Bandipur Tiger Reserve and National Park: Ultimate Travel Guide

Bandipur Tiger Reserve and National Park will be one of your best journeys among all you can visit in the Karnataka Region of South India. I am sure you can enjoy and do research as well. I am inviting you, To visit here once in your life.

Why Visiting Bandipur Tiger Reserve is so Important?

Did you know that The Bandipur Tiger Reserve And National Park in South India were Declared By The King of that Region? yes, it is.

The history of the Bandipur National Park is really interesting. The Tiger Reserve is also in this Park is another important news. Here is the story for you. Hope you will enjoy knowing that.

So, The King of the Mysore Region created a sanctuary in the year 1931. (King is “Maha Raaja” in Indian words). At that time this was only 90km2. After that, he, the king named it “Venugopala Wild Park”.

Latterly, there was a Tiger Project there. The project was introduced in the year 1973. Finally, the Bandipur Tiger Reserve and National Park have been established in this place. After this initiative, the park increased further. So now, new 800km2 has been added to the old Venugopala wildlife park. At present, The Bandipur National Park is having a space of 868.63km2.

Other Reasons for The Specialty of Bandipur Tiger Reserve

Bandipur National Park is one of the most beautiful National Park in Karnataka state and India as well. The Government of Karnataka has managed it in a very good manner. Therefore, this place is very much popular among Indians as well as foreign visitors.

I would like to mention a few reasons for its popularity. See below.

Valuable Trees at The Bandipur Park

The Bandipur National Park is also full of green trees such as Sandalwood, Indian Kino tree, teak, and rosewood. Moreover, there are important trees such as Indian laurel, giant clumping bamboo, etc. These trees are receiving considerable interest from visitors.

Beautiful Flora Available in Bandipur Tiger Reserve and National Park

Flora at the Bandipur National Park is also very much attractive. The Kadam tree brings beauty to the National Park as the tree provides hundreds of flowers a day. The Kadam tree is also called as bur flower tree in the English language. That is also known as Leichhardt pine, laran and Neolamarckia cadamba. These are scientific names for the same.

The crape-myrtle trees and their flowers are making the park more attractive. Because this tree is producing thousands of flowers at once. Moreover, there are hundreds of axle wood trees available in this park. These trees are very rare even in India. Therefore these Tress bring value to the park. The red flowers of the flame of the forest tree make the park more beautiful.

The golden shower trees are bringing thousands of yellow color flowers to the park. Not only the beauty of the yellow flowers but also this tree and its parts are used in traditional medicine. The indigo berry is also available in the National Park. That is also a rare variety in India. Moreover, the indigo berry tree is also a valuable tree. Because that is a raw material in traditional medicine. Especially, these leaves are used for hair growth by women.

Many Fruits also Available in The Park

Fruits bring beauty and value to the Bandipur National Park. Indian gooseberry is one nutrition fruit that Bandipur National Park has. The above fruit is known as the embolic and Malacca tree in a scientific way. This fruit also has other names. That is Amla in Hindi and Nellika in Dravidian languages. All these words are used for the same fruit. Moreover, this is a valuable herb in Indian ayurvedic medicine.

Herbs are Protected in Bandipur National Park

There is a section for herbs in this park. Further, there are rare varieties such as myrobalan under this section. This is an ayurvedic medicine which use mostly in traditional practices. This is also named Terminalia chebula in a scientific way. Further, this is considered a south Asian variety. This tree is native to South Asia.

Accordingly, this is mostly available only in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Vietnam, and southwest China. This is called “Harad” in Hindi and Urdu languages. In the Tamil language, this is known as “kadukkai”. 

Society and Culture at Bandipur

I guess you are aware of the basic information about India. So, India has many states. Accordingly, there are State Governments as well. The Bandipur Tiger Reserve and National Park are situated in the Karnataka State of India. The Park is exactly in Chamarajnagar District of the Karnataka State.

About The Karnataka State where Bandipur Park established

The Karnataka State is belonging to South India. Further, this Karnataka state is located in the southwestern region of the Indian subcontinent. The state has been formed in the year of 1956. That happened after passing the state reorganization act in India. In past, this state didn’t call “Karnataka”. So, they call the Karnataka state “Mysore” in the past. Later this state has been renamed “Karnataka”. That happened in the year 1973.

Let’s look at Karnataka state and its location. By west, Karnataka state is bordering the Arabian sea. Goa is in the northwestern part of this region. Further, the Telangana state is on the northeast side of Karnataka. Tamil Nadu state is on the southeast side of Karnataka state. Further, Kerala state is on the southwest side. Moreover, Maharashtra state is on the north side of Karnataka.

