Nagerhole in May

kritikal

Hey y'all,

I have had an awesome summer so far...Had a fantastic trip to Corbett in March where I was lucky enough to spot a tiger (albeit for barely a minute) and have the added excitement of being in a gypsy which got charged upon by a tusker. I have been telling myself that I will write about the trip sometime..hopefully I will get around to doing it soon!

In any case, I have decided to make the most of this summer, at least in terms of going to wildlife reserves I will be in Bangalore between May 1st - 4th and am planning to go to Nagerhole for a couple of days.

I have a few questions, that I am hoping you guys can help me out with:

1. Is there any bus (KSRTC or otherwise) that we could take from Bangalore or Mysore?

2. How good are the forest department rooms? The phone in the forest department office in Mysore is going unanswered. Or should we look at staying at Jungle Inn?

3. Are private vehicles allowed inside the reserve? If that's the case, maybe we can hire a car from Bangalore/Mysore and use it for the entire trip.

Thanks!

pmvelu

The following link might help you on this.

Trip to Nagarhole/Kabini- Advice Needed

Regarding stay :-
And as far as I know , only 3 Cottages are there (Owned by Forest dept) which is just adjacent to Forest Dept office (Within the Reserve)and they are booked normally well in advance and if you prefer high-end stay JLR & Cicada are the only ones in the border of the reserve (Near Kabini - Karapura) & I have seen 2 resorts / Lodges in Nagarhole NP-Hunasur Road too (Outside Nagarhole NP) but the location is not so impressive.

And Private Vehicles are allowed inside the reserve and hiring a car from Bangalore (Rather Mysore) might be the best option to explore Nagarhole NP.

And FYI , you could try out Tholpetty NP and Iruppu falls too (which are around 5 kms & 17 kms from Nagarhole NP respectively).

Hope this helps.

shahronakm

If you don't mind the cost then stay with Jungle Lodges & Resorts. Their rates are including jeep safari & all food.

There will be herds of Elephants near Kabini river during this time.

Ronak.

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kritikal

Thanks a ton!

We really would like to stay inside the reserve at the forest department rest houses. I managed to get across to the office on the phone, but they claimed it's booked on May 2nd/3rd. Is there a chance of just showing up there and trying our luck for getting a reservation? If so, where's their office? Or are there any scouts who can try and get us an acco there?

I also checked out some home stay options at Kutta. That seems to be pretty inexpensive and are available.

Cost is not a huge factor and the Jungle lodges resort also seems like an attractive option. How far away is this resort from the main gate?

Thanks again!

shahronakm

Very dim (or may be nil) chance of getting an accomodation in forest rest houses without reservations.

Home stay options are worth trying.

Jungle Lodge Resorts are located five - ten mins. ride from the entrance. It's located right on the banks of river kabini.

Ronak.

pmvelu

Yes Ronak is right. The chances are very very less to get a accomodation in the forest rest house without reservations.

And Near Iruppu falls also there are "N" number of homestays. This place is scenic with Brahmagiri mountain range in the backdrop . You could try there too(But no wildlife will be there) .You need to travel back to Nagarhole (17 kms).This is a option if you feel JLR as costly !.. As Far as the web reviews & our IM reviews JLR is the best and I heard the same from my friends too.

Hope this helps.

kritikal

Thanks! I was desperately trying to call up the wildlife warden's office at Mysore even today to get the acco at Nagarhole or even Bandipur. No such luck thanks to holidays and everything.

We will probably hire a jeep from Kutta and do some day safaris. Do they have specific timings for the safari to begin? I guess the early morning safari will start at about 6. Can we do it later also, if we are hiring our own jeep? (We might reach Kutta only in the morning since we might take a late night bus..) Also, are there late evening safaris? Maybe starting at about 5 or so?

shahronakm

As mentioned by you generally there are two safaris one during early mornings & another one in late afternnoons. Don't know exact timings as they are different for Winter & Summer seasons. Also note that one highway passes through middle of the sanctuary & that is open all day. Try to go on a boat ride on the river Kabini as you will see large Elephant herds on the banks, who come to drink water & also there will be good bird sightings.

pmvelu

Hi,

Nagarhole NP Safari timings are 6 - 9 am and 3 - 6 pm .If you hire a Jeep in Kutta, you could drive into Nagarhole NP and could talk to Forest dept office and use your Jeep itself for Safari and I suppose they will charge you 800 Rs / Jeep (PLease check the photo Section Where I have posted the Rate Charges of Nagarhole NP) and definitely a Forest Guide will accompany you.

