Last weekend, with my wife and 4-year-old son, I had gone to Kabini. My son loves seeing animals especially elephants, so we booked to stay in Kabini River (Jungle) Lodge with the idea to take tours of the national park near-by. We travelled by flight from Chennai to Bangalore, then travelled by road to Mysore – stayed there for a day. The next day went to Kabini River Lodge, it takes about 2 hours from Mysore by road.
The lodge is owned by Government of Karnataka tourism, so it has basic amenities but nested inside the forest, beautiful surroundings. There is no room service. Breakfast and meals are served only in the restaurant; evening tea is served in an outdoor canteen. The lodge organises tours to the Rajiv Gandhi National Park (Nagarhole National Park) near-by. It is a treat to visit the park, you are sure to sight elephants, deer, sambar, wild gaur, langur and plenty of birds. Bandipur National Park and Mudumalai Tiger reserve are next to Nagarhole National park.
Kabini River Lodge
Fire in a distance from Kabini River Lodge
Wild elephant herd inside the forest
Baby elephant part of the herd
Pugmark
Wild Gaur
Tour inside the forest
Kingfisher bird
Flying mongoose
Spotted Deer inside the forest
Wild Gaur crossed our path
In the evening we took a tour inside the forest, where we got into a boat ride to see the animals closer when they come to drink.
Elephant herd comes to drink water
View of an elephant looking majestically at us
Pond inside the forest – the water hole for animals
Boat Ride
Birds too come to drink
A tribal temple
Deers running inside the cover after having drunk to their satisfaction
Elephants grazing
Elephants maintained by forest department
An Elephant having its meal given to it
Flowering season
Red flowers add colour to an otherwise green forest cover
Beautiful Sunset over the waterhole