When we consider the green in the Karnataka state, it is recorded that 16% of the Karnataka state has been covered by forests. There are many varieties of forests in the Karnataka state. They are such as reserved forests, unclosed forests, and protected forests. I would like to share one more interesting fact there in Karnataka state. There is a special term called “village forests”. Accordingly, there is a large number of village forests in Karnataka state. Have you ever heard about the private sector forest? yes, That is available. You will be wondering to know that there are private forests available in the Karnataka state. These are maintained by the owners themselves.

Language At This Region where Bandipur Park situated

We can’t forget about the language when we read about the Karnataka state. The official language of the Karnataka state is “Kannada” Language. This is a Dravidian language. The meaning of Karnataka in their language is “elevated land”.  

Where is Bandipur National Park’s Location?

Most foreign visitors are want to know where is Bandipur Tiger Reserve and National Park in India. Therefore, we would like to explain more about the location in this article for your kind information.

The Bandipur Tiger Reserve and National Park are in South India. This Bandipur National Park belongs to the Karnataka State of South India. Furthermore, the Bandipur National Park is in the Chamarajanagar District. That is also partly located in H.D. Kote and Nanjangud taluks which are in the Mysuru Districts.

The Park Belongs To Chamarajanagar District

Chamarajanagar has another name. That other name is chamarajanagara. This is a small difference. Anyway, both are the same. This district is in the southern part of the Karnataka state. In history, chamarajanagar has another name. They use the term “Sri Arikottara” for this in past. Nearly 87% of the population speak the Kannada language as their mother language here in SriArikottara. This place is a tourist destination. It has beautiful hills, dams, waterfalls, and parks.

The Park is also Partly Located in The HD Kote District

HD Kote is a short form of the original word. So, the full name is “Heggadadevanakote”. This is an administrative region in the Mysore district of Karnataka State.

Bandipur Tiger Reserve and National Park Belongs to Nanjangud Region as well

Nanjangud taluk also has two names. Nanjangudu is also the same name for this place. That is just a very simple difference. This is also a town belonging to the Mysore district of Karnataka State.

BR Hills is nearby to Bandipur Park

This Bandipur National Park is near BR hills. If you want to visit BR hills that’s also possible in your next visit plan. Because BR hills are 91kms far from the Bandipur National Park. On the other hand, Mysuru is 77kms far from this park. Further, The Kodagu is 151kms far from this National Park, etc.

So, All these mentioned places are also very much popular among tourists. Therefore, you can plan your next visits from here nearby.  

This place is sharing its borders nearby with a few other national parks in South India. One is Nagarahole National Park. The second is Wayanad National Park. The third one is Mudumalai National Park.   

Things To Do in Bandipur Tiger Reserve and National Park

I am sharing the ways you can enjoy here under this number. Therefore, You can watch a large number of animals, mammals, birds, and snakes too. There are many special to here. I have mentioned such species separately. The rest of the species has mentioned in common.

Watching Tigers in The Park is very Popular in Bandipur

The National Park is one main place where tigers are protected in India. Therefore, the park is called as Bandipur tiger reserve. The specialty of the Bandipur Tiger Reserve and National Park is, that the park is the second-highest Tiger population in the country. As per the secondary data, there are 382 tigers living in the National park at present. This is normally a huge number.

Watching Asiatic Elephants at The National Park is Special

Not only the tigers but also wild elephants are protected here in the Bandipur National Park, Karnataka. Further, the place is most popular for the Asiatic wild elephant. The Asiatic Wild Elephant is one of the rarest animals in National Parks. The park is also popular as having the largest habitant of south Asian elephants. (The Asian Elephant also called Asiatic Elephant by the people.)

They are popular in the world as the only living species of the genus elephants in the world. The Asian Elephants are the largest living land animal available at present in the Asian Region. But, compared to the African elephants, the Asian elephants are smaller than them.

The elephants are using their trunks for breathing. But they do a lot of activities using trunks. They water themself and their babies too. Most of the time they produce sounds using it. They take food using it and feed themself. I would like to mention that, elephants are the most attractive animals here.

The Asia Elephants are available in India, Nepal, Sumatra, Borneo, and very few in Sri Lanka too. These Asian elephants are a more playful species. Therefore, A Park is not complete without watching elephants. Isn’t it? Watching elephants is that much more interesting. I am sure that you will definitely enjoy this.

