Wildlife Trip Advisor & FAQ
Wildlife Trip Advisor & FAQ
Challenges in organizing a wildlife tour
One needs to have complete knowledge of the forest, the attached Resorts, the details of the Safari offerings, the wildlife related activities and lot more. Also one need to understand the finer nuances of wildlife travel and nature. Along with being great fun, wildlife tours are about gaining knowledge about bio-diversity, local cultures and traditions.
When we plan a wildlife holiday for you, we include in all of the elements into our plans to make sure that the experience is rich for you and you come back with a new perspective. At WildTrails of India, we have an in-depth knowledge of wildlife sanctuaries of south India (especially forBandipur National Park & Tiger Reserve (BNP) or in Nagarhole National Park & Tiger Reserve (Kabini) and all of Sanctuaries in Karnataka & Kerala), all attached resorts, complete list of all who offer Safari, in-depth information about Safari in each of the Sanctuaries, all attributes of the resorts and the sanctuaries and also an excellent network of naturalists and tour leaders from across India, and they add great value to the entire experience. We also ensure that every small detail is pre-arranged and taken care of; for example, wildlife holidays are mostly all-inclusive and most of things such as airport transfers, meals, entrance fees and activities like safaris.
So be it for a group of friends, family or as part of your corporate and also be it a day trip, weekend trip, long weekend trip or elongated trip or whatever the reason be, if you need help in choosing the right wildlife, right sanctuary, right resort, right activities, right safari, right time, right guide etc., be it based on number of people going, distance, ease of reaching there or for anything that matters to that forest safari/travel, drop us an email to [email protected] and we will be more than happy to do so and of course no charges 🙂
“WildTrails of India” Team
Some of the Questions we got and answers to them
Q. I have booked my trip to Kabini Nagarhole starting tomorrow for a couple of days at the ******** resort hoping to catch the safari there. After booking I realized that the hotel does not arrange for the safari and you have to go thru the forest dept and its on a first come first serve basis. I have two kids who are so excited for this trip only to go for the safari. I really don’t want to disappoint them. Is there any way of making sure that I can get the safari on either of the days? ( Preferably the 3-hr jeep safari.) Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Answer from WildTrails:
Wish you had contacted me before you booked the resort as we would have helped to pick the right resort 🙁 Anyways lets try to make the most of it
You have two possible options
(a) You have no choice but to go with Forest Dept safari which is just for an hour and usually via a Bus and rarely jeep. This is always first come first serve. Starts 6am until 8am and again starts at 3pm until 5pm. You can call them at this number ************
(b) there is a possible chance you can do with the jeep safari as your kids are wishing, which is a open jeep and for 2.5 to 3 hrs and this is way too good but they will allow only if they have any vacancy. Call them that day early in the morning for a afternoon safari and later afternoon for the next day early morning safari on this number *************
In both inform that you are referred by WildTrails of India. Best of luck with the safari
Q: I am planning Kabini for sometime now. Let me know the best time to travel
Answer from WildTrails:
You can go to Kabini (NNP) at any time of the year, but between November and January is best time to see wildlife. Second best time is during the summer days when they come out – March/April/May. Another best time to visit Kabini is between July and October when the forests turns a lush green. Elephants come out in the rain and hence best time to see Elephants in big herds during this time. Tiger sighting might be rare but chances of seeing leopards are high. This is text book answer but if you are lucky, nothing matters and you might a tigress and some 4 cubs wandering just next to your safari jeep 🙂
Q: Planning to visit Coorg in last week of this month. Can Kabini be connected with this trip?
Answer from WildTrails:
More than Kabini, the northern part of Nagarhole forest is close by where forest dept. does a safari. There are two elephant camps nearby and Dubare is one of them. Also right next to the Coorg Resorts, there is a way to get into nagarhole forest and you can drive almost 50kms within the forest – amazing drive and you will get to see lot of animals – I saw elephants, a big herd of gaurs, deers, pack of wild dogs, wild boar, peafowls, lot of diff birds, Malabar giant squirrel and many more. There are three ways to get into the forest – one from Kutta, one from Hunsur side and one from Thithimathi side. Depending on where you are in Coorg, Kabini might be far and also only resort guests get a safari there. If you send me complete details of your itinerary I can help.
