This time we have decided to visit Bandipur , which is only 5 and 1/2 hours drive(with a coffee break ! ) from Bangalore. Bandipur National Park is one of the popular wildlife destination situated in Karnataka ; the other one is Kabini . Both are home to some of the country’s magnificent big cats. Located near Mysuru, Bandipur makes an awesome weekend gateway choice for Bangalorean’s, and for breathtaking safari experience. In this blog I will share my experiences with you – where I have stayed , what will be the safari timings. So this gonna be informative.
We have started a bit late around 8:30-9am and we have reached Bandipur by 2pm. On the way we have stopped in one highway CCD for a quick snacks and coffee break. We always prefer taking holidays in leisurely and relaxing manner. By the time we reached Bandipur , it was lunch time. We quickly checked into our room , taken a moment to freshen up – by the way we have booked our stay at Windflower Jungle resort and Spa which is an amazing property. The moment we have entered into the hotel we spotted number of Deers and wild boars too. The lodge is inside the real forest and they have provided us an independent villa amidst forest terrain. We were being warned not to venture out late in the night because they do not have a fence. We also had a shared patio along with the room facing the jungle.
After finishing the checking in formalities, we headed straight the restaurant, which was also inside the same campus. Hotel service was impeccable. In the restaurant, they had a wide array of north Indian and south Indian food options along with 2-3 live counters .We met one Bengali Chef in the live counter making tawa rotis and felt overjoyed 🙂 .The buffet was already started so we quickly secured a seat and started eating.
Post lunch we took a walk around the property for grabbing some fresh air .They had a huge infinity pool overlooking the jungle where during the early morning and late evening hours you may spot deers, boars , peacocks along with other more rarer visitors. I took a moment to enjoy the mother nature as the Sun sets.
In the evening they served Tea/Coffee along with tasty Bhajjis in the same eatery/restaurant. For the guests they had a wide range of indoor activities like table Tennis, Carrom etc. We spent some time over there. The entire hotel theme was rustic with wildlife photographs on the walls everywhere .They also had setup campfires. While we were occupied for hours enjoying all these things our tummy remined about dinner. We had the dinner in the same restaurant because they had one single eatery/restaurant in the campus. Dinner was sumptuous. At night they played some movies on wildlife , we watched for sometime and called it a day.
Next day morning after breakfast we went for a bus safari(bus timings are 9:00am-6:00pm throughout the year). We spotted various wild animals like Bear, wild boars, Bison also head of Elephant, peacocks, deer, sambaar but we didn’t get a chance to see a tiger. We scanned the mud roads again and again with hope in our hearts and curious eyes for the tiger footprints. The driver informed us that chances of spotting tigers and other predators are more if we take early morning and evening safaris. Maybe next time but going inside deep forest and witnessing varied flora and fauna in the lap of nature – my heart was so filled up with joy !