Bandipur National Park

Situated in the forest belt between the Western Ghats and the Nilgiri Mountains, the Bandipur National park is a beautiful forest reserve in Karnataka. Most of these reserves are segregrated more by political boundaries than by truly physical ones. Spanning over an area of 865 square kilometer, Bandipur was declared a National Park in 1974. The Bandipur National Park is one of the original 9 tiger reserves that was carefully crafted under the "Project Tiger Scheme of 1973".

The park was created in the 1930s from the local Maharaja Voodiyar’s hunting lands, and named Venugopal Wildlife Park. Bandipur National Park was later extended in 1941 to adjoin Nagarhole National Park, which lay towards its northern edge, and Wayanad and Madumulai Sanctuaries, which lay towards its southern edge in the states of Kerala and Tamilnadu, respectively. Bandipur, is Declared a tiger reserve in 1973, the entire zone now constitutes the vast Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, one of India's most extensive tracts of protected forest.

Location :
Bandipur National Park is located in the Indian Deccan plateau area, thus being totally in the shadow of the Western Ghats. Bandipur National Park is situated on the highway connecting Mysore and the hill station of Ootacamund (Ooty). bandipur boost a good road network. All regular and express state transport buses plying between Ooty and Mysore pass through the park fringes and the Forest Department Center is a designated bus stop. It takes 2½ hours to reach Bandipur forest from Mysore and about 3 hours from Ooty. The nearest rail head is at Mysore (65 km) and the nearest international airport is the software Mecca of Bangalore (204 km).

Wildlife at Bandipur :
Bandipur is a natural paradise for elephant, spotted deer and sambar, gaur and flying squirrel, four horned antelope, Nilgiri langur and sloth bear. Amongst the reserve’s most significant animals are its 1,900-odd elephants.The park also has sizeable number of Royal Bengal tiger (75 in the Park) and leopard. Bandipur is one of the finest reserve for the Asiatic elephant. onner Macaque Nilgiri Langur (adjoining areas) Dhole

The other mammals found at Bandipur are Smooth-coated Otter Common Palm Civet Stripe-necked Mongoose, Jungle Cat Tiger, Wild Boar Chital Gaur, Indian Palm Squirrel Grizzled Indian Squirrel Liontail Macaque , Golden Jackal Sloth Bear , Indian Grey Mongoose Striped Hyaena Rusty-spotted Cat , Ratel Indian Spotted Chevrotain Sambar , Nilgiri Tahr (adjoining areas) Indian Porcupine Hanuman Langur , Bengal Fox Eurasian Otter Small Indian Civet, Indian Giant Squirrel.

Greenery at Bandipur :
The region is well endowed in terms of vegetation and flora that ranges from deciduous and evergreen forest covers to open grassy woodlands. Valuable hardwoods including rosewood and teak are also found here. The lifeline of the forest is the Moyar River, which irrigates the area along with two minor rivulets. The river also acts as a boundary between the Park and the Madumulai Sanctuary.

Excursions from Bandipur :
Nagarhole, Madumulai and Wayanad National parks lies close to Bandipur forest. A reservoir and a dam that separates Bandipur from Nagarhole reserve is an interesting tourist spot to explore.

Best seasons :
The best seasons to visit the Bandipur National Park is between the months of April and October. Bandipur is warm for most parts of the year with temperatures ranging from 24 to 28°C, except for the brief winter that lasts from October to January when the temperature hovers around the 19°C mark. Monsoon is erratic, but it generally rains from June to September.