Wild Bandipura (Part III)

Well, Part II will appear as a guest post in one of my favorite blogs, you people need to wait for that for some more time... Let me quickly jump to the next phase of my adventures at Bandipura National Park :)

After the boys left, had an intense birding session and finally had to rush to catch the bus to Dharwad from Ganeshgudi and just made it in the nick of time. Carrying two heavy bags, one with all the equipment and the lappy and the other with apparels and shuffling b/w buses was a big task to accomplish. All along it was just one song playing in my mind -
Musafir hoon mein yaaro,
Na ghar hain na tikana,
Mujhe toh bas chalana hai,
Bas chalte jaana hai!


Similar song in Kannada-
Ellige Payana, Yavudo daari,
Ekangi Sanchaari, Ekangi Sanchaari!


After a heavy dinner at Dharwad, I traveled to Mysore bypassing Bangalore in the KSRTC Rajahamsa bus service, well the ride was pretty decent and comfortable. Sleep walking into the Mysore bus terminus and after a cold face wash and breakfast later, boarded another bus towards Ooty to alight at Melkamanahally check post (Bandipur National Park entrance) where the property of JLR (Bandipur Safari Lodge) is located. I would be here for the next 4.5 days only to roam the jungles, eat and sleep, solo.

After a warm welcome from the staff, inspite of the long journey and sagging shoulders, I was feeling energized just because I was there where I wanted to be :) Probably, for the first time, I had carried books to read (EH Aitken's 'A Naturalist on the Prowl' and Kenneth Anderson's 'Nine Man-eaters and One Rogue'). I never wake up to the alarm ringing at home and finally it snoozes getting tired..., well here I didn't require an alarm to wake me, my senses were sufficient and I never missed the time all the days :) Such wonderful things happen when your mind, body, heart and soul are in the place they want to be. Waking up early, safari ride, bfast, break, lunch, break, safari ride, snacks, dinner, sleep was all that I did but the excitements of each day made it interesting. Due to an unforeseen cyclone effect, the weather was cloudy and rains were happening on and off dampening my spirit. Well, all that in my mind was 'Why the rains when I had to be there?' :)

Spotting Deers, Gaur are quite common in Bandipur and you get your share of them more or less in all safari rides. The first safari passed off peacefully w/o much activity in the forests and just as we were heading back to the resort, saw a big sloth bear passing just beside the main road in twilight. So far never been lucky with bears and it continues... Overnight rains were quite heavy and early morning the situation was more or less similar from which I believed would be a wet outing in the jungle. Good things do happen and in a span of 15 minutes, the entire cloudy weather cleared up and the sun shone like there was no tomorrow. Just as we entered the jungle and within minutes I could see a bright flash against a tree basking in the golden sunlight! It didn't take much time for us to realize it was indeed a 'Tiger' basking in the sudden sunlight available.

Just as we moved towards him, he moved inside off the track into the field keeping a watch on us sitting, rolling, sleeping in the shade of a tree. Every now and then he would raise his head, look around, gaze and us and again go back to his slumber. I was so excited that the first few beautiful frames of him were all shaken (I realized this only after few days).  If my readers recollect, just in the last post of Bandipur I had mentioned I was due for a long tiger sighting and the day had arrived. The beautiful, bold male that we were seeing is about 14 months and one from the successful litter of the current reigning queen of Bandipur, Gauri (You can see her in my Bandipur post of 2009 crossing the track).
-> http://adventureanytime.blogspot.com/2009/08/bandipura-wishes-coming-true.html

Tigers are generally elusive and especially cubs are more so shy and they avoid humans like hell but this little young chap was all grace and confidence and his stare so charming you just could not take your eyes off him. We enjoyed his company for the next 20 minutes till he decided enough was enough and walked away into the bushes probably to join his siblings there. 45 minutes later roaming other parts of the jungle, we came back to the same place to see him again basking under the sun and he was around again for the next 25 minutes with us seeing him roll, stare, doze and finally walk away not to be seen again. Along with me in the jeep was an ace photographer from Mumbai Vedwati Padwal along with her family and we thoroughly enjoyed the show but I thoroughly missed my boys during this.

Back at the resort, it was the hot news for the day and we enjoyed the discussions thoroughly. Wonder what happened next - the clouds and the overcast conditions were back and the next 2 safari's were literal washouts in spite of no other vehicle other than ours roaming the jungles in the morning and evening. That is luck and when it decides to leave you, you are just left nowhere!


Next, in my 5th safari, one cloudy evening just as we entered the park, Kiran, the driver shouted Wild dogs and so my luck continues with their sightings every time I'm in a jungle. It was a pair and probably searching for their pack and they kept us company for the next 30 minutes until we decided on the insistence of other people to jeep to move ahead. Wild dogs or Dhole's are very relaxed once they find the vehicles are no threat to them and they stick around for a long time till you are bored. In this scenario, asking the driver to leave them and move put me in jitters as these kind of opportunities are few and far.

