This is not a hunt report as hunting is not legal in India now.

But this was an amazing trip and one of the very best of over 50 trips into Wild life sancturiaes in India that I have had the privilage of doing over the last 50 years.

Nagarhole National Park is located to the northern end of the Nigliri Biosphere one of the largest stretches of contiguous forests in India. This region spans across 3 state borders and 5 differnt wildlife sanctuaries.

The southern most is the Mudumalai Sanctuary - which is on the lower dry slopes of Nilgiri hills. Across the border is Bandipur sanctuary. To the west and northwest is Waynad sanctuary (in Kerala State) and to the East is the new Sathyamangalam tiger sanctuary. Nargarhole is the northern end and it is separated by the kabini river and reservoir.

This reserve like many in India was the former hunting preserve of a maharaja (of Mysore)& hence it had excellent protection. Even today its remote rural location and the absence of major roads through the park make it an ideal place for wildlife to thrive without disturbance and for the park oficials to manage the area effectively. All roads in the park are closed at 6 pm - which is very unusual in India and in most cases it is impractical.

I had first heard of Nagarhole and the Kabini reservoir habitat about 35 years ago when tiger cesus in India revealed a very high desity of tigers here. Today it is confirmed as one of the most dense tiger habitats in the world along with the impenetrable Sundarbans. Nagarhole has the highest prey animal desity in India and hence also the higest tiger and leopard density. The park has a tiger for ever 8 to 10 sq KM compared to a national average of over 50 sq KM per tiger.

In Aug 2012 we confirmed our 6 week family holiday to India mainly to attend a family wedding but also to catch up with other family - since the 3 kids had not visited india since 2004 when they were all very young.

I searched the web and contacted friends to find the right places to stay etc. I was surprised to find so little information about Nagarhole and kabini. Most of the info was about 5 or 6 luxury resorts which were far above my budget. I finally stumbled upon Sundaravana & Jungle inn which are owned by the same family. After checking a few detailes we booked accommodation in the lodges - 2 nights each - for a total of 9 people in our extended family party.

14th Dec - We drove from Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu state) through the Satyamangalam tiger reserve into Karnataka state. I had a print out of google maps and this showed a more direct rout through Thalavadi. Googlew map said it would be a 5.5 hour drive. We reached the border and turned towards Thalavadi in 2 hours.

Then the real adventure started. The old back country roads in Karnataka state were not maintained for several years and were a mine field. Our 12 seater van bounced and wormed its way on 2nd gear most of the way. It too us 3 hours to reach Gundalpet and another 2.5 hours to reach HD Kote. We finally reached Jungle inn at 5.15 pm - a full 11 hours after leaving home (this included stops for meals of course).

In all other ways the rural back country road was a great experience. We were exposed to how a less known part of India lives. It is more than 20 years sime I have travelled on such roads for more than an hour or two in a single trip.

A typical rurl India scene that is not so common in the main tracks today.


At the lodge, the staff told us that if we hurried we could possibly get to drive inside nthe park and come out before the gates closed. They said that the forest guards might let us back out if we came back by 6.30. At the park's northern gate the story was not so simple. We were faced by a very officious and arrogant guard who was over enthusiastic in exhibiting his bureaucratic powers. Even when our van driver offered him a bit of financial incentive, the guard refused to let us in. The only way he would let us into the park at 5.20 pm was if we were prepared to drive 70 km around and come out throuhg the western gate.

Back to the lodge we got settled into 2 large rooms that could sleep 8 each. The facilities were basic but comfortable. Attached bathrooms with hot water in the mornings and flush toilets! Clean and well kept. My 13 year old son was most keen on the local gecko population and the variety of ants!

Dinner was a welcome event after the hard drive. The food was excellent and of the home cooked style. The property itslef was right on the boundary of the park and the various lodge buildings were laid out in a traditional colonial manner. The central dining area was not dissimilar to the various African lodges we see on AR forum but this was a basic facility & not a luxury resort. The buildings had high ceilings with baked / tera cota tile roofs.

