Mudumalai Sanctuary
Mudumalai literally means ‘ancient hills’ and the sanctuary is quite close to Bandipur. In fact, it is the Moyar river that separates the wildlife preserves. The Mysore – Ooty highway cuts through Mudumalai and tourists to Karnataka do not have to make a detour to see this sanctuary. Though just 320 sq kms, it is rich in wildlife -elephant, gaur, deer and primates like the bonnet macaque and the langur. Among the predator animals are the tiger, the leopard and the dhole or wild dogs that hunt in packs. Like its adjoining parks, Mudumalai is rich in bird life. The Annamalai sanctuary, some 80 km south of Mudumalai, has two rare species of primates – the Nilggiri lanur and the lion tailed macaque.
The best time to visit Nagarhole is October to March. Then you can move on to Bandipur which provides for best sighting between March and August. The ideal time to visit Mudumalai is February to June. Nagarhole and Bandipur are accessible by train to Mysore and by air to Bangalore and from there you can take a car. The nearest air link to Mudumalai is Coimbatore.
Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary
No bird watcher to India should miss the Bharatpur Sanctuary, as it is popularly known. It was the Maharaja of Bharatpur who artificially created this 28.73 sq kms wetland by building small dykes and dams and diverting water from an irrigation canal to this low lying area in the nineteenth century. Just 176 kms from Delhi, Bharatpur is today a haven for winged creatures who have chosen the sheltered protection of the park to breed in.
You can ride out in a boat early in the morning and watch the mixed heronries in the half submerged babul tree or peddle around on a hired bicycle to watch the painted storks, spoonbills, egrets, cormorants, white ibis and a multitude of other birds tending to their young ones. There are cycle rickshaws too, to take visitors round the park and the rickshaw-pullers have an amazing fund of information on birds and bird life. With 300 species of birds and thousands of winged creatures there is an unending flurry of wings, for the birds often fly out to neighbouring areas in search of food and return only at night to the shelter of the park.
There are a variety of storks and cranes and the local ‘sarus’ is a splendid creature in his grey and red suit, but a star attraction of the park is the Siberian crane. Their comings and goings are painstakingly recorded and announced to the world. For the last couple of years they have almost stopped coming and concerned ornithologists have got together to save the species and check poaching on its wintering route to India. The forests around the lake harbour some deer, jackals, foxes and hyenas and pythons can be seen sunning themselves at Python Point.
Throughout the year you can see birds at Bharatpur but the migratory birds come in October and fly back in February. The breeding season at Bharatpur is from August to October. In addition to the forest lodges of the State and Central government there are some excellent private hotels near the park.
