Following the trails of Veerappan!

From Bandipur, we visited the K.Gudi Wilderness camp, within the limits of a wildlife sanctuary. (See http://colorsofindia-nita.blogspot.com/2010/08/fun-at-wilderness-camp.html

The BRT wildlife sanctuary is thickly forested with deciduous and evergreen trees, and was once home to the notorious brigand Veerapan (as was also Bandipur!) It boasts of varied wildlife—elephants, gaur, wild boar, chital, barking deer and the elusive tiger and leopard, with superb views of the misty BR hills. It is also a bird watcher’s paradise, hosting more than 270 species like Malabar whistling thrush, scarlet minivet, Malabar parakeet, woodpecker, and owls and eagles.

Our safaris with Thapa, the old driver who has been at K.Gudi for 13 years, was enjoyable, though he felt his reputation had suffered since he couldn’t “show” us a tiger!! It is refreshing to see the kind of passion people in these places have for wildlife and bring to their work. We were able to reassure him that it did not matter, as we had had a good view of a leopard sauntering down the main road as we were approaching the camp that afternoon! Basavanna being with us for all the safaris made them special, like the safaris at Bandipur (minus Gowri the tigress, of course!)


The in-house naturalist Lokesh is a good host and also took us for very enjoyable safaris. It is creditable how he maneuvered the heavy vehicle with (weighty!) passengers on dirt paths, rendered even more inaccessible after the rains. The narrow winding hill paths sometimes have to be cleared of fallen trees. Traveling up the hills with a sheer drop on one side and a sublime view of the misty, blue hills is an indescribable experience.



We stopped at a water hole known to be visited by tigers, and though alarm calls were heard, the lord of the jungle eluded us! (Of course, that could have been due to a noisy family party who came in another jeep!) We too had a very excitable gentleman in our party, who almost yelled out in excitement at the sight of a lone deer, and even got off a couple of times, much to the consternation of the naturalists, since it is against the rules of a safari.



We spotted plenty of chital, barking deer (which we had not seen at Bandipur), some gaur, a lone elephant at a distance and a variety of birds. As I always say, sighting animals is a bonus; the jungle has its own magic and so much more to offer!