So far, tiger, elephants, gaur, sloth bear, mongoose, deers were all sighted and the missing link was the leopard and to say I have poor luck with them is not untrue! Finally after extended stays, in my last safari at Bandipur, just about the time we had to leave the park got a chance to see the leopard crossing the road in a fraction of a second. All that I could manage was a shaky image of the ghost crossing the road, yet I was happy and content on seeing it in the first place. I know my time will come and the lady luck will smile upon me... :)

Meanwhile in all the dull safari's, birding was opportunistic and soon I realized the variety I could see and the list grew longer and longer much to my surprise and mind you all this from the moving jeep. Also was nice meeting Thomas, Vineet and others and had a good time with them.

Finally, time to leave with GB's of photos, heart-full of memories and with little intent to go back home. Rested for the night at Mysore and was back at home early next day thus ending my mega trip covering Ganeshgudi and Bandipura.


Travel partner - ever dependable KSRTC - www.ksrtc.in
Stay partner - Jungle lodges & Resorts - www.junglelodges.com


Bird checklist -
1 Oriental Magpie Robin

2 Yellow Wagtail

3 Jungle Fowl

4 Peafowl

5 Indian Roller

6 White Breasted Kf

7 Pied Kf

8 Hoopoe

9 Jungle Babbler

10 Common Flameback Woodpecker

11 Lesser Flameback Woodpecker

12 Streak Throated Woodpecker

13 House Sparrow

14 Scaly Breasted Munia

15 Rose Ringed Parakeet

16 Plum Headed Parakeet

17 Yellow Footed Green Pigeon

18 Spot Billed Duck

19 Common Coot

20 White Ibis

21 Spotted Dove

22 Laughing Dove

23 Brown Fish Owl

24 White Breasted Waterhen

25 Asian Paradise Flycatcher

26 Darter

27 Blue Faced Malkoha

28 Ashy Drongo

29 White Bellied Drongo

30 Racquet Tailed Drongo

31 Pond Heron

32 Red Wattled Lapwing

33 Indian Grey Hornbill

34 Eurasian Golden Oriole

35 Bay Backed Shrike

36 Long Tailed Shrike

37 Large Cuckooshrike

38 White Browed Fantail

39 Common Iora

40 Rufous Treepie

41 House Crow

42 Jungle Crow

43 Hill Mynah

44 Jungle Mynah

45 Common Mynah

46 Brahminy Mynah

47 Green Bee Eater

48 Common Hawk Cuckoo

49 Black Kite

50 Brahminy Kite

51 Black Shouldered Kite

52 Crested Serpent Eagle

53 Short Toed Snake Eagle

54 Malabar Starling


Wildlife -

1 Hanuman Langur

2 Bonnet Macaque

3 Black Naped Hare

4 Spotted Deer

5 Sambar Deer

6 Barking Deer

7 Grey Mongoose

8 Stripe Necked Mongoose

9 Wild Boar

10 Wild Dog

11 Malabar Giant Squirrel

12 Indian Gaur

13 Elephant

14 Tiger

15 Leopard

16 Monitor Lizard

17 Garden Lizard

18 Tortoise

19 Indian Rock Python

20 Water Snake (Un Id)

More photos on my FB pages here and here :)

Birding @ Kokkarebellur, Ranganthittu and Kukkarahalli kere

After the fortnight of festivals and absoutely no plans for Nov 1 (Karnataka Rajyotsava day), we finally decided to go birding again. Initial plan was for 2 days, but later had to limit it to a day because of some emergencies. Guru was unwell and as it was a last minute plan, myself and Raja decided to go ahead with the plan planned at 11 pm the previous night. We intended to cover Valley School - Kokkare bellur - Ranganthittu - Kukkarahalli kere and Karanji lake and return back to bangalore by evening. 


Nov 1 2008: Chilly Saturday morning, left our homes by 5.30 am, reached Valley school area quite early. Valley School area: This has become our favorite jaunt mainly because its just in the neighborhood and nobody to disturb. This time we proceeded straight into the campus to the lake for some good birding. Rue our lethargy, the entire series of photos taken here have vanished without a trace and I hardly remember all the species which I saw.. Some which I can recollect are:

• Little Cormorant (the most common water bird we have seen)
• Small blue King
• Pond Heron
• Indian Silverbills
• Pied Wagtail couple
• Red Whiskered Bulbul
• Jungle Prinia
• Tiger butterfly & many others
• A giant spidey with its huge web...

and many more... We spent a good 2 hours here birding, the best part is you never realize how the time moves so quickly when birding. After satisfying our urge for birding here, we had to move quickly to cover the remaining places for the day; we took the route via Kanakapura to our next place - Kokkare bellur. Well the idea was not so bad as feared because 60% of the roads were good but we had to drive around 20 kms more to reach Kokkare bellur. Enroute to Kokkare bellur we saw a small pond where again we had quite a few sightings which included:

Black kite relaxing under the shade

• Black Ibis pair
• Grey Herons
• Spot Billed Ducks

@ Kokkare bellur:

Pelican flight @ Kokkarebellur

• Spot billed Pelicans
• Black Kite
• Black Ibis

and few more, again these series of photos have vanished. On the way to Kokkare bellur, we spotted a black kite peacefully resting under the shades of a tree. We stopped below him and he gave us some nice shots and inquisite looks. We managed to reach Kokkare bellur by 11 am. Here you can just park your vehicle anywhere and go birding, you will find lots of birdies atop many trees and if lucky on the roads too. We could spot mainly the Pelicans and a few Black Ibis only (the remaining visitors were yet to arrive) here. A tree full of Pelicans with their crooning and fluttering give you good oppurtunity to watch them and capture them in your lenses, but kindly avoid standing under those trees else you would be garnished with white paint all over your body. The black Ibis show was distant as they were perched against the sun which made it all the more difficult to view them directly or capture a clear image. The locals here are very helpful and protective of the winged visitors and any wrong move from your end will result in broken bones! But the sight of children asking for money from the visitors is not a good sight to see! After more than an hour here with the sun steadily rising and burning our heads, we decided to move on to Ranganathittu near Srirangapattinam.


Marsh crocodile @ Ranganthittu.


Ranganthittu bird sanctuary: Its a small sanctuary in the Mandya district but the most famous in and around south karnataka. The restaurant here satisfied our appetities which the first thing we did when we landed here. Afternoon times and the sun blazing, birding was not so productive so we bought tickets for the boat ride on the Kaveri lake. Huge crowd had gathered as it was a saturday and we had wait in a long queue for the tickets. The only advantage going boating is you are taken closer to the birds resting on the trees in the middle and the birds are quite comfortable with the boats being paddled around. Not to miss are the huge crocodiles you see from close quarters, this time we were lucky enough to spot some 7-8 crocodiles around. The few winged visitors which I could recognize seeing here are:

• White Ibis
• Spoonbills
• Night Heron
• the King
• Pond Heron
• Colony of Bats
• Marsh Crocodiles

Well the sightings were not so good, wish to be back here at leisure during some weekday when few people are around. From here we had plans of covering Kukkarahalli kere and Karanji lakes in Mysuru but owing to time shortage we decided to cancel Karanji lake visit this time.



As we reached the periphery of Mysuru, at the first traffic signal we asked for directions from the constable there; he gave us the most easiest route to take, from the signal take right turn, left at the next signal, and right at only the next traffic signal. We landed right on the fringes of the lake with those directions without a glitch.











Kukkarahalli kere, Mysuru: For starters, its located in the heart of the Mysuru city adjoining the Manasagangotri campus. A neat walkway has been created which is used effectively by the walkers / joggers and also bird watchers! The entire walkway around of the park is approximately 4kms. What started for us as a small walk around ended up making us cover the entire 4kms watching different varied winged visitors spread across the lake. My favorite King (kingfisher bird) was very shy and reluctant and only gave poses from long distances; still waiting for a decent shot of this beautiful king. The sunset here was amazing with the winged visitors perched on the trees in the foreground and the golden sun providing the orange blanket all across the horizon. Few of the winged visitors which we could identify were:

• Spot Billed Pelicans
• Pond Heron
• Little Egret
• Purple Moorhen
• Spot Billed Ducks
• Common Coots
• Cattle Egret
• Pied Wagtail
• Grey Heron
• Asian Koel
• Parakeets
• White Ibis

and few others which I am yet to recollect. As it was dusk our plans of climbing the Chamundi hills on foot went for a toss and instead we drove up the hill to visit the temple. The temple remains closed between 6.30pm to 8pm and is open till 9.30pm. The Mysuru city view from the hill top is beautiful especially if the palace lights are on, it presents a spectacular sight. From here we drove straight back to our homes, infact we covered the bangalore mysore strectch in flat 120 minutes on the saturday evening.


Route: To Valley School: On the Kanakapura road, just 100mts after the NICE road junction a yellow board next to a tree on the right hand side leads to the valley school campus. Good roads upto Kanakapura.


To Kokkare Bellur: On the Mysore highway, just before Maddur town, a huge old board to the left indicates the route to Kokkare bellur which is 16kms from there. Roads are pathetic.


To Ranganthittu Bird Sanctuary: On the Mysore highway, after Srirangapattinam, a deviation to the right leads to ranganthittu bird sanctuary which is around 6ms inside. The same route further leads to Hunsur, Madikeri, Virajpet, Nagarhole, Irpu falls, HD kote. Excellent roads.


To Kukkarahalli Kere: As you approach Mysuru city, in the first traffic signal on the outer ring road take a right turn and straight ahead and then left turn at the next signal, and again right turn at only the next traffic signal leads to the lake. Please ask for directions with the locals as you are bound to reach nowhere following my directions. Excellent roads.


Tips: Carry water. Food source Bangalore (for valley school); Maddur town and highway restaurants (for Kokkare bellur); hotel at Ranganthittu and Mysuru city hotels (for Kukkarahalli kere).
Overall a nice birding experience but felt more time was required at Ranganthittu and Kukkarahalli lakes.



Care for the nature and the nature cares for you!