Wildlife Safari at Nagarhole National Park

Date: 22/12/12

This post is about a Wildlife safari experience at Nagarhole National Park.. not to be confused with Kabini which is also a part of the same forest.
I am writing this blog because I could not find sufficient information on the web when I was planning my trip to Nagarhole forest :(
I hope you find this useful...

The Plan : 
Since childhood, I have been interested in photography. Wildlife photography, in particular,
intrigues me more than any other genre.. maybe because of the fact that you cannot control your subjects! 
That being said, I wanted to experience the sights and sounds of a real Indian jungle. 
We had been thinking of paying a visit to Kabini, but somehow, it hasn't worked out yet!
I have always had this dream to photograph Tigers in the wild...
We were visiting Coorg and hence decided to try our luck at the Nagarhole forest range.


Route to Nagarhole :

From Bangalore :
Bangalore >> Mysore >> Hunsur >> Nagarhole (~ 220 kms)

From Coorg :
Madikeri >> Virajpet (Kodagu dist.) >> Kutta >> Nagarhole

Although I live in Bangalore, I took the latter as I was visiting Virajpet and hence decided to include a safari at Nagarhole on my trip itenary.
There are plenty of K.S.R.T.C buses that ply between Bangalore to Hunsur/Virajpet.

Some important information on Safaris at Nagarhole :
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1.) No jeep safaris at Nagarhole! Yes, the forest department does not offer nor permit jeep   safaris at the Nagarhole forest range.

Earlier, I guess this was allowed, but not any more!

2.) Safaris are only permitted in closed, Forest department vans. But don't worry, the windows do not have grills and you can shoot freely.

3.) Safaris are only allowed between : 6:00 AM to 8:00 AM and 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM. 

Make sure you arrive at 6:00 AM or 3:00 PM and get in line so that you get the best seats in the van.
I'am stating this because you will not be allowed to chose your seats in the van. Weekends are usually crowded and the department ticketing staff will assign seat numbers when you purchase your tickets. So, first come, first serve!

4.) The safari costs Rs.300 per person (200 for forest entry + 100 for safari)

5.) In terms of tiger/leopard sightings, Nagarhole might not be the best option. We looked into the Tiger sightings register maintained by the forest dept. and noted that there was a sighting only once in 8-10 days. This is just an observation, you might get lucky too :)

My experience :

We hired a cab from Virajpet and drove down to Nagarhole. As we entered the forest range, we asked our driver to drive slowly as we kept our eyes open for wildlife.
There are "Wildlife crossing" signboards everywhere and hence it is advisable that you drive slow and enjoy your ride through the forest.

We spotted Chital(Spotted deer) in numbers. These deer are not shy and can be seen grazing near the main road.

We reached the forest at 8:30 AM in the morning and damn... we had just missed it! :(

Safari timings sign board

As we sipped hot tea, I spoke up to a group of guys who had just returned from the safari and were busy playing back/reviewing their images.
They offered us a peep and I saw images of Elephant(tuskers), Gaur, Crocodile, Chital, Sambhar, Peacock, etc. I was excited, and also disappointed to have missed by morning safari by half hour :(

Nagarhole Forest

In order to kill some time, we decided to visit Iruppu falls located nearby and come back for the noon safari at 3:00 PM.

Iruppu falls :

Iruppu Falls

Located in the Brahmagiri mountain range, Iruppu is a picturesque waterfalls. The Brahmagiri mountain range is home to the endangered Lion-tailed Macaque along with several other species of reptiles and Birds.

Iruppu's waters are extremely cold! So cold that my feet went numb within minutes after stepping in.

We spent a couple of hours here making slow shutter/fast shutter images of the waterfalls.
We could also spot a variety of rare and indigenous butterflies around the falls... a great place if you are interested  in photography.


The Safari :

After cooling off in the ice cold waters of Iruppu, we halted for lunch and headed back into Nagarhole forest.
We bought the first tickets and occupied the front seats of the van.
As we waited for the van to fill up (minimum of 15 members are required for the safari), I spoke to a fellow traveler about wildlife sightings in general
and other national parks in India that guarantee a tiger sighting. It is business these days! A debatable topic... ;)

By now, there were around 30 people in the van and we started off with the safari.
As the van turned and twisted along the bumpy roads of the forest, we saw Chital at every turn. The herds seemed calm as they grazed, going about their day.
More turns, more deer :( Although I enjoyed photographing them, I knew that a Tiger was certainly not around as the deer seemed relaxed, no alarm calls, nothing!

As we moved deeper into the jungle, we saw Peacocks, Serpent Eagle, Changeable Hawk Eagle, Langur, Sambhar, Malabar Giant squirrel, but no sign of elephants
or gaur either, let alone a tiger!

Deer grazing in the forest

Langur

Alert Chital

 

 After an hour or so, we returned back to the forest range office. I was quite disappointed.. with the lack of sightings in this safari. Anyways, this is just the beginning. People spend years visiting jungles, with countless safaris under their belt before they can catch a glimpse of the elusive beauty. For a first time experience, maybe I set my expectations way too high!

As we were driven back, we thought about doing the morning safari the next day, but we had to drop the plan due to the distance from Nagarhole to Virajpet(~55km) and budget reasons.

We also discussed visiting some of the National parks in the north such as Bandhavgarh or Tadoba. With so many options, I felt that sighting a tiger in the wild was more of a gamble.. :D




In the silence between talks, I exclaimed - "Chital Alarm calls!"
We pulled over, and waited.. the calls were loud and clear and were coming from the thicket beside the road. The deer called out at regular intervals.. there was something,
the deer were certainly seeing something.. we waited for some more time.. but what ever frightened the deer, didn't make an appearance on the road. The jungle is a mysterious place!..
We decided to move on... 

An image I shot that morning comes to my mind :-

Maybe we expected a little too much :)

I hope to write about My first tiger sighting soon.. :)

in good faith,
Arvind.R
E-mail : arvindr33@gmail.com
Better images on my Flickr page : http://www.flickr.com/photos/arvind_r/
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