Also checkout this blog: While at Coorg, make this amazing Nagarhole Drive!!
Q: Thanks for sharing this wealth in information Mr. Gowda. I might just tag along with my friends to Kabini
Answer from WildTrails:
Perfect!! Usually what type of people get on the safari with you makes or breaks the trip!! More the friends better it is!! Our app WildTrails will have the SafariShare option which will help you create trips that will be broadcasted across the entire community and will help wildlife community to travel together on the Safari. Please register yourself for the App and be the first to use.
Q. Me and my wife work for IT firms. So December end, the peak season, is when both of us have long holiday schedule. December 20 onwards can we book Kabini and Bandipur for 6 days, Three days each. What will be the approx. cost? Please let us know.
Answer from WildTrails:
Dec 20 is the best season for both Kabini and Bandipur for wildlife sightings but also resorts become slightly expensive too; Jungle resorts is probably the cheaper of all and should cost around approx. 15K for two of you per night and hence for 6 days it will be 90K which covers lodging, and complete food plus add fuel and any additional costing such as camera/lens rental and if car rental is required. Our App should come out soon and we will be listing almost 30 resorts between these two locations and you should be able to find one much cheaper than Jungle Lodges plus they will offer Safari like Jungle Lodges. Please register for the App here.
Q Is it possible to book a cottage for the month of December? Jeep safari or bus safari which one will be the best? How much the cost of jeep safari? How could we book it?
Hi there, You can book anytime – Jungle Lodges http://www.junglelodges.com/reservation/ – room reservation automatically guarantees a safari for you (unlike in the central or north Indian sanctuaries); There are many other luxury resorts like from Serai, Windflower, Dholes Den etc which also automatically guarantees Safari but limited to few seats and first come first serve. Then there are cheaper resorts where they won’t arrange Safari for you but you need to depend on Forest Department Safari which is mostly in a bus and for an hour (as compared to 3 hours via jeep safari). For complete information on how many resorts are there in Bandipur, which ones offer Safari and which ones don’t check out WildTrails.In Hope this info is of help
Q (on lonely planet) 1) I will be departing Silent Valley National Park to Nagarhole National Park in the same day via taxi. How long will this trip take? What route could be recommended? 2) Where is the best town to stay in when coming from the south in which to access Nagarhole National park? 3) Can anyone recommend budget hotels in this town? 4) Lastly, at the end of November, I am hoping to hire a jeep with the required ranger escort do a morning and afternoon safari in the park? Is it easy to just arrive at the park headquarters to hire a jeep or is it better to do this in town? Do we need advance permission to do this? Can anyone recommend where we can do this?
my replies below
1) I will be departing Silent Valley National Park to Nagarhole National Park in the same day via taxi. How long will this trip take? What route could be recommended?
There are two places people go to visit Nagarhole – one is in Coorg and most actually go to Kabini Backwater Nagarhole. Please read these these articles and you will understand a lot on this and can plan better:
top 5 weekend getaways from bangalore – https://wildtrails.in/top-5-wildlife-weekend-getaways-from-bangalore/
What you must know about Jeep Safari in Bandipur & Nagarhole (Kabini & Coorg)? – https://wildtrails.in/what-you-must-know-about-jeep-safari-in-bandipur-nagarhole-kabini-coorg/
While at Coorg, make this amazing Nagarhole Drive – https://wildtrails.in/while-at-coorg-make-this-amazing-nagarhole-drive/
Most Inexpensive way to enjoy a Jeep Safari at Kabini (Nagarhole)! –https://wildtrails.in/most-inexpensive-way-to-enjoy-a-jeep-safari-at-kabini-nagarhole/
Depending on which part of Nagarhole you are talking about, you will do in 5.30 hrs to 6 hrs.