This is interesting about The Asiatic Elephant Here

I hope You will be very much interested to hear that Asian Elephants have very large brains. Yes. The scientists are saying that. They have highly developed intelligence too. Furthermore, their Behaviors are really wonderful. These Asiatic Elephants learn things fast than other animals.

Further, the Asiatic Elephants have great maternal care for babies. You can see all the elders caring for a baby elephant in the team here. Therefore, the care is one special quality of these Asiatic Elephants.

Do you know that they can imitate others? Yes, they easily follow you and do the imitations. Moreover, the Asiatic Elephants play with their team. They are good team players. These Asiatic Elephants are kind too. Further, they cooperate with other members of their team. Most important thing is that they have good self-awareness. The Asiatic Elephants also have a good memory. It’s really interesting to know that they share sadness.     

Watch Other Animals Live in Bandipur Park

Not only Asiatic Elephants or Tigers but there are also many animals available at the Bandipur National Park. The sloth bears, jackals, mouse dear, and muggers are living in this park. Moreover, There are chital, gaurs, Indian rock pythons, and flying lizard too. The four-horned antelopes are also lining the Bandipur National Park.

Watch many more Mammals in This Park

Hope you know who are mammals. (This is the real scientific word. You can search it and find the meaning in your language. But, I also have to explain you. So, Mammals have warm blood. Humans are also mammals. Female Mammals produce milk and feed their babies. Hope you understood this term.)

So, there are many mammals that live in the Bandipur National Park. The mammals such as chital, gray langur, Indian elephant, and Indian giant squirrel are there. Most of these mammals reach the roads in the park. Therefore, the visitors can easily watch them.

Make your mind fresh and relax by watching Birds At The Bandipur Tiger Reserve and National Park

How can we forget about the birds here? Birds are also very much popular in this place. Moreover, there are more than 200 birds in the Bandipur National Park. The Grey junglefowl, peafowl, drongos, and crows are living in the Bandipur National Park. The population of the Peafowl is big comparing the other birds there.

Moreover, there are birds such as Indian vultures, hoopoes, brown fish owls, and honey buzzards in the National Park. Further, there are many such as flowerpeckers and red-headed vultures. There are a considerable number of Indian rollers, crested serpent eagles, and bee-eaters. Moreover, The kingfishers, ospreys, and changeable hawk eagles are also popular in this Bandipur National Park. Further, there are many varieties of kingfishers as well.

But, most of the time, these birds are more in the winter season.  If you are a bird lover, then travel there in the winter season. This depends on your choice.

You can take photos and watch Butterflies in The Bandipur Park

If you are a butterfly lover, you may be happy to hear that there are many butterfly varieties at this National Park. There are hundreds of varieties of butterflies living here.

The Red Helen, Common Mormon, Common Rose, and Common jay are living there. Moreover, there are butterflies like Malabar Raven, Lime butterfly, Blue Mormon, and Common wanderer. The Southern Birdwing, Crimson Rose, Common Grass Yellow Butterfly, and Common Jezebel are also there.

There are many more such as Common Gull, Arab Large Salmon, Blue pansy, and Glad eye. The orange pansy, Nilgiri clouded yellow, Psyche, spotless grass yellow, and Great egg fly butterflies there. Moreover, the grey pansy, peacock pansy, blue admiral, chocolate pansy, and yellow pansy are available in the Bandipur National Park. The Indian fritillary, lemon pansy, common Pierrot, and common fevering butterflies are also very much popular there. I can’t mention everyone here. because the list is huge. The common palm fly, common castor, and many more butterfly varieties there.  

The Snakes also available At The Bandipur Tiger Reserve and National Park

When we visit the Bandipur National Park, we can’t forget the reptile species there. Do you afraid of them? But there are visitors who are curious to watch them.

There are many snakes such as spectacled cobra, monitor lizards, and flying lizards. Further, there are Indian rock pythons and vipers. Moreover, there are agamids, rat snakes, Indian chameleons, muggers, and Indian pond terrapin living in the park.

Do Research On Bandipur Ants

This is especially good news for researchers. Hundreds of ant species also one another special thing about the Bandipur National Park. There are ant species such as crematogaster biroi, pheidole sharpi and anoplolepis longipes. Further, there are tetraponera rufonigra, camponotus parius, and paratrechina ants at the Bandipur National Park. The ant species such as pheidole, oligomyrmex wroughtonii, and many more live there.

If you are a researcher, then this is the right place for you to do your research on ants.