15th Morning - the lodge manager (one of the partners) recommended that we take their jeep safari to the neighbouring Waynad sanctuary in the Western state of Keral and then do the Nagarhole trip with the Park safari vehicle in the evening. We accepted his recommendation and regretede it the next morning.

We were asked to be ready by 5.45 am for a 6 am park gate entry. But the jeep & driver were not ready until 6.30 am. By the time we reached the Wynad sanctuary gate it was 7.45 am and 7 or 8 other jeeps had already been ahead of us in the last 2 hours! I was very disapointed that we missed the best time to view wildlife. We managed to see a few Chital deer, monkeys, Jungle fowl and a fleeting glimpse of the gorgeous malabar squirrell - the largest squirrell in the world.

A Grey jungle fowl - very difficult to photograph as they tend to stay under cover. I used to hunt these with a shotgun on the tea estates in the early 80's.



I was most unhappy with the sloppy service from the lodge - but .... this is India .... so I let it go. Lunch was good and then we left for the last 5 pm park safari ride.

This was more like what I had experienced on several other India wildlife park trips over the decades. The van started 20 minutes late - (a good thing in the evening). We immediately started seeing a lot of game. Chital deer were everywhere in each and every little clearing and grass patch. Typical of chital - the herds were a mixture of stags with stubs, velevt & hard antler. Some hinds had young fawns while others had older ones. We would have seen over 2000 chital deer in that 1.5 hour trip. The chital in Nagarhole are quite small and the antler configuration is also small. The animals from the neghbouring Bandipur / Mudumalai parks (200 km away) are a lot bigger and really majestic.

We also saw a lot of Sambar deer - about 5 or 6 lots of 1 to 5 animals. We saw a few small stags. We did not see any really big stags.

More to follow .......

Added on Christmas day ......

Merry Christmas to all. Some have gone for mornig church service while my young 10 year old is burning with a fever. I have just recovered from one..... Just normal India.

Back to our Nagarhole park safari drive ....

Oh ...! I forgot to mention that I have just acquired a new camera - a Panasonic Lumix FZ200 with a Leica lens. This is an amazing point and shoot model that comes very close to the digital SLRs in the quality of pictures it can produce. The same camera is made for Leica and branded as a Leica and sold at a much higher price. Ivan Carter has an earlier version of the Leica. I am not a photography buff but I do lie to take some pictures to record good memories.

We saw many Langur monkeys. Again the animals were a lot smaller than those I have seen in various parts of India. As we were approaching the 6 pm cut off for the drive, my sone suddenly spotted elephants. We then saw a herd of about 4 or 5 cows with a very yoiung calf and an older calf. The mother and young calf were in a marshy area and the grass covered most of the calf. We watched them for a while as they moved along their chosen path. A little later we intercepted the group again as they were heading into the forest area.

The light was very low. But you cannot miss the elephants!





As the drive finished, we all got back into our van to head back to the lodge just outside the park gate. It was now 6.30 pm and quite dark. A smaller white car was just ahead of us.

Suddenly we saw a sleek figure walk across the car headlights - LEOPARD! It was only a fleeting glimpse but it was only the second such sightin g for me in several hundred days of watching wildlife in the Indian jungles. The leopard moved the side of the road and the white car drove on. We stopped to check the side and again we saw the shadowy figure melt away into the dark. Our hearts were thumping and spirits racing as we headed back to the lodge and a nice dinner. The sighting of the leopard and elephants had completely changed the mood - from the disapointments of sloppy service and late start to a high of sighting a wild leopard in the Indian jungle.

Part 2

The next day we took it a bit easy and decided to check out the southern end of the park. This is the area that borders the Kabini reservoir which was built in 1974. The trip was just 70 km or so but took over 4 hours because of the rough roads.

It was interesting to find that the entire park has now been surrounded by a deep trench to keep the elephants in and also surrounde by electric fensc. The vilages surrounding the park face regular raqids on their crops from elephants, wildboar and deer. The odd leopard or tiger does kill livestock. In some areas the elephants have learned to push trees over the electric fence and then walk across the park boundary!

