BR Hills

If the road to hell is paved with good intentions, then our road to BR Hills was paved with great expectations. I can imagine that most will now know where this is heading. We did not go to BR Hills with hopes of seeing Tigers and Leopards; I have given up all hopes of ever seeing a South Indian Tiger. We went to see some raptors that BR Hills has become famous for.

History & Facts
Biligiriranga Hills is in south eastern Karnataka, the area is called the BRT Wildlife Sanctuary, which is a protected reserve forest. The area has several unique eco-systems (such as the hill forests) and serves as a bridge between the Western and Eastern Ghats. Our guide there, Narayan informed us that the area is doubly special since it is the only route that can be used by the Elephants to travel between the two ghats.

Dawn	On the Trek

Where to Stay
There is not much by way of choice, when it comes to accommodation here. Jungle Lodges has a resort here which can be booked online.

Note however that "booking online" means precisely that, your room is only temporarily booked. It doesn't mean that you can pay online. To pay, one must visit the JLR office at Shringar Complex, MGRoad. Booking ahead is not just advisable, it is mandatory, since BR Hills, like all Jungle Lodges is nearly always fully booked during holidays.



We decided to book for 3 days to maximize our chance of sightings, surely no respectable serpent eagle could hide itself for 3 days. I had last been to BR Hills with my parents nearly 7 years ago and we had taken a most memorable safari there. Then, we were the only people at the resort.

Times certainly have changed, when we got there after a rather frustrating drive on some of the worst roads on earth, reaching nearly 2 hours later than scheduled, we found it packed to capacity with guests and loud, unruly children.

Id help Pls

Jungle Owlet

After a nice lunch ( food and service at Jungle Lodges is always good, thank god ) we explored our Tent and its surroundings. Denied a log hut since all were booked, we had settled for a Tent. ( This, after booking a month in advance )

The BR Hills resort is more of a rough-it-out kind of place, unlike the other JLR resorts I've seen (Dandeli, Devbagh). Our Tent (named Hoopoe) was clean, with a huge white-tiled bathroom with all the facilities.



Our first safari yielded the usual chittal-sambar-barking deer sightings, so we moved on at a rather bone rattling pace, might I add. We tore through the jungle in search of the elusive tiger/leopard/sloth bear/wild dog; finding none. We shared our jeep with a brightly colored family of four who kept reminding the driver that his only duty on earth was to show them a glimpse of a big cat - spotted or striped.

Cheer up, I philosophically told Keshav that evening as we charged our batteries, how bad can it get? Next morning, at 6:00 am we were ready to go and scour the jungle for the holy trinity : Changeable Hawk Eagle, Crested Serpent Eagle and the Brown Fish Owl.



We finally spotted the Brown Fish owl as it flew over a lake. Unhappy at being spotted, it decided to sit grumpily on a distant branch and sulk. We were delighted at being able to see it, if only through binoculars. The Tiger hungry family, no doubt must have thought us insane to waste precious time on an Owl when there were 17 Tigers out there, waiting to be found.

With the brown fish owl being the only sighting that morning, we decided to take a nature walk instead of the Temple visit organized by JLR. We saw a few birds, with not many opportunities for photographs, but undoubtedly it was better to appreciate BR Hills on foot than on a jeep.

During our walk, our Guide chanced upon a small treasure, a pile of Tiger scat. Prodding it, fresh!, he declared. A little further, we discovered Tiger Pee! Our guide was beside himself, he collected the holy earth where it had pee-ed in his palm and asked us to sniff. No way! was my response. The brave men with us, stepped up to the challenge. Smells like basmati rice gone bad was the verdict.



Our driver for the evening, saddened that he had not been able to show us a single carnivore decided that he would show us elephants at least. His enthusiasm and sincerity gave me my only pictures of wild elephants till date. We spent nearly 20 minutes photographing them, grazing happily, in the splendid evening light, until one of the herd decided to charge the jeep.


Yes, I chickened out, this was all I could manage

We skipped the morning safari for a bird watching trek for the next two days. It was a good idea. Not only did it provide us with much needed relief from bouncing on the jeep, it was a great way to see the amazing landscapes of BR Hills. It was on these walks that we saw most of the birds on the list below and I was simply overjoyed at the displays put up by 2 adult male Paradise flycatchers as they set about catching their breakfast.