Plan Your Trekking At The Park

Trekking is also very much popular in the Bandipur National Park in Karnataka State. There are certain facilities for trekking.

Try Mini-Bus Safari at The Bandipur National Park

Bandipur National Park safari is more popular. Hence, we can’t forget the safari ride at the Bandipur National Park which is one main activity we can enjoy there. There are certain lodges and resorts that organize jeep safaris in the Bandipur National Park and Reserve. The Government has made a system to provide a license to operate these jeep safaris.

Moreover, there are mini-bus safaris too for you to enjoy and see around. These mini-bus safaris are a government initiative and are operated by the Department of Forest, Karnataka State of India.

Normally, these mini-bus safaris are starting in the morning around 06.15 am – 09.00 am. If you visit there in the afternoon, you can join the mini-bus safaris between 02.15 pm – 05.00 pm. 

You can Enjoy Jeep Safari here

Jeep safaris start from time to time. That means The park starts a jeep safari four times per day. Therefore, you can adjust and join with them as per your interest at that time. The jeep safari start times are as follows,

06.15 am – 08.00am

08.00 am – 09.45am

02.30 pm – 04.30pm

04.30 pm – 06.30 pm

I hope you understand the details. The first jeep safari start at 06.15 am in the morning. That ends by 8.00 am on the same day. Then, another jeep safari starts at 8.00 in the morning and will end by 9.45 am. The safari is 01.45 hrs. After that, the third jeep safari starts in the afternoon. Not by 09.45 am. okay. The Thirds safari starts at 02.30 pm in the afternoon. It was completed by 04.30 pm in the afternoon. The Last jeep Safari of the day, starts at 04.30 pm. They finish the journey by 06.30 pm. That’s how the jeep safari plan works here.

This is about The Elephant Safari

The elephant safaris were very much popular with foreign visitors. But there are no elephant safaris are available at present. Because the Government of Karnataka has disconnected that facility from the Bandipur National Park.

The reason is here. The world and the United Nations are mostly talking about animal rights. At The same time, they are concerned about the Violence against animals. The UN treats animal rides, animal games and animals in festivals are violent animals. Therefore, these kinds of activities have many criticisms. Hope you know that India and Sri Lanka mostly used Elephants for their cultural practices.

Recently, the Government of Karnataka was concerned about these International standards and recommendations. Therefore, they respect animals’ rights. They also didn’t want to support animal violence here. Accordingly, the government has let elephants live and the visitors can choose a jeep or mini-bus as a safari to watch elephants there.

Best Time To Visit Bandipur National Park

Do you want to know about the best time to visit Bandipur National Park? So, How can I answer this question? Because the best feeling comes with your interest. So that it depends on your interest of you and your feeling about the climate. Therefore, I will explain how the climate going on during the year. Accordingly, you can decide which is suit you more.

Do you Prefer a Hot and Dry Climate?

Are you Interesting in hot climates? If so, you need to visit the Bandipur National Park between early march till June. You can enjoy the dry and hot weather during that period. The National Park has a typical tropical climate during that period. Normally, the monsoon rains are starting in the month of June each year. Therefore, the park will be full of Rain after June. You can fix and plan your trip according to your interest.  

There are Four Seasons at The Park

This region has four seasons. They are summer, winter, monsoon, and post-monsoon seasons. The winter starts in January and continues even in February. The summer season is starting in March and continues up to the month of May. The monsoons start in the month of June and normally they continue up to the month of September. In the month of October post-monsoon season starts and that will continue up to December. Accordingly, you can plan your visit.

Bandipur Tiger Reserve and National Park Timings

You can use the highways to reach the Bandipur National Park. These are the numbers for that NH – 181 and NH – 766. If you are using roads to reach this park, you can take these. But please be careful when you travel inside the National Park and nearby. Because most of the time the animals are facing unexpected accidents here. Many animals in this park also died because of the speed of vehicles. Therefore, you have to be careful and travel with a responsibility to respect animals’ life.

Further, these roads are closed from 6.00 pm in the evening. After that, these roads are open in the morning. Each day, these roads open by 6.00 am the next day.

Facilities And Services Available Nearby

We are sharing the details on the services provided by the Management, the facilities for the visitors here or around such as accommodation, Online Booking facilities, Prices of tickets, etc

Hotels in Bandipur National Park

There are many hotels in Bandipur National Park for you to stay there nearby. The hotels normally receive a great demand in the period of the season. There are also some visitors both Indian and foreign. The majority were interested in staying inside the park. So, that facility is also available in this place.