We reached Kabini dam and walked around a bit and then proceeded to the park gate. This is the most remote end of the park and the government authoirites have deliberately kept the roads basic to discourage tourist traffic. India's supreme court has now ruled that all Tiger reserves should not allow new resorts to be built within 10 km. All resorts operating without proper permits have been shut. Some resorts (lease holdings) inside the park boundary have been shut down.

We then decided to visit the Kabini River Lodge - the luxury resort that is run by the Government department. This is the original hunting lodge of the Maharaja of Mysore. The facility has been expanded to include several new lodgings and other facilities. The old elephant stables have been converted into garages etc.

We found that they operate park safari trips by boat as well as open side vans but these are only available of gusets who stay in the lodge. We also noticed that the total package rates were not too expensive. I might check this option if I am able to visit again.

We then visted a couple of other resorts to see if we could get a van safari ride. No luck at Serai - a very expensive top end resort. But we struck gold at Waterwoods - they would accept our booking for the next evening if we paid in advance in full! Deal done!

The cost of the safari ride was 4 times that of the forest department rid but it is twice as long and in a very remote part of the park that has very limited access. But at US$25 a person ($50 for foreigners) it is well worth it. We saw in the office info board that the morning and evening rides (3 zones with several routs - usually 4 to 7 vehicles) see a tiger almost every day. Some days they have multiple sightings. November & December are the breeding season for tiger & leopard when they apir up and are more likely to be seen in the open. We also saw a huge male tiger mounted - an animal that had been killed by another tiger in a territorial fight about 20 years ago!

We came back the next afternnon for the 4 pm drive in the open sided van. The jungle was teeming with wildlife.

Malabar giant squirrell - the largest squirrell in the world. A very attractive animal. I used to have one as a pet in the 80's.



Giant wood spider - weaves huge web across up to 20 feet from tree or bush to bush




The Indian Muntjack or Barking deer. I have shot a few of these in my Tea Planting days in the 80s. My best head was 4.5inches with a full fork and brow tine on each antler. Very shy animals and not easy to get on film.


We saw many herds of chital deer


We saw a few stags in hard antler but few large ones and no realy great heads. the der were quite small compared to other parts of India.



Sambar stag - again not very big. You can jsut see the re raw patch on the throat that some animals have.


Red wattled lapwing


Peacock. No luck with a full blwn fan tail


Young cow gaur. No luck with the huge black bulls


Young gaur calf - a few days old


This gaur was limping and had scars on its haunches and neck. Nagarhole is one place where tigers feed regularly on gaur.



Langur monkey


And finally - the climax of the trip





He is jst looking at us


Still sleepy


Majestic!


We were driving along - about 1.5 hours into the trip when the guide suddenly pointed to the tree on the left and said "Leopard". There was large male sleeping on a tree just 10 meters or so from us! What a sight! Never in all these years of watching wildlife in India had I seen such a sight in broad daylight!

We just stayed and watched the leopard for 15 minutes before the guard said that the rules were strict about not disturbing the animals and we had to move.

What a fantastic experience. I guess the old trigger finger twitched a few times, but nice to just observe the animals in their natural environment and good to see the government and the people trying to preserve this wildlife, a subject both Corbett and Anderson were extremely concerned over in their later days.

I'm green with envy of your trip but thanks for a great post.

Very nice photos and a great experience. Thank you for sharing!

MAGNIFICENT!!!! Thanks for sharing!!

Thanks guys. I am honoured to share the experiences of my orinial home country's rich traditions of wildlife and game. Unfortunately the hunting is no longer availabel.

I am happy to share all the contacts and info with anyone who want to visit. I am not an agent and have no commercial interersts what so ever.

I would just be thrilled to assist others to experience the Indian wilderness.

Nakihunter,

Fantastic report and photos.Thank you for sharing.

Best-
Locksley,R