Gaur Spooked

Mom & calf

Nitty Gritties

JLR@BR Hills has no electricity but has a generator that provides power to Tents and Log Huts in the evening from 6:30 - 10:30 pm.

There are 2 lights, one in the bathroom and one in the tent. There are two plug points in the bathroom, an emergency light and an extension cord provided to charge batteries, phones and other appliances that you may have.

Each Safari lasts approx. 2 hours (4:30 - 6:30) A jeep seats seven comfortably.

What I liked

Our morning Trek with our guide Narayan and two friendly dogs was the most enjoyable part of the trip. The enthusiasm and courtesy of JLR staff is simply wonderful.

What I disliked

Majority of the guests at JLR were loud and noisy. We would often lie on the hammocks and think deep thoughts about changeable hawk eagles, only to have our pleasant reveries broken by people shouting at each other across the campus.

Despite guides briefing people daily on the need to wear forest friendly clothing, guests insisted on wearing their bright and shiny best.

Getting there: Distance & Directions
Distance from B'lore : 251 Kms
Our Route:
Blore -140km-> Mysore -16kms-> Nanjangud -45kms-> Chamrajnagar -40kms-> BR hills (Kgudi)

We stopped at Ranganthittu on our way for birds and breakfast. (Its the only bathroom break you'll get, make it count) Road till Chamarajnagar is good, it gets progressively bad as we cross it.

Notable Sighting List
Birds
1. Brown Fish Owl
2. Honey Buzzard (seen in flight)
3. Rosefinchs
4. Scarlet Minivets (M&F)
5. Velvet fronted nuthatch
6. Paradise Fly catcher (M&F, juvenile)
7. Bronzed Drongo
8. Spangled Drongo
9. Black Drongo
10 Racquet Tailed Drongos
11. Verditer Flycatcher
12. Lesser Flameback woodpeckers (Pair)
13. Jungle Owlets
14. Malabar Parakeets
15. Blossom headed parakeets
16. Great Tit
17. Blue Capped Rock Thrush
18. Black Headed Oriole
19. Unidentified flycatcher female
20. Green Leaf Bird - Jerdon's Chloropsis
21. Hill Myna
22. Rufus TreePie
23. Pygmy Woodpecker (fleeting glimpse)
24. Fairy Blue Bird (fleeting glimpse)
25. White bellied Drongo

Mammals
1. Gaur (Herds, one with calf)
2. Spotted Deer
3. Barking Deer
4. Sambar Deer
5. Elephant Herd
6. Wild Boar
7. Gray Langoors (Glimpse as we drove by)

During our time there, we also drove to the temple ( for want of something to do ) - the road is good and the drive certainly is pleasant. The JLR campus is a great place to do some birdwatching as well, its better than sitting and contemplating ones poor luck and becoming the Incredible Sulk.

Land of the Tiger - Bandhavgarh

Bandhavgarh National Park is spread over the vindhya hills in Madhya Pradesh. It consists of a core area of 105 sq km and a buffer area of approximately 400 sq km of topography varies between steep ridges, undulating, forest and open meadows. The density of the Tiger population at Bandhavgarh is the highest known in India.



It has around 64 tigers (according to the guides and it certainly does seem that way.) Most of the land is hilly, rocky terrain which keeps the tigers relatively in a high concentration and increases a chance of sighting. The jungle itself, is not as beautiful as Kanha - which has very scenic forests ( More on Kanha in the next blog)

CharkraDhara - The centre plain.

Getting there

Bangalore to Mumbai - Flight ( Kingfisher Airlines )
It was our first experience with KFA, great service and a very enjoyable flight with surprisingly wonderful food (for an airline).

Mumbai to Katni

Train number: 1071 Kamyani Express
Timings : Dep 12:40pm Arr (Next Day) 9:50am

The train was taken from Kurla Station, which was without doubt one of the dirtiest stations I’ve seen. Even the first class waiting rooms are awful. There is a relatively good book stall in the station though. The toilets must be awful for I could smell them a mile away.
There was practically no food available on the train (no pantry car) and the stations along the way did not yield any gastronomic delights either. Fortunately for us, we took some cookies to munch on. The scenery was not very inspiring; take along a good book (I read Gone with the wind) or some other diversion.

