As a bunch of wildlife enthusiasts it has been our longing to trip across India to visit wildlife sanctuaries, parks and reserved forests. Our common interest for wildlife and forests had kept our thirst for knowledge on wildlife and visiting forests alive despite our hectic work schedules. Our two days road trip started on a Friday evening in Mahindra XUV with 5 like-minded friends from Chennai with not just the vroom of car outside but with blasts of laughter inside the car throughout the journey which made this trip a memorable one.
Our non-stop drive from Chennai cutting across Bengaluru and Mysore cities eventually lead us to the starting point of our wildlife journey that is Bharathavadi entry gate of Nagarhole were we parked the vehicle and took a quick power nap, pleasant weather and twinkling stars was a great soother from the tiring ride. Although we had booked two safari’s for Saturday night and Sunday morning we didn’t want to miss our morning drive from Bharathavadi to Kuta in our vehicle since I couldn’t slip that goose-bump moment when I spotted a tiger crossing this road.
At 6 a.m when forest gate was opened we quickly drove inside and within 10 minutes we saw a alpha male wild dog trying to cross the road and we were quietly waiting for it to cross and to our delight around 6 adults and 7 young ones joined this march past, while the adults were very curious about the visitors, young ones were engulfed in their play. It was pleasure to watch this pack of wild dogs alongwith their cubs in the early morning hours. While I have witnessed packs of wild dogs few times the sight of cubs amidst the pack and their bonding with one another was a treasure trove.
We rolled our vehicle slowly to witness the spectacular sights of hundreds of grazing deer, Indian gaur, and wild boars listening to the melody of chirping birds. The forests was bustling with animals and birds kept us enthralled, I silently recalled that the best time to visit a forest is during its pristine mornings.
We booked our stay at an old and beautiful bungalow inside a coffee estate in Kutta offering splendid views to neighbouring valleys. Situated quietly inside coffee estate the bungalow looked beautiful from outside and very cosy inside disconnected from mobile and television network and perfectly connected to nature surrounded by trees, plants, fruits and birds. From calmness, beauty and to food we completely enjoyed our stay at this place.
We had booked two jungle safari rides with Karnataka forest department almost 45 days ahead since the demand was always very high. We were very eager to witness the beauty of the majestic nagarhole forest and drive inside her thick jungles while our excitement to see the big cats was very high but the mere thrill of getting into jungle always brought in happiness and peace within me. Throughout the ride wherever safari jeep was trolling inside forest we were able to witness hundreds of spotted deer and at times we saw sambar deer, while it was the gigantic elephants which brought momentum to our bumpy ride inside forest, I should confess that the melody of birds kept us refreshed.
It was almost 2 hours inside the forests and we could not see any big cats we were wondering where it was roaming and staying away from our eyesight, we heard alarm calls of deer and monkey, the alarms calls were very loud and we could easily see movement inside forests, we quietly parked our vehicle there and closely observed alarm calls and were eagerly waiting for the big cat to come out of the bush, it was almost 15 odd minutes and all that we could hear was alarm calls from different directions but we were quite unlucky that we could not spot the big cat, although little disappointed the thrill for waiting to witness a big cat in the wild is something which cannot be described by mere words and our three hour ride inside the forests came to an end with lot of thrilling moments and with the hope that in next day’s ride we can spot the big cat.
Our morning ride started at 6 a.m, the jeep broke into early morning silence of the forests rolling deep inside, the forest was buzzing with melody of birds and animals were easily moving around, the first encounter was with a herd of elephants, the bull elephant which was keeping a close watch at our jeep came close and trumpeted just to scare us but it was a beautiful sight to watch the big tusker guarding its herd from visitors. We criss-crossed the forest in the jeep spotting deer, wild dogs, Indian gaur, various birds, elephants but we were again unlucky that we couldn’t witness king of this jungle, the shy, powerful and majestic big cat. We kept our deep desire and promises to ourselves that we would come back again in search of the magnificent creature.
Completing our safari rides in Nagarhole we rode our vehicle into the neighbouring Kabini forests witnessing wild elephants roaming freely on the highways. With two days well spent inside the forests with nature and wildlife we carried with us lot of great memories of the beautiful forests and the encounters with its enchanting wildlife.
Happy Travelling,
Durai Murugan
I wannna join Next time 🙂