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Day 0
It was October 2013 and the
monsoons had come to an end. That meant that most of the wildlife parks would
have opened. I had not undertaken any wildlife trips for the past few months
and therefore was craving for an enjoyable and extended wildlife experience.
The added motivation was that I had purchased a longer telezoom lens the past
month, Sigma 50-500mm OS. I was most eager to try to out the lens in the field.
Since tiger safaris were on top
of my priority list, I had shortlisted Bandhavgarh (Madhya Pradesh) and
Bandipur (Karnataka) Tiger reserves. Along with Ranthambore these reserves were
some of the more professionally managed Tiger reserves in India. Also, these
reserves offered some of the better tiger sighting opportunities in India.
After much deliberation I decided
on Bandipur. Bandipur shared the same forests with Wayanad in Kerala and
Mudumalai / Masinagudi in Tamil Nadu. The close proximity of these wildlife
parks gave me an opportunity to visit more than one wildlife park during my
trip. I had 8 full days at my disposal and wanted to make the most of it.
Finalizing the itinerary was not
an easy task at all. I was inclined towards covering as many reserves as
possible in the 8 day trip. Initially I thought of visiting Wayanad followed by
Mudumalai / Masinagudi and finally Bandipur. But I finally settled on Bandipur,
then Kabini (Nagarhole) and finally K Gudi (BR Hills).
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| The Wildlife Triangle - Bandipur, Kabini and K Gudi |