2) Where is the best town to stay in when coming from the south in which to access Nagarhole National park?
Again the answer depends on which part of Nagarhole. Also which part depends on what is your objective of the trip. You can stay in Coorg and do amazing safaris in your own in the Northern part of the Coorg or stay in any one of the amazing Kabini Nagarhole resorts and do open jeep safaris there. After reading the articles I have suggested do let me know what you are up to and your likings/choices/attributes and then I can suggest a couple of right resorts to stay (there are 15 resorts in and around Kabini).
3) Can anyone recommend budget hotels in this town?
There are small towns around both Kabini and Coorg. Once you deicide which one, I can suggest but remember Open Jeep Jungle Safari for 3 hours are all done by Resorts which are associated with this forest and only they are authorized to inside the jungle. If you end up staying in a budget hotel, maximum you can drive around on the roads but cannot enter the jungle. You can use the department of forest safari bus but I would not recommend them.
4) Lastly, at the end of November, I am hoping to hire a jeep with the required ranger escort do a morning and afternoon safari in the park? Is it easy to just arrive at the park headquarters to hire a jeep or is it better to do this in town? Do we need advance permission to do this? Can anyone recommend where we can do this?
You just need to checkin into the resorts that offer Safari and your open jeep trek/safari is taken care of and you will have a driver and a guide/naturalist assigned along with the jeep safari and the jeep usually accommodates max 6 people (& there are more than 13 jeeps over there and hence enough capacity). The safari timings are 6.30 am and 3.30pm everyday.
Q. Hi I have booked the cottage Chital,1 for my stay in Bandipur. Bandipur Forest Department cottages. Can anyone tell me how is the accommodation like?Also i would like to know about the fooding options available here.
You should read this blog
http://bit.ly/1W4fnUa
Accommodation is good (cannot be compared to the resorts ofcourse) and is in the middle of the forest
Food is decent
you need to book the safari online (or u can stand in the line there)
My only concern is that the safari is always in the bus (even though they have the safari offerings in a jeep but they always tell that it is sold out early in the morning itself) and for just one hour and this is no way can be compared to the 3-hr open jeep safari or the canter safari that the JLR and associated resorts offer.
Manju from WildTrails of India
Q. I shall stay for a few days at Kattikulam at Wayanad district of Kerala in October-15.Is it possible for me to do Jungle safari at Kabini side?I shall not be able to afford staying at expensive Jungle Lodges near Kabini.I have seen that Kattikulam to karapura in Karnataka is approximately 24 kms.Please give information about doing safari at Kabini side.It will be very helpful if contact numbers of any local person such as gypsy driver/guide is available. (on IndiaMike)
Yes possible. Please read this blog:
https://wildtrails.in/most-inexpensive-way-to-enjoy-a-jeep-safari-at-kabini-nagarhole/
Q. Travel to Nagarhole National Park in the month of Dec 2015. 13 September 2015, 18:58
Hi Guys, I am planning to visit Nagarhole National Park in the month of Dec 2015. Pl. help me with following information ;
1. Do I need to necessarily stay in Kabini resorts (JLR, Bison, etc.) to avail Safari ? The Dec tariffs are very expensive, are there any other good budget resort which can offer stay & safari?
2. I understand, there are three gates to the national park, can I directly arrange for Safari without stay in any of the resorts? If I plan for some home stay ?
3. Do all these resorts provided safari from main gate or they have their private entry to the park?
Thanks…
(On TripAdvisor)
Our Answer:
Here are your replies
1. Do I need to necessarily stay in Kabini resorts (JLR, Bison, etc.) to avail Safari ? The Dec tariffs are very expensive, are there any other good budget resort which can offer stay & safari?
They are very expensive in December 🙁 But you can avail of safari without staying in the Resorts in two ways. There is forest dept. which conducts safari and you can avail that or if you are planning ti visit during weekdays, you can use alternate facility – please read this blog for complete detailshttp://goo.gl/xDcgRm
2. I understand, there are three gates to the national park, can I directly arrange for Safari without stay in any of the resorts? If I plan for some home stay ?
