Nagarhole Wildlife Sanctuary

The Nagarhole Wildlife Sancatuary located 96 far from Mysore city is a part of the Mudumalai Sanctuary. The wildlife park derived its name from the two Kannada words “Naga” meaning snake and “Hole” means streams. The park also known as Rajiv Gandhi National Park shares its boundary with the Bandipur National Park. The park, situated between Coorg and the Mysore districts was established in the year 1955. The Mysore forests were included to the park areas giving it a larger base in the year 1975.

The Nagarhole wildlife sanctuary was in the early days a game reserve of the Maharaja of Mysore consisting of rivers that flows to the park premises. The prominent ones are Lakhmana, Teenth and Nagarhole. Having a beautiful land scape of gentle slopes and valleys to boast of The Nagarhole Park is covered with the deciduous forests and provides shelter to a diverse flora and fauna.
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Wildlife Attractions in Nagarhole Park

Flora: The 247sq mile Rajiv Gandhi National Park has an abundance of wildlife including tigers, leopards, Indian wild dog, Indian bison, sanbhar, cheetah, sloth bear, leopards, jungle cats, jackals and wild dogs. Other species also found are muntjjac , the barking deer, four feet antelope, hyenas and the mongroves. The park area has a large Bison and Elephant population. The reptiles includes the marsh crocodile, monitor lizard, rock python and several other species seen easily.

Fauna: The park is enveloped with grassy swamps and shallow valleys with the slopes, an ideal passage for the rain water to drain itself into the rivers. The Soil in the swamps area are clayed and moist supporting the growth of the long green grass. The rivers provides the drinking water to the wild lives and is the life system of the animals and birds. An unique experience is provided by the rivers in viewing the species who come to the banks of the rivers for quenching their thirst. The deciduous trees covering a large part of the jungle go bald in the summers. The artificial lake attracts a lot of wild animals making it an ideal spot for a wonderful sight seeing.

Avian Species: The swampy grassland is home to above 250 species of birds. Some of the birds that can be spotted during the visit to the park are crested hawk-eagle, Malabar trogon, crested serpent-eagle and the malabar pied hornbill. A large congregation of the water fowls can be found in the Kabini river. The blue beaded bee eater, scarlet minivet,and malabar whistling and the herons as well as the ducks can be seen dancing in the vicinity of the river. There are to be found few beautiful and colourful varieties of butterflies adoring the jungle.

Nearby Attractions

The small hill station at Madikeri is a wonderful place to view the sea and the old historic fort buildings situated there. This little hill township is perched on a series of ridges that commands breath taking pictures of the nearby surroundings. The coffee estates are a pleasure to watch from a distance.
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Accommodation

There are facilities for the tourists in the forest rest houses and cottages. Also private accommodations are available that offers the best of services. The Kabini river Deluxe lodge is made of colonial style architecture and has 14 double rooms with modern amenities. The Water wood hotel is also furnished with gardens and looks like a ranch style house.

How to Reach

By Air: Airport is situated at Bangalore at a distance of 220 km from the Nagarhole wildlife park.
By Rail: Mysore is the nearest railway station situated at a distance of 80 km from Nagarhole.
By Road: Buses connect Nagarhole to Bangalore and to other smaller towns across Karnataka, Tamilnadu and Kerala. Bangalore is especially convenient to get to Nagarhole.