Bandipur National Park & Tiger Reserve Safari

It was quite some time that we hadn't been out on an outing and I was planning for one. And when one of my friends informed me about his plans to visit Bengaluru from Mumbai and popped a question about an outing together, the timing couldn't have been any better. He suggested Bandipur national park safari, and since I had not visited it before, we all decided on it.

I quickly started checking for different hotels/resorts for the stay. There were couple of good luxurious options but based on some good online reviews about National Tiger Reserve cottages, I decided to book it instead. I have penned down the details about cottage booking procedure and details here.

Bandipur tiger reserve cottage area is a huge campus beautifully located inside the national park. That’s why we witnessed many deer casually walking around, resting right next to our stay. Peacocks sang, or disturbed, in the wee hours.

Bandipur being one of the first nine tiger reserves in the country, extends over an area of about 82 sq.kms covering forest area of 3 states Karnataka, Tamilnadu and Kerala. We booked for an afternoon safari and that too in a gypsy/jeep, which was a right fit for 5 of us. The wildlife safari starts from the new campus and is a 2 hours affair where they take us through the designated area of the forest on the set trails. The drivers and the official accompanying are, of course, well trained and explain the things quite nicely.

It actually took us few minutes to realize that we are in an open gypsy in the forest, yes in a tiger reserve, and there is of course a chance to meet a tiger in the open. This very thought when we all discussed in open brought the fear factor.

We were fortunate enough to spot the following animals:

• 5-6 Elephants
• Deer, in abundance
• Barking deer, a very shy animal
• Sambar deer, apparently the largest deer in India
• Peacocks

However, NO tigers ☹. The driver informed that in his morning safari they were fortunate enough to spot 2 tigers. And this information certainly didn’t help us feel any better, in fact made us sadder.

May be, next time.

The safari was of course an enjoyable experience. The rain added a nice touch to the already attractive bumpy ride. My son enjoyed it more.

Bandipur National Park and tiger reserve turned out to be a good destination, surely something to visit again in future.

On our way back, visited the Gaganchukki and Barachukki water falls too.

Bandipur Tiger Reserve cottage booking

 As mentioned in my other post, my friends and my family decided to visit Bandipur National Park & Tiger reserve and have a wildlife safari over the weekend.

I decided to book the Govt. run accommodation that is located inside the national park, instead of booking other available resorts located outside the park gates.

https://bandipurtigerreserve.in/ is the website you can visit to book it online. Please note, we pay the cottage accommodation fees, safari fees along with park entry fees and parking fees at one place and this helps in a way.

This website takes us to https://www.bandipurtigerreserve.co.in/ for reservations/bookings post registration. You get different options to pick a cottage from many options like Gajendra, Vanashree, Chital, Harini etc along with dormitories. Since I was booking it in a short notice, I had only the 9-bed dormitories as the only available option. Only annoying factor during booking process was that the calls to contact numbers provided and emails go unanswered despite trying multiple times, something they need to fix asap. It's very common that someone would want some questions to be answered before booking.

Well, initially I was hesitant to book a dorm considering it’s our first time there and that too with family and friends. I was worried about cleanliness and things but once we reached the place, we realized following things:

• It’s situated in a beautiful location inside the national park. That’s why we witnessed many deer casually walking around, resting near the cottages.
• The campus is huge with no boundary with big bungalow kind of cottages & dorms.
• Dedicated buildings as canteen and reception area etc with very good staff who are ready to explain things neatly.
• Our dormitory having bunker beds was cozy and clean with bathrooms on both sides. (They can however plan to keep the bathrooms posh and sheets cleaner. It was ok but it can be improved. Those who are super particular about sheets, please carry your own ones).
• Breakfast & meal options are limited but they served good food.
• We were not allowed to walk around by ourselves post sunset and were escorted around in electric carts.

Well, to summarize, it’s a very good accommodation for those coming in with families or just with friends.