Katni to Bandhavgarh (105 Km )

Katni is a tiny little village/town. Theres a pedestrian over bridge to be crossed to reach the exit gate, travel light, the trolley bags won’t be of any use here.
Our hotel arranged a pickup at Katni Station. We travelled in a Sumo on a dusty bumpy track blasphemously called a road. Time taken – 3.5Hrs Cost Rs.2100

Where to stay

We stayed at the Tiger Trails Lodge. Wonderful, well furnished cottages with extremely comfortable beds and clean bathrooms. Food is decent (They try very hard to Europeanize it; it doesn’t have its natural spicy flavor.) Tea in particular, is the insipid European-make-your-own kind. But I found that if you ask, they are most happy to serve proper Indian 'cha' as well. There is no typically Madhya Pradesh cuisine, apparently. So the food is a kind of generic north Indian fare. Hardly any Indian guests there, so the staff will be delighted to converse with you in Hindi. Very friendly, and they all have interesting jungle stories to tell.



Cost: per head, per 24 hr day:
Rs.2500 (inclusive of boarding, lodging and 2 park safaris)

Jungle & Safaris

The park is very well managed and maintained. Having seen all of South India's parks, I feel the south can do well to learn from MP.
There are 2 safaris per day Morning 6am to 12pm and 3pm to 6pm.

Langoors, Female with baby

The jeeps line up at the gate and the park opens at sharp 6am. Each jeep gets a guide from the forest department, in addition to the driver from resort who serves as another guide. All jeeps are similarly equipped.

Badi Guffa - Caves where we had breakfast

The guides are local people, they speak Hindi and if you can converse in it, you are in for a treat.
The morning safari carried our breakfast, which is eaten picnic style off the bonnet of the jeep at a center camp of the forest while waiting for the tiger to be sighted by elephant.

The elephant show

It sounds like a circus event, but it’s actually well worth doing once.

Our Mahut and Elephant - Balram

The elephants go out at around 4 am and scour the forest to sight one or more tiger. Once it is found, the camp is informed and the jeeps are given numbers and queued up to see the tiger on elephant back. Costs: Rs.100 per person. Our Mahut was very gentle with his elephant and was very helpful in getting great pictures, so we tipped him generously. If you take his snap with the elephant, you can be guaranteed he’ll be mighty pleased.

It is exciting, to see the tiger so close and the pictures that you get are amazing. We did 2 such shows in Bandhavgarh, for we were not lucky enough to see the tigers on jeep.
Being a small park, it is well managed and the tiger sighting is well controlled and does not reduce to a chaotic scramble. Care is taken to see that the animals are not disturbed.

The forest is quite dense and not very scenic. But the concentration of tigers is quite impressive. In all of the national parks we visited, tourists would ask "did you see the tiger?" here they ask you, "How many have you seen today?" We met a couple from York who saw 13 different tigers in a single day from the jeep.

Sightings

Tigers(2M,3F) Lagoors, Barking deer, Spotted Deer, Sambar Deer, Jungle Cat. One Tiger was with Kill. ( Major Bonus)

Tree Pie, Wag Tail, Rufus backed Shrike, Rose Ringed Parakeets, Peacocks, Serpent Eagle, Golden backed woodpecker, Grey Hornbill, Wood Owl, Red vented bulbul, Jungle fowl, Lesser Adjutant crane.

Red Vented Bulbul

Best time to visit

April-May or Nov-Jan Park is closed during the monsoon. We visited in Nov. The Guides said that visiting in the summer months ensures a better sighting, since water is scarce. However, there is also a tourist rush and the weather is unbelievably hot.

Weather

Its freezing in the mornings ( by indian standards ) around 15 C. Carry lots of warm clothing. As the day progresses it becomes increasingly warmer and by 12 noon it is quite hot. The sun is very harsh, carry sunscreen. Wear a scraf or hat to cover your ears and hair (its very cold in the morning and dusty later). Sunglasses are a must. Binoculars are also a must and the guide will usually have a pair too ( but they arent very good )

What I liked

Park was very clean, practically spotless. There are little makeshift toilets inside the park as well. No water is available there, though. Guides are well informed and very polite. The tiger show was very well managed, with minimum inconvenience to the tigers.

Wild Chalet organized a little tribal dance for their guests. It was quite nice. The tribal ladies were a bit shy at first but later, got quite pleased with the response from the small but enthusiastic gathering. The men performed some rather dangerous looking acrobatic feats as well. There was a large australian group at the resort and the ladies were coaxed into joining the dance, I rather think it was a fun way tp involve the tourists.

What I didnt like

The souvenir shop at the park left much to be desired. There is a better one (privately owned) just outside the park.