Kabini River Lodge

I had the opportunity to visit a really nice place about 5 hours drive from Bangalore. The Kabini River Lodge is towards the southern tip of the Nagerhole National Park. It is also on the banks of the river Kabini (Hence the name), which is a tributory to the larger river Kaveri (Cauveri). This makes for a great place to visit for some much needed relaxation and photography.

Whats There:

I went there in September, which is not the best time to go there as the animals are difficult to find. In the dry season, they all gather along the banks of the river and are there for you to photograph. The Nagerhole National Park is an elephant hot spot. Even in this “öff” season, we were able to see a fairly large one. There are also elephant camps where you can go and see elephants anytime.

The other animals that you can see and Barking Deer, Spotted Deer, lots of different types of monkeys, Tigers and Leopards. During my trip we did not see any of the big cats but the party who went for the safari a day after us did get to see a tiger.

Rooms and Facilities:

The rooms are extremely comfortable with all the usual amenities and hot and cold runing water too. There are no air conditioned rooms in the resort, primarily because they are not required. You have a few options that you can choose from:

Colonial Style Rooms: These rooms are comfortable and large with a fully equiped bathroom and also a mini fridge (though there is nothing in it). So if you are travelling in a largish group, you book the whole barrack and have a part of the resort all to yourself. The rooms are faced with a garden with nice flowers and green grass. They have a porch where you can gather and generally hang out. There are 2 such barracks, I think.

River-side Cottages: These are again colonial styled cottages that overlook the river. They too have small porches that you can sit out at and enjoy the sound of the river.

Tents: The third option that you have is to stay in tented cottages. These are also very comfortable and have attached baths. I couldn’t take a picture of the tents because they were being redone or re-something-ed.

What to do there:

Since I was there with people from work on “Official Business”, I didn’t get too much time on my own to take part in all the activities or to just roam around on my own. I was only able to explore either in the morning on after sun-down. This means that I was not able to take as many photographs as I wanted to.

Anyway, we still got to do some stuff and whatever we did was fun. Besides we were there for a break and I didn’t want to overdo the activity part.

So while I was there, I was able to go for a short safari and boat ride. The rest of my free time was spent roaming around with my camera and tripod after dark and taking random photographs.

The Safari: The safari was nice. Ealry in the morning they bundles us into this modified TATA 207 and drove us into the core jungle area. There is actually an old highway running through the jungle that is not used any more. We had to go on this broken up road for about half a kilometer and then you enter the main National Park where there is only a trail. Heres where the fun rides starts. The driver made an entry into a notebook kept at the entry to the Park. Actually before we even entered the park we had seen the elephent and a few sets of deer.

The elephant was generally eating and rocking trees with its trunk and the deer were also extremely comfortable with people around and just stood there for us to photograph. Once we entered the main park, we started to look for signs of tigers or leopards. Like if you hear monkeys shouting suddenly or birds flying off from a place. Well, we didn’t get to see the cats but we saw a lot on monkeys and lot a more deer. We also heard a wild boar.

The Boat Ride: Right after the Safari the vehicle took us down to the riverside and we all got onto these round boats called coracles. These are made of the same stuff that the locals thatch their hut roofs with. Then they water proof it further with canvas or some kind of thick plastic cover. It feels really unsafe but its quite alright.

While out in the boats you can see the true size of the Kabini and Cauveri rivers. The rivers are expansive and its a really humbling feeling sitting in that small boat in the middle of the river. The river generally offers nice views of the banks with the animals and apparently a lot of nice birds.

We actually saw a Kite’s nest on a tree on one of the banks of the river and also the nest of a Tern on the top of a rather barren tree in the middle of the river.

What to Eat:

As I said before, the resort is very well equiped. The meals were tasty and definitely to my taste. However, it might be a challenge for foreigners are not used to spicy food. There is a fixed menu buffet for all meals therefore no ala carte. I am generally a hearty eater, but while there, even I outdid myself. Add to that the beer that I was constantly having, and I was pretty stuffed.

All in all the whole trip was a really nice experience (even the work part).

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