Bandipur – Wild, Wilder, Wildest

Posted in Asia | September 13, 2011 | Comment Now

With its stripes dominating its body and the yellow gleaming in between, the tiger sure is a majestic animal and to find it in one of India’s best wildlife zone is like a cherry on the already wild pie. Yes, visit Bandipur and enter an area of wild nature at its best in the district of Chamarajanagar in the state of Karnataka in the southern part of the Indian subcontinent.

With wildlife over an area of 874 square km, this park at Bandipur is one of the group of national parks in this part of India. More than 70 Bengal Tigers live here along with the great Indian elephants which number more than 3000. A portion of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve it is being reviewed to be declared as a World Heritage Site. Also a tourist hub, this is amongst the best Indian sanctuaries for wildlife. A Project Tiger zone since the year 1974, it has the tiger, elephant, wild boar, panther, squirrel, langur, gaur, sambar and the barking deer. Besides this, the aviary population includes the jungle fowl, bulbils, robbins, peacocks, warbles and the pigeons too. With a forest expanse comprising of dindal, teka, matti, hone, tadsal, nerale , bamboos etc, this park at Bandipur has a lot of water holes for the animals to quench their thirst. The tourists find it an adventure spot as there are elephant safaris and jeep safaris taking them deep into the park and the reserve.

Bandipur – The Project Tiger Reserve and Wildlife hub, originated with the need for a greater area for the wild animals to move around. From the time it got instituted, the park has seen a steady growth of tigers and gradually got popular for its collection of sandalwood trees. The virgin greenery of the park is coupled with the beauty of the Rivers Nagur, Moyar and Kabini gurgling through this zone.

The park has got teak, rosewood, besides sandalwood and bamboo as also shrubs like Indian gooseberry, golden shower tree, flame of the forest etc. The leopard, chital, dhole also live here along with the other mammals mentioned above.

Bandipur is home to many threatened species like the wooly necked storks, elephant, four horned antelope, sloth bear, mouse deer, crocodiles, osprey, python etc. With the honey buzzard, pompadour, grey jungle fowl, red headed vulture, brown hawk owl, Malabar Trogon, dominating the bird population Bandipur is a perfect region for the bird watcher.

The reptile population here includes the king cobra, adder, python, rat snake, marsh crocodile, water snake just to name a few.

A butterfly trail in Bandipur would be extremely fruitful because here you would find the common rose, common jay, lime butterfly, common mormon, blue mormon, and many many more varieties of butterflies. Ants and beetles complete the list of interesting species.

Concerns about the Bandipur Wildlife zone and its animals being prone to diseases caused due to the grazing cattle and the humans nearby are being looked into.