Yes you can. Please read the above answer as well the above mentioned article
3. Do all these resorts provided safari from main gate or they have their private entry to the park?
All resorts depend on JLR to provide safari via Open Jeep or canter and they use one of the gate (mainly near the Karapura Gate) and the safari is for almost 3 hours BUT if you forest dept. one it is approx one hour and not as classy as the one J:R does. Not all resorts provide safari automatically but a handful do and the list for that is in the same article I have mentioned above
Good Luck
Manju of WildTrails of India
Q Confused over Nagarhole, Bandipur, Madumalai, Masinagudi. Hi All, I plan to visit the above areas on my trip from Pune-Ooty/Conoor. However all of them seem forest areas where we could do safaris. Please advise if these places are similar and which ones do you suggest is best in terms on natural beauty, thrill and wildlife to add value to the trip? Can I drive though these areas in my own car? (Hyundai i10). Also please suggest the options to stay here.(budget 2-2.5k/night) (on India Mike)
Our Answer:
It is the same forest department safari for mudumalai and masinagudi
for Nagahole Kabini and Bandipur you can stay in Jungle Lodges (JLR) or Resorts who are affiliated with JLR for jeep safari which is amazing but all these resorts are expensive. You could stay in gundlupet say MistyRock and go to Bandipur as well as mudumalai for forest department safaris and all works out within the budget
Kabini is the best as far as sightings are concerned. i just updated kabini sightings on my facebook page of wildtrails of inda and you can what you get to see there. Also our app can give comparative stats of sightings between bandipur and kabini for a given data range and you can actually compare. For budget hotels for Kabini, you might have to stay in karapura or antharsanthe or HD Kote Hand Post and do the safari via Forest Department as again the resorts over there are super expensove.
Manjunath M Gowda, WildTrails of India
Q. Private Jeep/Gypsy Safari in Bandipur: We are planning to visit bandipur tiger in November, we are also looking for private gypsy / jeep safaris in the park. The official site for the park shows that these bookings are not available online. Now we have been to many tigers reserves like Kanha, Pench, Bandhavgarh, Tadoba etc. My question is that “are private safaris in jeep / gypsy available in bandipur? If yes how to book them and can you share some contact info so we can boo them?
WildTrails of India’s Answer:
Unlike the Kanha, the Bandhavgarhs, in Katnataka there are no private gypsy/jeep safaris. There are only two kinds of Safaris – one offered by Forest Departments (for which you stand in the line that day and get the ticket) and the other one offered by Jungle Lodges and Associated Resorts (where they are present). Forest Dept. is for anyone who goes there but for only one hr and is not of high quality. While the JLR is only for the guests, it is either in the Open jeep or Canters (you can’t pick either one but will be assigned to you on that day) and good thing is if you stay in either JLR or one of the associated resorts your Safari is guaranteed. I hope this clarifies your questions.
In which resort are you staying? Based on that I can clearly tell whether you need to worry about the Safari or not and also whether you need to depend on forest department Safari or not. Let me know if you have further questions
Q. I’m planning to visit Coorg, Nagarhole and Wayanad with my wife. I will stay in Coorg for 2 days. Then I want to avoid staying at expensive resorts in Nagarhole. So my plan is to leave Madikeri and reach Kutta and do the jeep safari and leave to Wayanad. Does the Jeep safari available near Kutta? Explain me the complete process.
WildTrails of India’s Answer:
Nagarhole forest is pretty vast and has two parts – one is in Coorg District (the Northern Nagarhole) and the other is in Mysore District (the Southern Nagarhole) which is famously known as Nagarhole Kabini (Backwaters of Kabini). I am not talking about Nagarhole Kabini here as you are closer to Coorg part. (Most of the expensive resorts are located in the Kabini Area on the banks of River Kabini/Kapila).
