Butterfly Park

When we reached end of Bhanneghatta Safari, we were greeted by Butterfly park. I was bit tired to take snaps, but Harshita was very energetic in flying behind butterflies and gave me some time to relax. At last, we got it on YouTube today. And that completes our Escape into Nature. Enjoy...

And here are some facts...

The Butterfly Park is spread across 7.5 acres of land. It comprises a butterfly conservatory, museum and an audio-visual room. The butterfly conservatory has a polycarbonate roof and is a 10,000 sq ft. circular enclosure, inside which the living environment has been carefully designed to support over 20 species of butterflies. The environment has a tropical setting — complete with the humid climate, an artificial waterfall and host plants and shrubs that attract butterflies.

Bhannerghatta National park

On January 9th, we visited Bhannerghatta National park and it's worth watching. The experience of watching Lions and Tigers so close is a bliss. Watch the picture video....

Bandhipur and Mudumalai National parks

After Pycara Lake, we reached our camp at around 7pm, had Chai and then started our journey to  Bandhipur National Park. We were very excited to go on night Safari, but we couldn't spot any wildlife even after one hour of staring into thick forest. Thought of making a U-turn, but our guide was very eager to show us at least one animal. After driving for another half an hour, our guide could spot some elephants with their dashing eyes in the dark. We really got scared when a mother elephant was heading towards us in anger, thank God.. our driver was quick to pull over.
Here are some facts about Bandhipur National Park...

Bandipur National Park: Bandipur, established in 1931, is a wonderful wildlife centre. Tourists visit this place to admire the breathtaking beauty of nature and also to enjoy a quiet vacation far from the hustle and bustle of the city. This is located in the district of Chamarajanagar. 

Bandipur was built by the Maharajas of Mysore and is situated in the Nilgiris. The Kabini, Moyar and Nugu Rivers drain the area. Besides the rivers, there are many seasonal streams flowing through the region. This place is under Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve and is also the first Biosphere Reserve of the country. 

Bandipur was the chosen site for Project Tiger. This is an initiative taken by the Government of India to protect the endangered species. The number of tigers has increased ever since. The place is also home to a large number of animals like Elephants, Hornbill, Sambar, Wild Dog, Giant Squirrel, Deer, and Partridges. There are also a few endangered species including Four Horned Antelope, Panther, Sloth Bear, Python, Mouse Deer, Pea Fowl and many more.  

Next day, after Gopalaswamy temple, we visited Mudumalai National Park. We were blessed with most of the wildlife show except Tigers and Leopards. Also had a chance to see the tamed elephants and had fun watching caretakers feeding them. OK...time for you to play the moments captured...

Gopalaswamy temple

On January 7th morning, we had nice breakfast (pongal, chutney, idli, sambar and grape juice), took some pictures of the camp and then headed towards Gopalaswamy temple at around 11am.

On the way, we were lucky to spot an elephant near the river.

If you can't locate the elephant in the above picture, don't stress your eyes. Here is the zoom-in view:

And then deers grazing with no fear....

This Langoor seems to be too worried about the bottle next to it... of course, it is a plastic-free zone :-)

Village view from camera....

While we were busy taking snaps of nature, we were reminded that we were actually heading towards the temple...

At last, view of Gopalaswamy hill from far.....

Wikipedia can tell  facts of the hill better than me....."Himavad Gopalaswamy Betta, is a hill (betta in Kannada) located in the Chamarajanagar district of the state of Karnataka, at a height of 1450m India and is extensively wooded. It is also the highest peak in the Bandipur National Park. It lies in the core area of the Bandipur National Park and is frequented by wild life including elephants.."

  Felt happy to see the fields of beans which make our evening snack most of the time...

More pictures of the hill and its surroundings.... 

Before climbing the hill via road, we had to pay entry fee. The drive up the hill for the next 7 km is an adventure as the roads are steep and narrow and not maintained well. Our driver had to ride the vehicle like a bullock cart. Anyways we were happy listening to stories of elephant herds, elephants sliding down the hill out of fear and heavy weight :-). 

OK you can see the temple peaking out of lush green forest....we are almost there...

After reaching the hill top, we parked the vehicle in front of the temple, washed our feet and then climbed the stairs for Gopalaswamy Darshan.

 

The temple atmosphere was filled with Sabarimalai Ayyappa swamy songs...

 

 

Inside Garbha gudi, Krishna idol is beautiful with Krishna in dark complexion, with flute in his hands, glowing eyes (actually diamonds) and surrounded by Gopis. While we were praying God, Pujari sprinkled water droplets on us ..very nice experience.

Pujari told that there are no crows on the hill and water forms on the top of garbha gudi entrance. To know more facts about the temple, read for yourself... http://www.mysorepraje.com/mysore-excursion/himavad-gopalaswamy-betta-gopala-swamy-temple-mysore

"...Throughout the year, dew formation can be seen on top of the entrance of garbha gudi and on the left shoulders of Gopalaswamy – hence the name ‘Himavad’. The temperature inside the temple is also relatively cool.....

According to chief priest Lakshmipathi Bhat, there are 77 theerthas or springs along the slopes of the hills within 25 km radius of the temple. The saying is that the crows, which took bath in these springs, turned into swans and hence there are no crows in Bandipur..."

And some pictures taken behind the temple....

That's Joseph posing for the camera...

After Darshan, we headed back to board Bandipur Safari van and spotted this Amla tree and some ponds built by Maharaja around the hill.

At around 2.30pm we sat under a big Banyan tree to have our lunch (rice, sambhar, rasam, sweet, papad, roti and mutter curry). After that we had some fun time with Banyan tree roots....