupet. If you have time and interest, you can stop by the well known Nanjundeshwara temple in Nanjangud. If you are taking the bus, ksrtc buses are available from Bangalore; buses going to Ooty stop at Bandipur on request. Taking an early morning bus(5am) to Mysore and changing to an Ooty bus would be the best option for people who intend to trek. It takes around 5 hours by car and 6 hours by bus from Bangalore. If you are staying the forest department accommodation in Bandipur, it is better to take a bus since you would not find much use of your car once you reach the place.
Fortunately on unfortunately, many resorts have come up on the premise of Bandipur National Park. It is difficult to find accommodation on weekends without a booking. Some of the places to stay include MC Resorts, Jungle Lodges, Tusker Trails and Bush Betta. Forest department has some guest houses and dormitories in Bandipur village. If you are not very keen to stay close to Bandipur, cross the border to Tamilnadu and you can find plenty of resorts in and around Masinagudi.
Bandipur is close to its adjoining wildlife sanctuaries – Mudumalai in Tamilnadu and Muthanga in Kerala. Other near by places which can be visited include Ooty – the famous hill station.
Cheers
Manjunath
It was great to meet the like minded people and to stay in the core forest for 3 days, we were putup in the forest department guest house dormitory, it was nostalgic feeling for me as it reminded of the college hostel as we entered.
The next few days was out in to wilderness, dormitory, safaris, birds, cameras...and yes laptop to watch and load the day's work at the end of day.
It was my first long visit to Bandipur forests, earlier I had done couple of safaris enroute to ooty or waynad, but not a full fledged wilderness trip in bandipur.
Monsoon is considered to be not to be favourable for the wildlife sighting or is it beleived so or a myth :) but as usual wilderness has always surprise for us! We had very good sighting of the Tusker and to our surprise it was a modelling session with a tusker, it did pose to us, broke bamboo shoot in front of us and ate it. Was around our vehicle for more than 20 min and it was very cooperative, probably we were lucky.
Photography attempt - Landscape and Wilderness (Bandipur and around)
Some of the landscape captured around Bandipur
Landscape of Wild habitat - album
Wildlife/Birds in and around Bandupir/Rangatittu
Wilderness - Photography
Factfile: Bandipur National Park is around 250km from Bangalore and around 100km from Mysore. To reach Bandipur from Bangalore, drive to Mysore; from Mysore take the Ooty road and drive via Nanjangud and Gundlupet. The national park is on the Ooty road around 30 minutes drive from Gundlupet. If you have time and interest, you can stop by the well known Nanjundeshwara temple in Nanjangud. If you are taking the bus, ksrtc buses are available from Bangalore; buses going to Ooty stop at Bandipur on request. Taking an early morning bus(5am) to Mysore and changing to an Ooty bus would be the best option for people who intend to trek. It takes around 5 hours by car and 6 hours by bus from Bangalore. If you are staying the forest department accommodation in Bandipur, it is better to take a bus since you would not find much use of your car once you reach the place.
Fortunately on unfortunately, many resorts have come up on the premise of Bandipur National Park. It is difficult to find accommodation on weekends without a booking. Some of the places to stay include MC Resorts, Jungle Lodges, Tusker Trails and Bush Betta. Forest department has some guest houses and dormitories in Bandipur village. If you are not very keen to stay close to Bandipur, cross the border to Tamilnadu and you can find plenty of resorts in and around Masinagudi.
Bandipur is close to its adjoining wildlife sanctuaries – Mudumalai in Tamilnadu and Muthanga in Kerala. Other near by places which can be visited include Ooty – the famous hill station.
Cheers
Manjunath
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