A SHORT TRIP TO NAGERHOLE NATIONAL PARK AND WYANAD

My wife and myself decided to take a short trip to Nagerhole National Park. Last time we stayed at King's Sanctuary situated at the Hunsur side. This time we thought that we will stay in the Kutta side and do JLR safari from there. 

After looking at various resorts, we finally zeroed in on "Bison Manor" managed by Stay Simple. We got a special offer through Make My Trip.At around Rs 2600 per night for a couple including breakfast and dinner, the offer looked terribly attractive. (JLR charges Rs 1,500 per person for a two hour safari. Even if we count 2 safaris and lunch expenses, it still works out to just Rs 10,000 for a couple per day compared to more than Rs 20,000 in JLR.)

We started from our home at Whitefield, Bangalore at 06:30 in the morning. Otherwise, being a working day, we would be caught in the unpredictable Bangalore City Traffic. And it had been also raining intermittently in Bangalore with more rains predicted.

We kept a leisurely pace in our car and stopped for breakfast after Mandya. There are plenty of road side restaurants on the way to choose from. We picked "Kadambam"- an Iyengar style south Indian eatery. They have a very limited breakfast menu; but the dishes are tasty and they serve quickly.

Then we continued on to Mysore Outer Ring road and took the road to Hunsur. After Hunsur you have to take the road to Kutta. The road is getting widened as we you come near the forest gate. (Once  completed, the entire stretch would become  two lane up to the forest gate.)

The advantage in staying at the other end is that you are allowed to drive inside the forest for around  35 kms. Due to many instances of people misusing this stretch for picnic/ drinking etc, now, when you enter the park gate, they note down the car details plus the number of passengers including your mobile number in their computer and this is relayed to the other side of the gate. You are also given a receipt. You need to preserve this and produce it when you exit at the other end.

So if you had loitered and taken a long time to reach the other end, you can get questioned.

I let my wife, who had taken the wheel after Mysore, to continue driving inside the forest and kept my camera at hand for any lucky encounter. You are not allowed to park the vehicle unless your way is obstructed by animals crossing or standing on or very close to the road.

We were lucky to spot a bison pair grazing leisurely on the roadside. But as we neared they moved inside. We saw plenty of cheetal as well as langur monkeys. No other excitement till we reached the other gate. It was past noon.

We could book the evening jeep safari with JLR then and there. Manjunath, who handles these bookings in that gate, is quite friendly. He just took my mobile number and did not even insist on any advance amount. He just told us to be there by 3:00 PM as the evening safari starts by 3:30PM. He gave another reminder call at around 2:00PM to double check whether we will do the evening safari,

JLR has only one vehicle for safari. This is a 10 seater. 

From the forest gate, Bison Manor is just half an hour drive. It is around 2.5 kms from the Kutta bus stand junction and any passer by will direct you the way. Road up to this junction was extremely good except for the patch where road widening was going on. Even the road inside the forest was quite good excepting the speed humps. But this last stretch of 2.5 kms to the resort road was bad. The last 1.5 kms is a mud and stone road.

We checked our odometer. We had clocked exactly 300 Kms from our house to the resort. And we did it in around 6.5 hours despite two breaks on the way plus a crawling speed for the last 40-45 kms. 

We were pleased with what we saw in Bison Manor. After booking, we were a bit apprehensive. It is a old colonial style bungalow amidst coffee plantation. Manager's name is Narayan and he is an extremely cooperative person.

Rooms are really huge with a dressing side and a very large bathroom. The bathroom fittings were new. Towels were fresh. Furniture is almost entirely period furniture and adds to the antique look. Bed sheets were clean. Huge common areas; covered varandah. We could park our car and walk straight into our room through the side entrance.  Both of us fell in love with that place at first sight.

He had kept the food hot and ready; so did not waste time after reaching. I asked for a transportation to the safari gate as I was worried about this mud track in the last stretch.

An auto charges Rs 400 for a drop plus pick up after the safari and a car charges Rs 750 and a jeep Rs 1000. We took a jeep for the first day and a regular car next day. (We need not have worried; our own Corolla could have negotiated easily. But we did not want to have any puncture or stone hit as during our last visit, we had a tyre bulge due to stone hit.)

During our first safari, the ten seater was full; but luckily I managed to get the seat next to the driver. I had two cameras. Nikon 350S which was fitted with 500 mm prime with 1.4TC and Nikon 700 fitted with sigma 150-500 mm. Though the driver was quite helpful in keeping Nikon 700 in his lap through out the journey and handing it when needed, I felt quite cramped in the narrow space to operate.

We saw this tusker feeding peacefully at a far distance in a valley.  We saw another one during the later part of the ride. We saw a small bison group grazing peacefully quite long off. However Nikon with TC and prime lens helped to capture some nice images.

Our driver tried many water holes towards the later part of the evening to see whether we can spot any of the big cats. 

However we were not lucky.  Duration of park rides in Nagerhole is quite short. They should at least keep it for 2.5 hours instead of 2 and the timings should be changed between seasons. At 2 hours, with the vehicle losing a total of 1/2 hour to reach the interior forest, and the light fading in the evening we hardly get a decent duration.

When we had almost given up for the evening, we saw this bison family near the water hole. They had come to drink water and were about to return to the interiors of the forest. Luckily the lighting was good and they were right on front and being in the front seat, I could comfortably lean and hold the lens on the windshield and take shots!

Thus ended the safari for the first day.

Next day morning we decided to visit the Tirunelli temple. It is approximately 20 kms from Kutta and the road as well as the scenery is beautiful. The temple is of Maha Vishnu and considered one of the oldest in India. Though very popular, retains the old charm, hardly crowded and you get to be with the deity for any amount of time you want to.

After returning to the resort, we found that we had plenty of time to make a trip to nearby Iruppu water falls that is just 10 kms away from Kutta. So we decided to do that as well. The road to Iruppu falls is also in good condition and a saloon car can easily negotiate that.

So we were able to return to the resort after doing both the Tirunelli temple and Iruppu falls for lunch. After half an hour of rest, we went for the second safari.

Unfortunately the lighting was bad with plenty of clouds and the sightings was also very poor. We were just 4 of us in the 10 seater jeep.

I was cursing my luck that when the lighting was good, the jeep was crowded and when the lighting was bad, i had huge space to maneuver my cumbersome camera kit!

Government school children are given a picnic every  

month and that day they were taken in the forest department bus during noon time. And what a luck they had! They sighted a tiger. When we started the safari we went to the same spot and found that the tiger had moved away and the undergrowth was quite thick. 

Towards the close of safari ride, we heard lot of alarm calls from langur as well as cheetal. We waited in vain; but could not see the tiger.

And when we returned to the gate through the main road, we found a tree uprooted and lying on the side of the road. The forest guard who is a tribal stopped our vehicle and told us that the tusker is just inside the forest. We found it feeding peacefully. On seeing us it moved away inside. Had we reached this spot a little earlier, we could have witnessed the whole tamasha of elephant bringing down a fully grown tree!

It rained heavily that night and next morning we woke up to a misty and sunny mixed morning which is always glorious in any plantation.

Looking at such a sunrise, you wonder whether you should extend your stay by one more day! But then, we decided that we will return here after a month or so and took a reluctant leave of Nagerhole National Park!