Sunday, April 20, 2008

Bandipur - April 2008

TRIP TO BANDIPUR

I had been to Bandipur along with my family and relatives on April 18, 2008 which was Friday and came back on 20th April, Sunday. We had hired a Swaraj Mazda. We left Bangalore at 6.00AM.
We went to Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary at 9.00 AM. As many people were there in our group, we could not do serious photography. Photographers in our trip included Arjun Haarith.G, H.Satish, Goutham.R, Akshay.S and Vinay.C
I got a few flight shots of Open Billed Storks, Painted Storks, and White Ibis. As usual Crocs were there and the Bats were also active at that time. Some of the people in our group got quite good pictures of those Bats in action.
We left RBS at around 11.00AM and halted at Mysore for a break and continued our journey to Bandipur. We reached Bandipur by 1.30 PM had food. We were at “Vanashree”cottage.
At 4.00PM we were ready to go to the safari. We went in Mr. Sebastian’s vehicle. At first we saw a pack of Wild dogs of about 6-8. Then we saw Malabar woodpecker, Stripped necked Mongoose, Crested Serpent eagle, Elephant with calf and finally a Malabar Giant squirrel along with peacocks, jungle fowls, Langurs and spotted deers.
We decided to go 2 continuous trips to the sanctuary next morning. So we left to the sanctuary the next Morning. To my surprise on the first trip we saw nothing but Malabar Giant squirrel and a Jungle fowl (not even a peacock). In the second trip we saw Sambars, Crested Hawk eagle, Peacocks- dancing, Wild dogs of about 12-15 along with 2 pups. To my surprise we found Mongoose on a branch of a tree (unusual phenomenon) and a Tortoise on a bund at Thavarekatte tank.
We came back from the safari, on our return we saw a Monkey wearing a T-shirt. This was Superb; it almost took 10 mins for the monkey to remove it. Finally it climbed a tree and threw the shirt off.
We relaxed and went till the Border of Karnataka-Tamil nadu on the Ooty road from Bandipur. We saw Indian gaur, pair of SN Mongoose, and a Elephant with calf.
Again at 4.00PM we went to the sanctuary. We saw all the common animals and Elephant herd, 3-4 Sambars and returned back.
We enjoyed lightning and a slight drizzle of Rain. After a few mins, rain had stopped and Moon emerged. That was a full moon day. We enjoyed that night. We heard a few alarm calls from the Chital, but nothing was there.
We carried hopes of Sighting a Tiger or a Leopard. The next morning we were into the sanctuary. We saw crested Hawk eagle, Flame back, Peacock dancing and Jungle fowls. That was a Bird watching trip for us at Bandipur that Morning.
Our hope of sighting a Tiger or a Leopard ruined


We returned back to Bangalore. While coming we went to Himavad Gopalaswamy temple. At the temple premises (after 1 foot from the compound) on the hill I saw a full grown Indian Gaur’s skull. Many people said there was a big herd of elephants on the hill quite far from the temple. But we couldn’t see any of them. We left the temple came to Nanjangud temple and came back to Mysore for lunch and returned to Bangalore by 10.00PM on Sunday. Though we could not sight a Tiger or Leopard at Bandipur we enjoyed a lot.
This is my first Trip report in . I hope you people liked it.


Thank you,
Arjun Haarith.G

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