Bandipur Expedition

Looking forward for birthdays and celebrating them hasn't remained as exciting as it used to be. But still, somewhere in your mind you will think "how should I start my new year?", "Can I do something special?" etc. etc. If it is on a Monday, definitely you wouldn't want to give yourself "Monday blues" as a gift, would you? When I found that my birthday is going to be on Monday, I felt the same thing. I didn't want to wake up thinking that I have to beat 2 hours of terrible traveling time to reach office; that I have to plan for fixes/releases for the next whole week. I wanted to be away from all this stuff at least on this day and spend some quality time in the lap of nature(again!). So I decided to head to Bandipura Safari Lodge, and booked Jungle Lodges for the first time. My trips are usually not well planned or well organized. It was probably the first time I planned it and made all the necessary arrangements much before the trip. With few of the best pals ever, I headed to Bandipura National Park in the wee hours of Sunday morning. 

BNP is a tiger reserve and one of the well protected forest reserve in India. It is roughly around 220 KM from Bengaluru, and 80 KM from Mysuru. It is 4 hours of journey from Bengaluru. The Jungle Lodges charges 3000rs for one day which includes food, accommodation, 2 jeep safaris (close to 2-1/2 hours each). The arrangements by the jungles lodges are top class and I didn't regret spending 3k for a day for the quality of stay and the food they provided. The safaris were satisfying too. I had a great time on my birthday with my friends adding a magical touch to the day. 

Following are few pictures from the trip. Don't scroll down to look for Tiger or Leopard as they are not the only wildlife to watch out for. (I've been telling this to myself since I couldn't get a glimpse of them). In the recent past there has been a great sighting of Tigers and Leopards in BNP. I was happy to hear that someone sighted a Tigress with 4 cubs by the main road, a few days back. What an awesome sighting it would have been! 

Photos:

1. A family of elephants gave us some opportunity to photograph them them up and close

2. Meanwhile one of the parents of baby elephant ran towards us to scare us

3. A jeep track in BNP

4. Jeep track on a foggy and misty morning; all we could sight in this foggy morning was herd of Indian Peacocks.

5. A Sambar staring at the visitors

6. Monkey business; as usual 

7. Indian Blue Peacock sits on a broken tree branch on a foggy morning

8. A Mongoose 

9. Indian Roller in Madhumalai Forest

10. Crested Serpent Eagle at BNP

11. Indian Blue Peacock

12. Brahminy Starling

13. Serpent Eagle, another view

14. Always a treat to watch, Common Hoopoe