For the Nagarhole Coorg, you can access the park through two routes . The north check post is accessed via Hunsur. South check post is very close to Kutta. You need go to the guesthouse inside the forest and the guard at the entry gates can guide you easily. You’ve to park your vehicle near the guesthouse area and board the forest department’s safari van ( 16 – 20 seater). They only provide bus Safari and they do go inside the forest via the roads which are permitted only for forest department vehicles. There are two safari timings in Nagarhole , one in the morning and one in the evening ( 06:00 – 09:00 and 15:00 – 17:00 Hrs).
Also Tholpetty (in Wayanad Kerala) is close by (approx. 3 to 5 kms from Kutta) and they also organize Forest Safaris and their timings are 7 to 10am and 3 to 4.30pm and approx. duration is 1.30 hrs and they have jeep safari.
WildTrails of India’s Answer:
Nagarhole Forest Guest House is maintained by Karnataka forest department. They offer simple basic accommodation basic amenities at very nominal cost (Around rs1000) and are located right inside the forest. Rooms needs to be booked in advance by contacting the Karnataka Forest Department (Tel: 0821-2481159). Walk-ins are not allowed. Forest Department guest houses have basic amenities at nominal cost. I have written several blogs/articles on this. Do read them.
Q. I am planning a trek in Mukurthi National Park, near Ooty, in mid-November. I would like to know the trails available to seek permissions. Not much of information is available on the internet on Mukurthi NP.
For adventure seekers, there are trek routes and camping facilities. Trekking is enjoyable in Parson’s valley, Porthimund and Pykara as the areas have a pleasant climate and beautiful scenery. Mukurthi Lake is great for trout fishing. Permission must be acquired from the Director, Fisheries Department, Udhagai. There is a trek from the picturesque Parson’s Valley to Porthimund, a village lying deep in the hills. One could pitch a tent here for the night, before proceeding to Mukurthi. There is a forest bungalow here for stay. From Mukurthi, you can trek north to the Pandiar Hills, and pitch a tent for the night. Then to the Pykara Falls, along the Pykara Lake. For trekking details contact Nilgiris Trekking Association, 31 D, Bank Road, Ooty. The park is open on all days from 9.00 am to 5.30 pm except Tuesdays.
Entry Fee : below five years – Free, Children above five years and below 12 years – Rs.10.00, School Children (Age 5 to 12 years) from Government and aided Schools – Rs.2.00, School Children from Private Schools (Age 5 to 12 years) – Rs.10.00. Adult : 15.00. Still Camera: Rs.25, Handy Camera / Video Camera – Rs.150, Charges for documentary educational films using Handy camera and Video Camera – Rs.2000. Parking vehicle charges: Heavy vehicle: No Fee, Motor car/van Rs. 15.00; Motor Cycle: Rs. 5
Trekking Routes
- Bangitappal – Sispara – 16 Km
- Bangitappal – Sispara – Poochipara – Silent Valley – 52 Km
- Devabetta – Mukkurthi Peak – 12 Km – Fishinghut (halt) – 8 Km
- Kolarikutta – Bangitappal – 20 Km (halt)
- Western Catchment – Bangitappal – 14 Km
- Trekking Shed – Kangerkundi – Nadugani – 18 Km
Accommodation: There are quite a few accommodation options in Mudumalai National Park. Tamil Nadu Forest Department maintains cottages in different parts of the park. Apart from that, one can also find few private guest houses and jungle resorts on the outskirts of the park. Tariffs of the private resorts include tour of the jungle. Almost all hotels, resorts and camps provide budget or mid-range stay.
Forest Rest Houses: Bangi Tapal, Upper Bhavani (EB), Mukurthi Fishing Hut
Contact Details: Wildlife Warden, Mudumalai and Mukurthi National Parks and Sanctuary, Mount Stuart Hill, Ooty – 643001 The Nilgiris, Tamil Nadu, India Ph: 0423-2444098
(If you have a question and if the above does not answer them, please do send us an email and we will be more than happy to answer them with complete details) Total Page Visits: 930 - Today Page Visits: 1