Nagarhole NP is like this :

From Hunsur if you come, Nagarhole NP forest office (From where Safaris start is) 21 kms from the Forest Dept Gate
From HD Kote if you come, Nagarhole NP forest office is 28 kms from the Forest Dept gate
From Kutta , it's 5 kms to the forest office from the forest dept gate.
And From JLR & cicada (Karapura) they will join Nagarhole NP thru some short cut !

IMPORTANT HINT : You could enter any of these forest Dept gates between 6 am to 6pm but only to take the safaris the timings are 6-9 am and 3 - 6 pm.

After trying out the forest safari (Which means getting into dense forests from Normal forest (?!) , you could just drive in the main road itself(Again within the forest Reserve) for this 21 or 28 kms on your own and you could sight Deers/ Elephants.

And As from your posts I Hope you are keen in Wildlife Sightings. If so, When you drive from Kutta end , once inside the Forest Gate ,drive straight towards Hunsur /HD kote and take a Left after few kms (There is one place called Karimadu which is 7 kms <-------- from the main road. A Clear Signboard will be there) . Try out for few kms in this road and you could sight Wild boar. I just travelled few kms once (Before Rahul Gandhi's visit in one of my prior Visits ) but as the rood is poor I turned back (Anyway that's my own Santro and hence ). You could try out if it's a going to be a rental Jeep.Right now the main road is nice all thru inside the reserve.

Also , you could stop for visiting Tribal Settlements inside the reserve itself (If it interests you).


If you can withstand poorest roads, Try out Kutta-Tholpetty NP-Katrikulam-Turn Left- and drive until Karapura (Road is pathetic to the core for around 27 kms out of the total 47 kms) BUT you could see Elephants/ Peacock/ Deers etc in this Highway itself (Check the photo section under my ID for this road photo and the wildlife sightings). This road is very very rarely used (Except KSRTC buses that too once in 2 hours or so) and hence take care and there won't be anything available in this route, Once you leave Katrikulam..

For Tholpetty NP ( Just 5 kms from Kutta But in Kerala), the safari timings is same 6-9 am and 3-6 pm BUT here the only option is to take our own vehicle (Jeep or Sumo /Qualis kind of) and there is no forest dept vehicle to take you for the safari. If you hire a jeep try out this too.

From Tholpetty NP until Katrikulam , the road is scenic (And this 17 kms is part of Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary) and you could have a wonderful Drive with Rose woods on both sides with very very less traffic (Road is Good) and chances of Sighting Elephant is more.

If you need more info , please post.
Happy Travelling

kritikal

@pmvelu and ronak

Tnanks soooo much!

Now I can't wait till the coming weekend

celesre

Hi,
I want to leave from Mysore in the early morning, i want to visit some wildlife park and then go on to Cochin.
Do you suggest me to stay in Kutta and there take a tour??? Or better Kalpetta??? Or there is a tour from Mysore for 1 day and so i can go on on my own to Cochin in the evening??

I hope to be clear!
Thank you
Celeste

kritikal

I suggest that you try giving a call to the Wildlife Warden's office in Mysore to try to get acco within Nagarhole in one of the forest rest houses...Normally, these rest houses are reserved, but you could always try your luck!

Or else, you could stay at any of the home-stays available in Kutta...You will find these home stays at about 2-3 kms from the gate to Nagarhole. In case you need any contact numbers for these home stays , do let me know. I could dig up some details. Wayanad is also closeby (15 odd kms, I guess) and you could always hire a jeep to get there.

If you are leaving from Mysore in the morning, I suggest you take the route which goes through the jungle. You can spot deers and maybe even a tusker or two!