With a large elephant, bison and bird population, Nagarhole National Park is one of the best places to sight wildlife in India. It is part of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve.
We drove through Nagarhole en route to Wayanad.
This is the best ‘drive through the forest’ route you can get. Lower your window and the forest is at arm’s length (unlike Bandipur and Mudumalai).
There’s no entry fee, just the guard on duty telling you not to speed, get down from the vehicle, horn or play music.
The road is narrow and winding, making the drive all the more exciting, because you never know who (or what!) might be waiting just around the bend.
There are road humps every few metres to check your speed, but that’s alright. Who wants to drive like the blazes through a wildlife reserve and miss all the creatures?!
At about 14 km you reach Markal, the settlement of local tribals. You will see houses, a serene lake and some gigantic cages, with tuskers in them sometimes. These tribal folk are expert at ele-communications! :-)
Rogue elephants are sometimes brought here to be trained by these people. The secret, apparently, lies in a chunk of jaggery.
One heartening thing about the Nagarahole sanctuary, it is indeed well-maintained. It really appears untouched by civilization.
Which is why you can actually spot some of these beautiful creatures.
The deer are aplenty here. Don’t they look like they are posing for the camera? They actually stop grazing and look at you, ready to sprint at the slightest hint of danger.
But mostly they try to blend with the scenery. Can you spot this one, his antlers look like branches.
As for the big guy, we only saw a lot of tell-tale signs at first.
When we did see him, (he was a beauty with long tusks) he was feeding peacefully, his back to the road.
One click of the camera was enough to make him turn around, not at all thrilled. Any more clicks and I think he would have charged. That’s another jungle rule, elephants don’t like their pictures taken, at least not the wild ones.
The Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve region is currently under consideration by the UNESCO to be selected as World Heritage Site.
