The extension of Bandipur National Park in Tamil Nadu region is called Madumalai National Park. Since we were staying in Bandipur for a day, we thought of going to Madumalai National Park for the afternoon safari. From Our hotel in Bandipur to the border of both the state, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, we went in our car. There is a place for parking where we parked our car, crossed the border and took a taxi to the forest office of the Madumalai National Park.
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| On our way to Madumalai National Park |
Similar to Bandipur National Park, Madumalai National Park is managed and protected by the forest department of Tamil Nadu. As for the safari, Tamil Nadu only gives the option of bus safari. No jeeps are available here. We went to the counter and bought the ticket to approximately 30 minute ride around the national park. Compare to Karnataka, Tamil Nadu was a little disorganised and slow due to only one bus available for safari. The national park in the western ghats are open all season unlike other forest around India, where it is closed during monsoon.
Our journey started and we roamed in the greenery to try and spot some wildlife. Before we go for the safari, we were informed by resort guys that Madumalai National Park has less chances of tiger spotting, however, the forest here is dense than Bandipur. There was more greenery and healthy trees in the Madumalai National Park.
Our first encounter was with the Wild Dog. They resembled more like a fox and for a split second we were wondering whether it is a fox or wild dog. Obviously, a forest person corrected us.
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| Wild Dog heading towards us |
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| Up close |
Moving on, we saw ample of Deer around the park, but no tiger in sight.
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| Deer posing for the photograph |
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| Two deer having friendly fight |
Another amazing sight was of Elephants. These were wild elephants, means not the trained one. The bus was brought to a sudden stop to let elephant cross their path instead of evoking them.
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| Elephant Family crossing the road |
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| Elephant looking at us |
The journey soon came to an end with no tiger sighting.
Overall, Madumalai National Park is more rich in flora and fauna, however, when it comes to tiger sighting, it has almost the same chances as Bandipur National Park. The management for Madumalai is a little unorganised than Bandipur and sadly don’t offer Jeep safari which I mostly prefer.
If you happen to go to Bandipur or Ooty, do pay a visit to the Madumalai National Park, you never know when luck is in your favour!
Category: Wildlife and Photography
Location: Madumalai National Park is 110 km from Mysore and 50 km from Ooty. Closest airport is Bangalore (240 km).
Time: The safari will take only 1-2 hours including the waiting. Not many people stay in Madumalai National Park, hence, you will take another 2 hours of traveling time from Ooty and maximum 1 hour from Bandipur National Park.
Carry: Camera and hope to see the tiger!
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| Baby Elephant |