There are two types of hotels here. some luxury resorts are near the Bandipur National Park. They are common. They also have good facilities as in urban areas.

There are some other places to stay inside the park. These places focus more on your wildlife experience. These places may not the luxury facilities. But, They definitely provide a different and wonderful experience in your life. That is for sure.

Because you can have luxury facilities at any place. But, you cant get such natural, simple and wild experiences everywhere. Isn’t it? This is my personal view. I prefer to stay inside the Bandipur National park. I love that feeling.

Bandipur National Park Stay and Bandipur National Park Resorts

Many of the readers and visitors ask whether the Bandipur National Park stays. Of course, you can stay here. There are many lodges that have been established here in different facilities. These places have an outdoor swimming pool facility too. These places provide wifi facilities for the visitors.   If you love to feel the less warm climate, then you must plan to visit and stay here during the monsoon season.

Safari Booking Facility?

Many people are asking about the Bandipur safari booking. We don’t have information on whether there is a facility for online booking or not up to now. Whenever we receive an update, we are going to add here the information we receive.

Safari Prices

Many of you are inquiring about the Bandipur National Park safari prices. We are mentioning here the Bandipur National Park safari prices at present. Please note that the process can be changed from time to time. If we get to know about the changes in prices, we hope to update it as soon as possible.

The price for a single person will be 350 Indian rupees for a bus safari.

If you prefer a jeep safari, then you have to pay 3000 Indian rupees.

The charges will be different depending on the vehicle you select to watch.

Bandipur Tiger Reserve Booking

Many questions about the Bandipur Tiger Reserve and National Park booking facility. But, there is no such facility at the moment. Anyway, we will update more information once we get it correctly. We hope The Government of Karnataka, will introduce such facilities in the future.

We hope you may like to read and study more about his place. Therefore we would like to provide you with a link to the place. You can read their official website. At the same time, you can directly contact the officers through Email or Phone. You may happy to be in contact with them before you visit that place. Please look into the website below mentioned in this article for these facilities and contact them.

How To Reach

Travel by Air To Reach Bandipur Tiger Reserve and National Park

There are foreign readers. Therefore, I have to mention the basic information to reach here. If you are traveling by air, then you have to reach Coimbatore Airport first. The above Coimbatore airport is belonging to Tamil Nadu state. Anyway, there are 84kms from Coimbatore to Bandipur National Park. Then, how do you reach these 84kms? For that, you can use public transport. There are many state-owned buses to get to Bandipur. Otherwise, you can hire a taxi. Online hiring taxi services are also available at present. Anyway, that depends on your pocket. I can just share information only. The decision is yours.   

If you are reaching by Air, there is another Airport named Bangalore. This belongs to the Karnataka state. If you feel like, Bangalore is easy or near to your present venue, then you can choose this way. From Bangalore, you can travel by bus to Bandipur. Public transport is available here. No worries. The public transport is also cheaper.

Otherwise, you can hire a vehicle. The roads are good in this region. You can travel without any difficulty as the Government is maintaining properly. If you reach by roads from Bangalore to Bandipur, normally it takes 02 hrs.   

How To Reach Bandipur Tiger Reserve and National Park by Railway

If you prefer to use the Railway for travel, Mysore is the nearest Railway station to the park. Accordingly, you have to reach Mysore city first from where you stay now. After that, there are 80kms from Mysore city to the Bandipur National Park.

Contact Details

Bandipur National Park

Hangala Village, Gundlupet Taluk, Bandipur, Karnataka 571126, India

Telephone Number: 08229-236043/44 

Summary of The Content

This article will provide you a piece of complete information about The Bandipur Tiger Reserve and National Park. Accordingly, The facts of the article are here; an introduction to Bandipur National Park, The state where Bandipur National park is situated, and the Location. The information such as the Animals in the park, Famous facts about Park and The timing is also available. Moreover, the details of Bandipur Safari, the Best Time for a visit, Accommodation, and contact details are also here.

Special Note

If you need to know any other information please comment below. We will update the required details as soon as possible. Moreover, Do write down your experience regarding this journey once you travel here, please. We hope that experience may be valuable for our loyal readers.

Further Readings on Bandipur Tiger Reserve Website

We are mentioning the website of Karnataka Tourism, the Government information source for your kind awareness here. Click Here To Visite Karnataka Tourism WebSite

Coming up Next

My Next Article will be about The Mukurthi National Park, South India